User Friendly Computer Services

Home and small business computer services located in Mt. Airy, MD. Check out http://www.userfriendlysupport.com

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Microsoft Exchange, Outlook and Activesync

So can you connect Outlook 2013 to Microsoft Exchange using Activesync?

The short answer is no.

Long answer:

I ran into this weird issue on a consultation where the client had a Windows Surface Tablet and Microsoft Outlook 2013.  They wanted to connect to their company's Exchange 2010 server using Activesync but it just would not work, even though the "connect using Activesync" option is RIGHT THERE in the setup dialogue.  Activesync was working fine on the company side -- the client's Android phone was getting mail from Exchange perfectly -- so what was up with Activesync?

Doing some research, I found this

Essentially, Outlook 2013 can connect to some things using Activesync and Exchange accepts Active sync connections from some other things, but connections specifically between the two are not supported.

At all.

Microsoft simply believes there are better ways of connecting Outlook to Exchange than Activesync, like MAPI, so they don't support it.

So how do you get your Surface Tablet connected to Exchange, you ask?

Don't use Outlook.  Use the built-in mail app native to your Surface Tablet.

Launch the Hotmail app from the tile interface (usually on then upper-left on the home screen) and, if you haven't yet configured it for a Microsoft mail account, do so.  This step is vital; there's no other way to make this app work.  Even if you will never use this account, set one up.

Once Hotmail or MS mail is configured, touch the right margin on the screen.  A "settings" menu will pop up.  From there, select "Accounts."  Microsoft Exchange will be an option.  Form there, you can simply enter your work email address and password and your mail app will do the rest. 

One caveat: remember that you will need to change your password on the app when your work password changes.

I hope this helps you!  Good luck and thanks for reading.

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Delete one public folder in Exchange 2010

This one is for the pros out there who work with Exchange 2010.  I had to help one client delete a single public folder on an Exchange 2010 server because they couldn't figure out how to do it.  It was surprisingly not straight-forward.

In the old days, this was simple.  Launch the Exchange GUI, find the folder, delete.  Unfortunately, most of this generation's server-side products from Microsoft are relying more and more on shell commands.  It used to be that admins had a choice of going GUI or command line and both methods would share the same functionality.  With the newest line of products, including the latest flavors of Exchange and SharePoint, some functionality is now Shell-only.

Deleting a public folder falls into this category.  After a lot of scouring online, I found the commands.  I repost them here with hopes that it saves another busy IT pro some time.  Enjoy and good luck!

This first example deletes the public folder called "Game Schedule." This command assumes that the Resolved public folder doesn’t have any subfolders.

Remove-PublicFolder -Identity "\Game Schedule"

This example removes the public folder called "Game Schedule" and all its subfolders because the command runs recursively.

Remove-PublicFolder -Identity "\Game Schedule" -Recurse: $True

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This is amazing.  Today, 5MB is too small to even consider buying to put in your pocket as a USB flash drive.  More info is on Snopes.

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Quick data-saving links

In our last post,  we discussed malware and wiping your computer to save it.  Before wiping your computer, you will want to save any data because formatting a hard drive is just that: everything will be gone.  If you don't want to lose your pictures, MP3s, documents and more, you'll have to get it all off the old computer.

You could boot in Safe Mode and there are different ways to get to it, depending on your version of Windows.  I prefer an easier way, and that's using a Linux bootable CD.

Last time I had to perform a wipe and rebuild for a client, I used a Ubuntu Linux bootable CD.  This flavor of Linux has an easy-to-use interface that will be familiar enough for Windows users.  Just download the ISO file and burn it a CD (the link I just gave gives plenty of instructions), then boot the infected computer from it. The operating system runs from the CD and will see your computer's hard drive, but will not launch Windows.

From there, you can attach a USB hard drive or memory stick to the computer and copy your files over.  Once that is finished, your computer can be formatted and you can put back the old data later.

Good luck, and always contact a computer repair professional in your area if you need assistance.

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Infected computer! Clean or rebuild?

This is a tough one.  One service we offer at User Friendly is virus/spyware/malware cleanup.  Our standard deal is that we will try to remove the harmful software at $70 per hour for up to two hours.  We do this using automatic techniques, including removal apps such as Spybot S&D and Malwarebytes and also with manual removal techniques, thoroughly researching the malware and attempt to extract it bit by bit if our efforts to remove it with applications fail. 

Because this is time consuming, we cap our efforts at two hours.  If we can't fix it by then, we just charge $35 or our lost time and advise our customers on how to arrange a wipe and rebuild.  We usually charge around $80 for that.

Malware is written to do a variety of nasty things and it is coded to be persistent.  It has a habit of leaving bits of itself all over a computer and reinstalling itself despite our best efforts.  In many cases, a total rebuild is preferable to even trying to clean an infected PC, saving time and money.

Just a word of caution, though.  A total wipe means just that.  You will lose everything on the hard drive.  A reputable computer repair professional will perform their best efforts toward saving all documents they can and it is up to you to provide the OS and any software. 

So should you clean an infected computer or rebuild it?  It depends on how much time you have, how much you're willing to spend and whether you have copies of your original software.  Evaluate these things, discuss the matter with your computer repair professional and you will be able to make your best informed decision.

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Out with the old...

Hi guys, friends, customers, strangers and the rest.

Apparently, blogging is passe and now Tumblr is the new thing.  We try our best at User Friendly to be cutting edge, so we're moving all helpful articles and new content here.  Please watch this space for interesting articles, news on sales and special offers, cat pictures and more.  

In the meantime, please visit www.userfriendlysupport.com or email us at [email protected] if you are located in Mt. Airy, MD, Frederick, Damascus, Germantown, Gaithersburg or anywhere nearby and need expert, affordable computer repair and tech services for your home or business.  Thanks and we hope to see you soon!