Amy's Blog

iPhone 2.0 (3G) and Microsoft Exchange

2008-07-16T01:32:00Z

A Wiki has been set up to keep track of iPhone issues with Exchange. It will prove to be a wealth of information as more people use the iPhone ActiveSync client to sync their Exchange mailbox with their iPhone.

One thing to note is that tasks and notes do not sync. This is by design.

http://sites.google.com/site/iphoneexchangeissues/

New iPhone 3G coming out!

2008-07-08T19:29:00Z

The new iPhone 3G is coming out on Friday. It will support ActiveSync with your Hosted Exchange mailbox. Exciting times!

Here is a link to Apple's video about the new phone: http://www.apple.com/iphone/guidedtour/

There is question about whether the Consumer Data Plan will work for ActiveSync. It may require the Enterprise Data Plan. I called the local AT&T store and posed this question, and the person I spoke with very obviously had no idea. Please check with them when you purchase your new iPhone, to make sure it's on the correct plan. As soon as I get confirmation from someone about the requirements, I will post the information here.

For current iPhone owners, there will be a software update available that will add ActiveSync to your phone.

Review by USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/edwardbaig/2008-07-08-iphone-3g-review_N.htm

Review by NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/technology/personaltech/09pogue.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Review by Wall Street Journal: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121555740704037313.html?mod=2_1571_topbox

iPhone 2.0 software will be released this Friday

2008-07-08T17:36:00Z

The new iPhone 2.0 software will be released this Friday (July 11th). Here at Lanlogic, we are very excited about this new software because it will include ActiveSync. ActiveSync will sync your email, calendar, and contacts between your iPhone and your Hosted Exchange mailbox.

In addition to ActiveSync, there are also additional supported languages, contact search capabilities, additional attachment support, and an expanded calendar.

For more information, visit http://www.apple.com/iphone/softwareupdate/

How to Backup Outlook Archive and Personal Folders (.pst) files

2008-05-12T16:27:00Z

How to Backup Outlook Archive and Personal Folders (.pst) files

Microsoft released a new add-in for Outlook to automatically create backup copies of your .pst files.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=8B081F3A-B7D0-4B16-B8AF-5A6322F4FD01&displaylang=en&Hash=imRK7Klk44%2bWac%2bgj8Qc0eD0AizlzMLVz62SwqrA9TrqWYRVY8wsTntqxXgGfJYI2tBu4cQNACnsnH6lEW586A%3d%3d

Windows Vista forgets Recent Programs List

2007-10-02T16:29:00Z

I've had a problem with both of my Vista computers at home since I got them. Whenever the computer is rebooted, it forgets the Recent Programs List and resets it to the default programs (which I don't use at all). After some digging around, I found the solution and wanted to share it. Since my computers at home had this problem with a default installation of Vista, I'm assuming there are others out there with the same issue.

First, make sure you are set to remember recent programs. I was all along, but if this isn't set, then then next step won't fix your problem either. Right-click on Start | Properties. On the Start Menu Tab, make sure the box for "Store and display a list of recently opened programs" is checked.

Now, to what caused my issue....

In the registry, I was missing an entry that essentially makes Vista remember the recent programs. For you, the entry may either be missing, or it may just have the wrong value assigned. Go into the registry and browse to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

In this folder, there should be an entry for "StartMenuInit". If it does not exist, create it as a DWORD entry. It's case-sensitive, so make sure to type it exactly like that.

Once the entry is there, set the value to "3".

Creating this entry fixed the problem.... I can now reboot my computer, and it remembers my recent programs list. YEAH!

iTunes update broke Outlook 2003

2007-08-09T20:05:00Z

We had a customer call in today because Outlook 2003 on this Vista computer suddenly wouldn't open. It gave the generic "failed to start" error. After some standard troubleshooting, we discovered the latest iTunes update included an Outlook add-in to allow Outlook to sync with the iPhone. To get Outlook working again, we simply had to disable the add-in, which can be found under "COM Add-ins", not the Add-in Manager.

I'm not sure if this is or will be a common issue, but it's something to look at if Outlook suddenly has a problem and iTunes was recently updated.

