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Set Up Microsoft Exchange E-Mail on iPhone

Set Up Microsoft Exchange E-Mail on an Apple iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch3

You can set up Exchange e-mail on an Apple iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. When you set up an Exchange account on your device, you’ll be able to access and synchronize your e-mail, calendar, and contacts. If you have a different device, or if you want to connect using POP or IMAP.

How do I set up Microsoft Exchange e-mail on an Apple iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch?

  1. Tap Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Add Account.
  2. Tap Microsoft Exchange.
  3. You don’t need to enter anything in the Domain box. Enter the information requested in the Email,Username, and Password boxes. You need to enter your full e-mail address in the Email and Usernameboxes (for example, tony@contoso.com).
  4. Tap Next on the upper-right corner of the screen. Your iPhone will try to find the settings it needs to set up your account. Go to step 7 if your iPhone finds your settings.
  5. If your iPhone can’t find your settings, you’ll need to manually look up your Exchange ActiveSync server name. For instructions for how to determine your Exchange ActiveSync server name, see the Finding My Server Name section below.
  6. In the Server box, enter your server name, and then tap Next.
  7. Choose the type of information you want to synchronize between your account and your device, and then touch Save. By default, Mail, Contacts, and Calendar information are synchronized.
    Caution:
    If you’re prompted to create a passcode, tap Continue and enter a numeric passcode. If you don’t set up a passcode, you can’t view your e-mail account on your iPhone. You can set up a passcode later in iPhone Settings.

Finding My Server Name

If your email program isn’t able to automatically find your Exchange ActiveSync server name, you may need to look it up.

  1. Sign in to your e-mail account using Outlook Web App. For help signing in, see How to Sign In to Outlook Web App.
  2. If you’re connecting to an Exchange mailbox, your Exchange ActiveSync server name is contained in the address bar in your browser when you are signed in to Outlook Web App, but without the leadinghttps:// and without the trailing /owa. For example, if the address you use to access Outlook Web App is https://mail.contoso.com/owa, your Exchange ActiveSync server name is mail.contoso.com.
  3. If you’re unable to connect to your mailbox using the information earlier in this section, you can try using the server name value that you can view in Outlook Web App options. Do the following:
    1. In Outlook Web App, click Options > See All Options > Account > My Account > Settings for POP, IMAP, and SMTP access.
      Note:
      Although you’re not setting up a POP3 account, you will use this value to determine your Exchange ActiveSync server name.
    2. Under POP setting, view the value for Server name.
    3. Try setting up your email using the server name listed on your options page. For example if the value for Server name under POP setting is mail.contoso.com, try using mail.contoso.com as your Exchange server name.

What else do I need to know?

  • If you’re prompted to create a passcode and don’t create one, you won’t be able to send and receive e-mail.

Cloud Based Telecommunications

The Genie in the Phone Cloud: Top 5 Small Biz Features

Entrepreneurship is at an all-time high and innovative small businesses are sprouting and flourishing. Personal service, attention to detail, and feeling good about supporting local and sustainable companies are some of the most popular reasons people choose the little guy over big, aggressive brands.
Maybe you sell delectable gluten-free scones out of a food truck, or are a general housing contractor with a small team of employees. Being great at your trade is one thing, but there’s also the matter of managing communications and connecting smoothly with your customers. With a cloud-based phone system from RingCentral, small businesses are able to walk (and talk) in big business shoes. You can become the wizard behind the curtain, orchestrating spectacular feats with ingenuity and some smart technology.

The Auto-Receptionist is always in and on

Your Auto-Receptionist is the personal assistant that never calls in sick! You or your administrator set the parameters so you can be reached anytime and everyplace. Define the routing criteria, and you’re connected to customers, vendors, and your cycling group, with calls forwarded to multiple numbers and devices, text-to-speech translation of messages, and department-specific messaging. Want someone with a crisp English accent orating your menus for callers? Greetings are customizable, and you can even source professional talent for your recordings. Your three-person organization can perform with the finesse and functionality of a traditionally larger and more established operation.

Unlimited Toll-Free, Local, and Vanity Numbers

Your phone number says a lot about you. Literally it could spell out a memorable word or two. A standard toll-free number, including the classic 1-800 number, tells your customers you’re well established and ensures that your customers can reach you at no cost to themselves. Choose a few local numbers for areas you want to service and instantly become a hot, new, neighborhood business.

