Today's Highlights:
We're seeing complaints that Outlook
automatically sends meeting updates to the
attendees several times a day. When users delete
the responses from their inbox it triggers
another update to attendees.
The good news: it’s not user error.
The bad news: it appears to be a problem only for
people who sync iPhones with Exchange.
The bug appears when the user creates an
appointment in Outlook and includes themselves as
an attendee, often because they are the members
of a distribution group or a delegate.
The scenario:
1. iPhone user creates a new appointment in
Outlook and uses a distribution group as an
attendee; the meeting organizer (iPhone user) is
also part of the distribution group.
2. Meeting organizer sends the appointment from
Outlook.
3. An attendee accepts the appointment request.
4. The organizer receives the response from the
attendee and deletes it from their inbox.
5. A meeting request update is sent out to all
attendee’s of the meeting.
6. This repeats itself and continues to send out
meeting updates.
Until Microsoft or Apple releases a fix, use this
solution discovered by a user affected by the
bug:
When creating a new appointment in Outlook, do
not include yourself as an attendee. If you are
using a distribution group to invite others,
expand that group and remove yourself as an
attendee.
For more information, see
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2059022&start=15&tstart=0
A user would like to secure Outlook so others
using his computer can't access his mail:
"When I open Outlook, my email is exposed for all
the world to see. It doesn't ask for a password.
I checked my security settings and there is
nothing checked that would allow me to stay
signed onto Outlook. Any suggestions"
Don't confuse e-mail passwords with security or
being signed in to Outlook. They only keep others
from accessing your mail server. Outlook will
only ask for a password to log into your mail
server. Outlook, unless used with Exchange server
in classic mode, does not need a password to
access your local message store. Even cached
Exchange isn't as secure as some users expect -
anyone can cancel the logon dialog and Outlook
will allow access to the locally cached mail
folders.
The PST can be password protected, although it’s
somewhat pointless as it only keeps someone from
opening it in Outlook. Once you enter the
password, the contents are exposed to anyone with
access to the computer. Besides that, it’s not
hard to remove the password with free or low cost
utilities.
To set a password on the PST, right click on the
root folder of your PST (where Outlook Today is)
and choose Properties, Advanced, Change Password.
Anyone who is serious about security will have a
separate Windows user account for each user of
the computer. They will always lock the computer
(use Windows key + L) when they step away and
require a password to unlock it when they return.
This is the best way to protect data from prying
eyes. For users who are really paranoid or use a
laptop, the NTFS file system adds some additional
security protections which offer much tighter
security for your data.
Earlier this week Microsoft released Exchange
Server2010 Release Candidate to the general
public.
Because of changes to the schema, there is not an
upgrade path from beta to the RC, however there
will be an upgrade path from the RC.
I'm impressed with the RC. It's polished and
fast. The new OWA looks really sharp in both IE
and Firefox and has a new name: OutlookWebApp.
Exchange Server 2010 RC
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c6d27da1-ba2c-4570-a491-c0d7b39ede8b
Exchange Quick Tip: Exchange 2010 Calendaring Options
A few weeks ago a reader asked about turning off the ability to add new meeting requests to the calendar as tentative. Currently, the only way to do this is in Exchange 2007, using a cmdlet. Exchange 2010 exposes options for the Calendar Attendant in the Exchange Management Console. While it’s easier to apply the settings to a group of users using a cmdlet, the Calendar Settings tab on the user's property tab makes it easy to adjust the setting for individual users.
Use the set-mailboxcalendarsettings command in
the Powershell for Exchange 2007 (and 2010).
set-mailboxcalendarsettings <mailbox>
-AddNewRequestsTentatively:$False
Outlook 2010 and Exchange 2000
Users stuck on Exchange 2000 who want to upgrade to Outlook 2010 are out of luck until their company upgrades the Exchange server as Outlook 2010 won't work with Exchange 2000. Exchange 2000 is long out of support and to take full advantage of Outlook 2010's features you need to use it against Exchange 2010.
As a reminder, Exchange client extensions are also not supported in Outlook 2010.
August 2009 cumulative
daylight saving time (DST) update for Exchange
2003 SP2
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=973629
August 2009 cumulative daylight saving time (DST)
update for Exchange 2000 SP3
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=973630
Microsoft Advisory Services Engagement Scenario -
Exchange Mobility
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=974610
Microsoft Advisory Services Engagement Scenario -
Exchange Migration
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=974347
CodeTwo Exchange
Sync
http://www.codetwo.com/exchange-folder-sync/
CodeTwo Exchange Sync is an application enabling
automatic synchronization of data between
selected folders hosted on Microsoft Exchange
Server 2007 / 2003 / 2000. The synchronization is
real-time and occurs in the background
transparently to the user. The synchronized data
can be of any type: mail, calendars, contacts,
tasks etc. The program enables multiple
synchronization types and lets you choose the
precise items to be synchronized and whether to
modify them on the fly during the
synchronization.
WebTeam Central
http://www.add-on.com/webteam-central-en.html
WebTeam Central is an outlook web-based group
calendar offering an overview of multiple Outlook
calendars along with intuitive scheduling tools.
It gives managers, receptionists and co-workers
an instant and easy web-based overview of their
colleagues. New features include Front-desk view
allowing easy access to colleagues business card
and calendar information. Work week view
providing the optimal overview of appointments
during business hours. Improved user interface –
user friendly and 'look and feel' of Outlook Web
Access. Improved filter, better search and
printing functionality.
Exchange Server
2010 RC
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c6d27da1-ba2c-4570-a491-c0d7b39ede8b
Exchange Server 2010 Release Candidate is now
available in the Microsoft Download Center. This
is compatible with both Windows 2008 SP2 and
Windows 2008 R2 (from RC1 through to RTM),
however, there is no in-place upgrade from the
Beta release. In-place upgrade from this Release
Candidate through to the final RTM build is
supported. Build number 14.00.0639.011.