You can verify whether an add-in is causing the issue (either the iTunes one, or some other one) by seeing if you can open Outlook in Safe Mode. If Safe Mode works and regular mode doesn't, you can be pretty sure that it's an add-in problem. If it won't open in Safe Mode either... well, then it's probably something else...

Cannot email attachments through Mail on a Mac

2007-07-11T17:03:00Z

This was an issue that came up with a customer that I had never seen before. He was able to send email fine from Mail, unless it had an attachment (of any size). With an attachment on the email, it would sit in the outbox forever. Ultimately, the solution was to delete the .plist file in Mail. You'll find the file under User/Home/Library/Preferences.

IMAP, Activesync, and the iPhone

2007-07-11T16:23:00Z

There have been many questions recently about the iPhone and it's ability to sync with an Exchange server. The answer to whether it can is yes, with caveats. If you are used to syncing a mobile device with ActiveSync, BlackBerry, or Good Mobile Messaging, you may find yourself surprised by the limitations of wireless syncing with an iPhone. An iPhone, at least as of its first release, will only sync with an Exchange Server as an IMAP client, and then, only if the Exchange Server allows IMAP connections.

With ActiveSync, your device will wirelessly sync email, calendar, contacts, and tasks. With the IMAP connection available on your iPhone, you can wirelessly sync your inbox. That's it. And, don't let the listing on your iPhone for an "Exchange" account throw you off... it's just doing an IMAP connection to the Exchange Server.

Here's hoping that the iPhone will one day support ActiveSync, or something similar, for our Exchange customers!

For detailed information about IMAP and ActiveSync, please see this excellent article : http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2007/07/10/446015.aspx.

Good Mobile Messaging (formerly known as GoodLink) will not support older devices with the upcoming version

2007-04-24T19:00:00Z

Attention all Good Mobile Messaging (formerly GoodLink) users:

We received a notice from Motorola Good Technology about the phase-out of support for older model devices.

Later this year (mid 2007) a new version of Good Mobile Messaging will be released that is not supported (that is, it won't work) on older devices. The devices affected are:

Treo 600
Treo 650
Treo 700w (Treo 700wx is not affected)
Cingular 2125 (also sold under the names O2 IQ, Orange SPV C600, i-Mate SP5, HTC Tornado, Qtek 8310/8300, T-Mobile SDA, Vodafone VDA II, Dopod 577)

All technical support for Good Mobile Messaging on these devices will be phased out according to this schedule:

Treo 600 - support available through 3/31/08
Treo 650 - support available through 8/31/08
Treo 700w - support available through 8/31/08
Cingular 2125 - support available though 3/31/08

Recovering Deleted Items for any folder in your Exchange Mailbox using Outlook Web Access (OWA)

2007-02-07T23:42:00Z

Let's say you accidentally delete an email from your Exchange mailbox. Typically, you would first look for it in your Deleted items folder, and if it's not there, you can look in your deleted items retention queue. Now let's say you still can't find the email. Now what? There is one last chance you have of recovering the email, using Outlook Web Access. This process is also useful if you end up with a corrupt junk mail rule that ends up deleting all the mail from your inbox, and doesn't put it into deleted items.

Open Internet Explorer

Log into OWA with your email account

Once you are logged in, change the URL to:

https: //SERVERNAME/exchange/USERNAME/FOLDER NAME/?cmd=showdeleted&close=1

For example, let's say that I have an account of amy@amy.com on ex14.myhostedexchange.com. To recover the deleted items from my inbox, I would:

1. Go to https://ex14.myhostedexchange.com

2. Log in with amy@amy.com and my password

3. Change the URL to https://ex14.myhostedexchange.com/exchange/amy@amy.com/inbox/?cmd=showdeleted&close=1

Thanks to Brian for this tip!

T-Mobile Dash Hard Reset

2006-10-30T19:59:00Z

How to hard reset T-Mobile Dash

Select Start
Accessories
Clear Storage
Type 1234 in the box
Select YES.