Yes, that’s my Department

Getting dumped into a general voicemail box or simply not being able to reach someone in a timely manner is alienating for callers and can send potential customers searching for a more responsive and better-prepared business. Instead, create virtual departments with a group of extensions as a fantastic way to add real structure to your business and make it easy for your contacts to connect with you. For example, create the ‘Sales’ department and when the designated reps aren’t available, the system puts callers on hold until someone can take the call. Hold times can be customized as well, so your callers never feel lost or unimportant.

Get ahead with Call Forwarding

So what happened to the caller on hold for sales? Realizing every second counts and all’s fair in love and brand loyalty, you set Call Forwarding to reach you or another contact after, say, a 30-second hold time. The call instantly goes to your business partner’s mobile phone. If they’re also not available, the call finds the next contact and, as a last resort, it routes to the extension at your poolside cabana in Orlando. You can set specific parameters for After Hours as well and avoid the cost (and antiquated style) of an outside answering service.

The thrill of the (easy) chase

You want your business to be pursued and easily caught. FindMe-FollowMe is the cyber stalker you’re glad to have on your side. You control connectivity by directing incoming calls to any and all your phones, whenever you want. You can even set it to call multiple phones simultaneously, in a specific order and even by date, time, the caller’s Caller ID, or the number dialed.

You had the vision and grit to launch your business, and the progressive thinking to ditch the room full of obsolete and costly phone system hardware. Your contacts will be amazed at how you always seem to magically appear when they need you. Building a successful business starts with the basic steps like establishing a phone system, and being easily reachable by customers whenever they need to reach you.

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Ten Top Microsoft Office Tips

The ten most popular Microsoft Office tips

Takeaway:  Susan Harkins lists ten most popular Office tips published in the Windows and Office Blog, and the now inactive Office Blog.MS_Office_2007_Logo.svg

When considering tips to share, think about ease-of-use and efficiency. A few naturally rise to the top as your favorites. For your commemoration, here are 10 of 2012’s most popular posts from both the Office Blog, which was deactivated in mid-2012, and the current Windows and Office Blog. Thank you for reading, and thank you for sharing your thoughts and enhancements with one another throughout the year.

1: A quick Word trick for typing text into a scanned document

The response to this limited technique surprised me. It’s something only a few will use, but if you’re one of those few, it can be a big help! I was pleasantly surprised at the positive response it received and the way readers enhanced the technique.

2: Use Word macros to save your place in a document

These two short macros make quick work of bookmarking work areas in a Word document. When the built-in navigation techniques just don’t get the job done for you, consider these macros or one of the alternative methods that readers shared.

3: A quick and dirty way to compare columns of Excel data

This quick Go To comparison solution is great for a one-time task. Comparing Excel data is a common task, and I receive frequent questions for solutions. This solution is a great one to add to your bag of tricks.

4: Demystify Excel’s PivotTable feature with this simple method

Sometimes a great tip doesn’t offer a specific solution, but rather guides you to using a feature more efficiently and effectively. Users tend to ignore Excel’s pivot table feature because they don’t really understand it – hence this blog post offers some quick insight into how to use this feature without mind-bending tricks.

5: Create a dynamic Excel chart and make your own dashboard

This blog post is one of my favorites. I enjoyed sharing the technique, but more than that, I loved the way the readers jumped in to help one another with a step I accidentally omitted in the instructions. TechRepublic readers rock!

6: A quick Excel keyboard trick for selecting large ranges

This technique uses Go To ([F5]) in an unusual way – to anchor two cells, creating a range. The ensuing conversation shared a number of great selection tips!

7: Three tips for rounding Excel time values

Using the right function can help you round up your rounding woes. Excel offers three rounding functions and knowing them all will round out your skills nicely. (Okay, I promise to stop that.)

8: Three things you must do when you inherit an Excel workbook

I review a lot of workbooks, so this blog was one of my favorites to write. In my experience, performing these three quick tasks when inheriting a workbook can speed up your troubleshooting time. Fortunately, it sparked some insightful conversation into what others do.

9: Launch Word with the most recently used document

Reader response sometimes surprises me, as it did for this easy technique. I hadn’t expected so many great alternatives from the readers.

10: Run a list of rolling credits at the end of your PowerPoint presentation

I’m glad a PowerPoint technique made the top list, but it wasn’t because the readers loved my technique. Mostly, the conversation centered on the typo I missed, and then my lack of proper contrition for said typo. It was fun while it lasted.

