SBS 2008 - REMOTE ACCESS TO FILES

Outlook Web Access can be used to view or open any file in a shared folder on the servers in an office run by Small Business Server 2008.

Small Business Server 2008 improves many things about remote access to an office network. The main screen for Remote Web Workplace makes it easy to use Outlook Web Access or connect to an office computer, with nothing extraneous to confuse anyone.

Outlook Web Access in Exchange 2007 is so much improved that some people will use it instead of installing Outlook to access their Exchange mailbox. I just discovered another feature which is so good that it will figure prominently when I talk about SBS from now on.

There is a new "Documents" button in the Exchange 2007 version of Outlook Web Access.

Once it is configured, anyone can click on "Open Location" and put in the name of a shared folder in UNC format - \\ServerName\SharedFolder. The window on the right shows the name of the subfolders and files. At any point a location can be added to Favorites by clicking a button at the top. The folder names are shown at the top in a breadcrumb display to make it easy to navigate.

Most office users will be looking for files created in Word, Excel, or Acrobat. Double-clicking on a .DOC, .XLS, or .PDF file launches it in those programs, if they're installed on the remote computer.

Right-clicking on the file name provides the option to view the file in Internet Explorer or send it by email.

Documents cannot be saved directly back to the server - this is only a method to retrieve files.

This is extraordinary! I'm looking forward to introducing my SBS offices to this feature.

TECHNICAL NOTES

This feature is not enabled by default in SBS 2008; it has to be set up by opening Exchange Management Console with administrator privileges and opening Server Configuration / Client Access. Right-click on OWA and click on Properties to see the options for Remote File Servers. I was following the instructions in Eriq Oliver Neale's wonderful new book Windows Small Business Server 2008 Unleashed but found one error. When you click the Allow button, the only allowed entry is the name of the server, not the network path to a shared folder. (And don't use the FQDN for the server unless that's necessary for some reason - the presence of a period in the server name will cause it to conclude that you've designated a FQDN and you'll have to add the domain suffix in the next section of the window.)

There are a huge number of ways to tweak the behavior of various file types to prevent opening something or require the web viewer for something else. The defaults are just fine for small offices. Once I figured out what to put in the Allow dialog, it started working instantly, with the exception of the web viewer for PDF files. That's on the list of things to fix someday.

Labels: network, Office, Outlook, remote, SBS

posted by bruceb at 1/05/2009 12:05:00 AM | permalink

SBS 2008 - SSL CERTIFICATES

Let me give you a quick overview of the kind of issue that makes it fun to be a consultant.

When you go to a web site where any personal information is going to be exchanged, you're likely to see the web site address change from http:// to https://. The data is encrypted (has a "Secure Sockets Layer" or SSL) and is reasonably well protected against eavesdroppers. You'll see it at banking sites or almost anything involving money or payment, as well as on web sites for access to company networks and other places where data should be confidential.

When you go to http://www.wellsfargo.com/, the bank's web server presents its security certificate from a known certificate authority, a big company that has done some checking to ensure that the server actually belongs to the company whose name is on the web site. Your browser examines it and agrees that it looks authentic, then it does some cryptographic things that convince it that the certificate was really issued by the big trusted authority. When it's satisfied, it proceeds automatically to https://www.wellsfargo.com/ and shows you a happy padlock icon in the address bar.

Until recently, SSL certificates were only used by big companies: they were expensive, required annoying paperwork, and the whole process was technically difficult.

Small Business Server 2003 wanted remote users to log into its great Remote Web Workplace over a secure SSL connection but couldn't saddle small businesses with the headache of buying expensive certificates, so it used a workaround. By default an SBS 2003 server presents a "self-signed certificate." Essentially the server vouches for itself and tells your browser that it's safe and trustworthy.

That sounds a bit flaky but it worked well enough for a long time, until security concerns began to trump everything else. Business people began buying Windows Mobile phones to sync their Outlook folders over the air and for a while it was possible to convince them to accept the SBS server's self-signed certificate, but it got harder and harder to accomplish - it required finding the right tool to install the certificate on the phone and the manufacturers were nervous about giving people access to the depths of the phone's operating system to do that. Now it's almost always impossible.

Meanwhile Microsoft began to add new security warnings to Internet Explorer as part of its hardening over the last few years. Now when you go to a site with an SBS 2003 certificate, you get this ominous warning:

If you go past the scary warning to the company's RWW site, you get the unhappy red IE address bar instead of the happy padlock:

Fortunately, a few companies began offering inexpensive SSL certificates with a minimum of fuss. GoDaddy.com offers SSL certificates for only thirty dollars per year that are accepted by most computers, phones and other devices. SBS consultants began to work out elaborate documentation for installing them on SBS servers. Many consultants made it a standard part of setting up a server running SBS 2003.

SBS 2008 still begins with a self-signed certificate but a wizard is included in the initial setup checklist to help purchase a third-party certificate.

The wizard wasn't helpful to me in a migration where I already had a domain name with an existing certificate. I found myself burrowing deeply into IIS and feeling my way through the process. I was successful but it took some interesting tricks to get everything to work correctly.

The experience exposed another interesting feature of Exchange 2007. If a company runs the web site http://www.bigfirm.com/, it can set up http://remote.bigfirm.com/ as a subdomain that leads to their internal company network. Set the company's MX record for incoming mail to http://remote.bigfirm.com/ and give that address to the business people for remote access. SBS 2008 has wizards to help get the domain names registered and set up in Exchange.