You can sync the Dash with your Exchange Mailbox using ActiveSync 4.1.

Keep Messages and Syncing More Messages with BlackBerry and BES

2006-10-30T19:42:00Z

The "keep messages" option on a BlackBerry device determines how long messages stay in your messages list on the BlackBerry after they are synced. It does not affect how much data is actually synced during the activation, nor does it prompt your device to download older emails when you change it.

The default settings on BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) syncs up to 7 days or 350 messages during the initial activation of the BlackBerry. After that, new incoming emails are synced, and stay on the device until you delete them or they expire according to the "keep messages" option.

It is possible to change the default settings on the BES, however it's a global change that affects all users on the server. And, more importantly, even if you do change it, the maximum number of days it can be set it to sync is 14 days or 700 messages.

Nokia E61 and E62 hard reset

2006-10-20T21:29:00Z

The Nokia E61 and E62 -- new phones that a lot of customers have been getting in the past week. Generally good feedback.

Here are instructions for doing a hard reset:

Go to the home screen
Type in *#7370# (that is, star pound seven three seven zero pound. You do not need to hit the shift key during this)
You’ll get a prompt asking if you want to reset. Select yes.

If you are prompted for a “lock code”

                  Press the bottom left arrow button twice to go into numerical mode
                  For the code, type in 12345
                  Click Okay

If you have Good installed on the phone, when you type in *#7370#, you may get a message telling you to disable all connections first. If this happens, you can remove the Good software.

Applications | Good Installer | Options | Remove
Follow prompts

Emailing Pictures - Best Practices

2006-08-31T14:35:00Z

When you take a picture with your digital camera, the picture is large to improve the quality of printing. If you want to email your photos to share with friends and family, it’s best to email smaller copies of the pictures. This process will not alter the original picture files.

If you have Windows XP and use Outlook or Outlook Express as your default mail program, here is the easiest way to email pictures.

Open My Computer
Find the pictures that you want to email and select them.
Under File and Folder Tasks, select “E-mail the selected items “

Note: If you don’t see “File and Folder Tasks”, go to Tools | Folder Options | General | Tasks and select “Show Common Tasks in Folders.

In the Send Pictures by E-Mail dialog box, select “Make all my pictures smaller”.
Click “Show more options”
Choose a size for your pictures. The small option is suitable for most purposes and will give you the smallest possible file size. This is recommended.
Click OK.
A status bar appears as the file is resized, and attached to a new email.

Fill in the email address, subject, and email body and send your email.

If you are using web-based email, the procedure below can be used to create smaller copies of your pictures, which can then be attached to emails you send out using any email service, using “Image Resizer”. Your original picture file is not altered in any way during the process.

To download the Image Resizer: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx

Using the Image Resizer

Open the folder that contains the pictures you want to resize. In Thumbnail view, right-click any picture (you can select more than one at a time) you want to resize, and click Resize Pictures.
In the Resize Pictures dialog box, click the size you want your photo to be, and click OK. In general, Small is recommended for emailing.

The original file is still intact; and a new, resized file, has been added to the same folder.

Motorola Q - Hard Reset

2006-06-08T05:57:00Z

So the Motorola Q is the hot new thing this week, and probably for some time to come!

How to do a hard reset (which will erase everything) on a Motorola Q

Select Start | System Tools | Master Reset

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6/28/06 - Updated

A couple of people have emailed me because they can't get into the Start menu on their phone to do the hard reset. I spoke to Motorola technical support, and got an email from someone who has been working with pre-production Qs for 6 months, who both told me there is currently no other way to do a reset on the device, other than what I have posted above. But it's definitely a "feature" that I hope will be incorporated into any future versions of the phone.

If you are having problems with your Q already (since they were just released a few weeks ago), don't be afraid to exchange it for a new one.

The Motorola Q tech support line that I called was 1-800-657-7576.

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3/1/07 - Update

A reader reports that a Master Reset can be done on the Motorola Q by pressing and holding the center navigation button and the red power button simulaneously at power up. I don't have a Q here to test with, so give it a try and let me know if it works.

Thanks to redace for the tip!