Run MSCONFIG from Command Prompt

Go to your Primary Windows Partition Drive (ex. C:) and type the following:
CD Windows
CD PCHEALTH
CD HELPCTR
CD Binaries
Msconfig.exe

450K Yahoo passwords online now: Is yours?

Takeaway: Hackers have posted 450K Yahoo email addresses and passwords online, and hint Gmail, Hotmail, other services are next. How can you check if your users’ accounts are among them?

Hackers posted more than 400,000 Yahoo Voice and email names and passwords and the posting might not be over yet.

Yahoo reps say they are working on the compromised system–not great timing for a beleaguered company enduring what Yahoo chair Alfred Amoroso called a “tumultuous” time for the company. The firm apologized in an online statement and did not comment further at this writing.

Not a Yahoo user? IT pros and security experts worry this most recent hack on Yahoo – allegedly perpetrated by a group calling itself d3dd3 – is likely “way bigger than Yahoo,” said Marcus Carey, in a Reuters report. Hotmail, MSN, Live, Gmail and other personal services are at risk, too, he said.

NOTE: If you want to check your own or other users’ Yahoo emails to see if they are part of the current leak, there’s an easy way to check here at Sucuri Malware Labs. Just type in the email address and search.

Plan for next time

Change passwords. Consider training customers on utilities like Lastpass. IT pros we interviewed across the board said users in enterprises who use open cloud-based email services, or other non-enterprise communication methods like Skype or Google Groups, should, at the very least, be using such utilities, which provide more control and protection in case of events like this one.

With so much data potentially compromised via users relying on such BYOD services as these, “the process (to avoid future attacks) is much easier if (users) have Lastpass,” said John Livingston, a tech pro for the American Red Cross in Savannah, Georgia. “Time to change your Yahoo, Google, Hotmail, and AOL passwords. And with LastPass, each site and service has a unique password, which limits damage if the password does get out. Changing passwords then is quick and easy. Plus if you’re a manager you don’t have to worry about remembering a new password.”

“Once this clears, I will be changing the passwords for Gmail, even though there’s no confirmation on that (hack) yet,” said Brian Geniesse, who works the IT tech desk at his firm in Monominee, Michigan. “Also be careful. Password managers can be hacked just the same.”

Yahoo is to blame ultimately, most IT pros we interviewed told us.

“Shame on Yahoo for not running normal security audits on (its) networks – and services that would have detected the SQL injection vulnerability (reportedly) used in the attack,” adds Dan Phillips, an IT pro in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada.

Geniesse expanded on that with a message that will resound with most IT pros and CTOs. Most people use weak passwords–see below.

“You can preach the use of LastPass and the like until you are blue in the face but users will never change their habits unless you force them,” Geniesse said. And “Yahoo needs to force some kind of password complexity to help protect their users.”

So many folks are checking the hack post, the hackers allegedly responsible are having trouble maintaining traffic load. Due to high traffic on this group’s site, the page with the Yahoo hacked emails and passwords is going up and down. We caught part of it in a cut and paste.

When it was up earlier today, it read in part:

We hope that the parties responsible for managing the security of this subdomain will take this as a wake-up call … not as a threat …

There have been many security holes exploited in webservers belonging to Yahoo … ?that have caused far greater damage than our disclosure (today). Please do not take (the posting) lightly. The subdomain and vulnerable parameters have not been posted to avoid further damage …

The author quotes author Jean Vanier from his book, Becoming Human: “Growth begins when we begin to accept our own weakness,” Vanier wrote.

If you’re a Star Wars, Star Trek or comic book fan, just change your passwords right away, other observers add. And talk your users into it to. Check this out: CNET’s Declan McCullagh wrote a program to analyze the most frequently used passwords using data from the post of 450K email addresses and passwords. He listed:

  • 2,295: The number of times a sequential list of numbers was used, with “123456? by far being the most popular password. There were several other instances where the numbers were reversed, or a few letters were added in a token effort to mix things up.
  • 160: The number of times “111111? is used as a password, which is only marginally better than a sequential list of numbers. The similarly creative “000000? is used 71 times.
  • 780: The number of times “password” was used as the password. Apparently, absolutely no thought went into security in these instances.
  • 233: The number of times “password” was used in conjunction with a few numbers behind it. Apparently, the barest minimum of thoughts went into security here.
  • 437: The number of times “welcome” is used. With a password like that, you’re just asking to be hacked.
  • 333: The number of times “ninja” is used. Pirates, unfortunately, didn’t make the list.
  • 137,559: The number of Yahoo credentials that were leaked.
  • 106,873: The number of Gmail credentials that were leaked. Hotmail, which was the next most frequently cited e-mail service, had fewer than half the number of users hit.
  • 161: The number of times “freedom” is used, suggesting a lot of patriotic users. “America” was used 68 times.
  • 161: The number of times the f-word is used in some combination. There are a lot of angry people out there.
  • 133: The number of times “baseball” appears as a password. It’s the most popular sport on the list, proving that it is indeed America’s national pastime. It just may not be the best password.
  • 106: The number of times “superman” is used as a password. That’s nearly double the amount of times “batman” is used and triple the frequency of “spiderman.”
  • 52: The number of times “starwars” is used. The force is not with this password.
  • 56: The number of times “winner” is used.32: The number of times “lakers” appears. It tied with “maverick,” although fortunately “the_heat” or “celtics” weren’t on this list.
  • 27: The number of times “ncc1701? is used as a password. For those of you who aren’t trekkies, that’s the designation code for the Starship Enterprise. “startrek” is used 17 times, while “ncc1701a,” the designation for the Enterprise used in later Star Trek movies, is used 15 times.

10 Reasons to use Windows Small Business Server 2011

Protect Your Data. Stay Connected. Save Time and Money.

Get ready to take your business to the next level. With Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard (SBS 2011 Standard) you can get business done faster, be more productive, and stay better connected. For a greater business capacity and a new competitive edge, the time for upgrading to Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard is now.

Top Ten Reasons to Upgrade

Enjoy updated component technologies, increased data protection, and new tools to help you grow your business capacity.

1. Get a Comprehensive, All-in-One Solution:

Get the newest releases of all the SBS 2011 Standard technology components that are designed to deliver an optimal experience for small businesses in an affordable all-in-one solution. The solution suite includes Windows Server® 2008 R2 technologies, Microsoft® Exchange Server 2010 SP1, Microsoft SharePoint® Foundation 2010, and Windows Software Update Services. Also, Premium Add-on includes Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard and Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 for Small Business.

2. Simplify IT Management:

Manage common IT tasks and address technology issues before they occur with a unified view of the health and security of your computers and servers in the network from one administrative console.

3. Run Line of Business Applications:

Get access to the large Windows Server 2008 R2 ecosystem of applications as the SBS 2011 Standard is built on Windows Server 2008 R2 code base.

4. Stay Connected to the Business:

Provide your users the freedom to securely access all of their communications—e-mail, voice mail, instant messaging, and more—from virtually any platform, Web-browser, or device to get more done wherever they are with the integrated Exchange Server 2010 and Microsoft Outlook® Web Access (OWA) capabilities.

5. Access Business Information from Virtually Anywhere, Anytime:

Get direct, secure access to your files, calendars, tasks, and contacts through any common browser, from virtually anywhere.

6. Built-in document collaboration:

SBS 2011 Standard features Microsoft SharePoint® Foundation Services 2010 – the newest version of Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services. It powers exciting new features and capabilities that help you collaborate securely online—no matter where you are.

7. Simplify IT Management:

Reduce the cost of deploying and maintaining your network with streamlined setup and deployment for both the server and clients

8. Easy Migration:

Easily migrate to the new platform with enhanced migration tools, extensive pre-migration checks, and prescriptive guidance.

9. Simplified Back-up for Business Data:

Help protect your vital business information from loss with automatic backups and recover accidentally deleted files in the event of disaster. With easy-to-use interfaces and backup capabilities, you or your IT consultant can gain better control of your data, PCs, and network.

10. Keep your Network Healthy and Up-to-Date:

Help ensure the health of your network and keep your PCs and servers current with easy-to-read “green check” reports that give you a quick view of PC and server status, antivirus status, Microsoft software updates, and backup progress.

10 tips for speeding up Outlook

Takeaway: Does Outlook’s pokey performance have you gnashing your teeth with frustration? Try these simple fixes to give it a kick in the pants.

If you’ve used Microsoft Outlook for a while, you know that it can slow down… way down. In fact, when not looked after, Outlook can become nearly useless. Fortunately, there are several things you can do to make Outlook not only usable, but significantly improved. And none of these techniques requires a single configuration change to your Exchange server (IMAP or POP3).

Of course, some of these suggestions might seem to have a bit more “‘duh” factor than others. But you never know what level of skills you’re dealing with, so we’ll cover all the bases. In the end, you should have a much faster Outlook experience.

1: Update Windows

Many people don’t realize that with Windows updates, the updates for Microsoft Office are also “hidden.” But it’s not just the Office updates that can help speed up Outlook. Make sure you allow the updates to happen. Why? There are times when Microsoft might update Exchange. In some cases, those updates can either break or cause problems with the communication between Outlook and Exchange. Or Microsoft might issue a patch to the application to resolve a speed issue or security hole.

2: Download Complete Items

When you connect Microsoft Outlook with either IMAP or POP3, you should have Outlook set up to download the complete message (instead of just the header). If you do this, Outlook won’t have to sync with the server every time you click on a new item (as it will already be in the data file.) How you do this will depend upon which version of Outlook you’re using. But basically, you’re looking for the setting Download Complete Item Including Attachments.

3: Archive your Inbox

I can’t tell you how many times I see clients with thousands upon thousands (and in some cases tens of thousands) of emails in their Inbox. This can cause serious issues, especially when using PST files. Instead of just letting those Inbox folders grow to outrageous proportions, set up auto archiving so that your Inbox retains only a portion of those emails. I like to tell clients to keep the current and previous months’ email in the Inbox and archive everything else. When you archive, you effectively create a new data file, so Outlook doesn’t have to strain against the weight of an oversize PST or OST file

4: Use Cached Exchange Mode

If you use Cached Exchange Mode in Outlook, you effectively take the data file from the server (PST) and cache it on your local machine (OST). This can go a long way toward speeding up your Outlook experience because Outlook doesn’t have to read its data file across a network. Instead, all it has to do is read the locally stored data file. This option (obviously) is available only when connecting Outlook with an Exchange server.

5: Compact your PST File

When the Outlook PST file gets out of hand, a built-in tool can keep the size of that file under control. One of the issues is that even when you delete email from your Inbox, the size of the PST file may remain the same. If you’re using Outlook 2010, you can go to Account Settings | Data Files and select the data file to be compacted. Once you’ve selected the file click Settings | Advanced | Outlook Data File Settings and click Compact Now. Depending on the size of your data file, this process can take some time.

6: Repair your PST File

Scanpst is often my go-to tool when Outlook is acting off kilter. It will scan through your data file and look for data inconsistencies and errors. Here’s the thing about Scanpst — it’s not always the easiest tool to find. Do yourself a favor and search through your C drive to locate the Scanpst.exe file. Make note of its location (usually within the Office installation folder). But be forewarned: This tool can cause PST files to become unusable. Make sure you back up that data file before you start the repair tool. Fortunately, should Scanpst find errors, it will prompt you to make a backup before it attempts to fix the errors.

7: Cut down on the published and shared calendars

Yes, it’s easy to publish and share your calendars with others. The problem is, the more you do it, the more drag you’re putting on Outlook. The more data Outlook has to share and pull down from the Internet, the slower it will perform. Sure, it’s fine to have one or two shared calendars (and even more if you have a lightning-fast data pipe). Just know that the more data you have to push and pull, the slower your connection will be.

8: Disable RSS

By default, Microsoft Outlook will sync RSS feeds from Internet Explorer to the RSS reader in Outlook. If you have a lot of RSS feeds bookmarked in Internet Explorer, that syncing could easily bring Outlook to a crawl. Disable this feature (if you don’t use Outlook as an RSS reader) from within Outlook 2010 by going to Options | Advanced and then unchecking both options under RSS Feeds.

9: Disable add-ins

How many times have you installed some program only to find it installed something else behind your back? This can happen to Outlook as well as Internet Explorer. Sometimes those add-ins can cause major Outlook slowdowns. To find out what add-ins you have installed in Outlook 2010, go to Options | Add-ins. Select COM Add-ins from the drop-down and click the Go button. The resultant window will list all add-ins available to Outlook. Search through this list and uncheck any that might seem suspect.

10: Fix ShoreTel Windows 7 Integration

If you use the ShoreTel Communicator, you might notice some issues when trying to open and use Outlook. The problem lies in an incompatibility issue between ShoreTel and Windows 7. The fix is simple. Open up the Task Manager and look for a process called Agent.exe. Right-click that entry and click Properties |Compatibility. Choose the Run This Program In Compatibility Mode For option and then select Windows XP (Service Pack 3).

Other Tricks?

There’s no reason why anyone should have to struggle with a bogged down Outlook that will have you pulling your hair out strand by strand. These tips should help you enjoy a much speedier and reliable Outlook experience.

What other methods have you found for improving Outlook performance? Share your suggestions with fellow TechRepublic members.

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