Then if a business person goes home and sets up Outlook 2007 for an Exchange Server at http://remote.bigfirm.com/, Outlook will configure itself automatically with the settings to connect over the Internet to Exchange Server at the office. It's not necessary in that case to configure the deep proxy settings that have been required until now to set up Outlook for RPC over HTTP. Microsoft thinks the technology is so cool that it blessed it with a new brand name, "Outlook Anywhere." (SBS 2008 does some of the magic to accomplish that, thank goodness - otherwise it requires deep surgery in ADSIEDIT and the Exchange command line console.)

That works fine, I'm sure, but I used a different naming scheme when I bought domain names for all my SBS clients for their remote access. SBS 2008 does not like that arrangement one little bit. And it's only easy to set up a subdomain and manipulate MX records if you have full DNS control over the ISP for http://www.bigfirm.com/. A small business will frequently have set up their web site with small hosting companies and web site designers that are, shall we say, not always easy to work with.

You see what I mean, I'm sure - it's fun!

Labels: domains, IE, Internet, mail, Microsoft, mobile, Outlook, phone, remote, SBS, security

posted by bruceb at 12/03/2008 12:46:00 AM | permalink

WINDOWS LIVE SYNC REPLACING FOLDERSHARE

There was finally an official notice and some details about the plans to replace Foldershare with a new program named "Windows Live Sync" in December. Here's the blog post with the announcement today. If you're unfamiliar with Foldershare, I wrote this description a couple of years ago.

The program(s) do a simple job: they keep a folder in sync on more than one computer. You can have a folder on your desk at the office and another one on your desk at home, and the files will always be the same in both places - as long as both computers are online and running the software at the same time. If you edit a file at home, the edited version will be waiting for you at the office. You can share a folder with others and files will be copied among everyone, avoiding the need for email attachments. This is genuinely helpful in many circumstances but it was tricky to set up and I've known many people who found it confusing to use.

Microsoft purchased Foldershare a few years ago and is now revamping it so it fits with the other "Windows Live" branded programs. Among other things, that means that access to the new Windows Live Sync will be controlled by your Windows Live ID, just like all the other Microsoft services, instead of the separate, unrelated name and password used by Foldershare.

The migration to Windows Live Sync will cause some disruption for some Foldershare users - basically, if you've been using Foldershare then the new service will automatically begin syncing the same folders among your own computers but you'll have to re-create the shares with other people.

Windows Live Sync will allow you to sync up to 20 folders with 20,000 files each, doubling Foldershare's limits. That's nice but not what I expected. The service allows two computers to talk directly to each other with virtually no involvement by Microsoft's servers other than connecting the computers - I don't understand why you can't connect virtually unlimited folders and files.

Reportedly there will be particular attention paid to photos in the new program, making it simple to make your photos available on all of your computers as well as integrating with Windows Live Photo Gallery somehow or other.

So that's all great, but you'll see one question asked over and over in the comments to today's announcement: why does Microsoft have two programs - Foldershare/Windows Live Sync and Live Mesh - that perform almost identical chores? Does it make sense to learn Windows Live Sync and start using it when Microsoft appears much more committed to Live Mesh?

That's a good question. There's no answer to it at the moment.

Labels: file_sharing, Microsoft, remote, web_services

posted by bruceb at 11/21/2008 01:27:00 AM | permalink

LIVE MESH UPDATE

Windows Live Mesh has just been updated, as of about noon on Thursday 10/30. If you are using it already, you will be notified to install the update; it will stop working until the update is installed on each computer running it. If you are not using it yet, it has been fully opened up to everyone - read about it, make sure you have your Windows Live ID set up, and you are free to sign up.

Windows Live Mesh is a place to store files online, a program that runs on your computer to keep folders in sync on multiple computers, and a way to get remote access to your computer from anywhere. Live Mesh now supports Macs, and limited testing has begun for Windows Mobile devices. (Click here for more information about the Windows Mobile client.) You will be able to take a picture with your cell phone and have the photo show up immediately on your PC and your Mac, or share files with anyone by sharing a Live Mesh folder so they can access it online or synced to their own computer.

The remote access is extremely well designed and will make it unnecessary for most people to pay for a subscription to LogMeIn or GoToMyPC. Connecting from one computer in your Mesh to another one is a single click - hover over the Mesh icon and click on "Connect." Files can be transferred between the local computer and the remote computer by dragging and dropping copying and pasting them.

[Addendum 10/31: Although files can be transferred between the local and remote computers by copying and pasting them, Live Mesh does not currently support dragging and dropping them. Live Mesh Remote Desktop also apparently does not implement any support for printing at all, so you can work on your remote computer but you can't print something directly on your local printer. Those will be compelling reasons for some of you to use LogMeIn Pro instead of Live Mesh for remote access!]

Other updated features:

• Tips for new users.
• Better support for large monitors in remote sessions.
• Permission levels for shared folders - creator, owner, contributor, reader.
• Drag and drop files between your PC and Live Desktop.
• Multiple file upload to Live Desktop.

Microsoft showed only a couple of applications built on the Mesh framework at the PDC this week. The BBC demonstrated a Meshified version of its iPlayer, an extremely popular service in England for watching TV shows online. The Mesh version will remember what you've watched and spread that information to all your devices. If you watch part of a show on your computer, the episode will start where you left off when you tune in on your cell phone or on another computer.

But that's just a taste of what's coming. Under the hood, Live Mesh has been moved to the Windows Azure framework that Microsoft announced at the PDC underlying all of their upcoming web services, and it's powerful stuff indeed. You are watching and taking part in a transition that will affect you just as deeply as the initial shift to the Internet. I'll write more about that in the next few days!

Labels: Apple, file_sharing, Internet, Microsoft, mobile, remote, software, Vista, web_services, WinXP

posted by bruceb at 10/30/2008 12:51:00 PM | permalink

DELL REMOTE ACCESS

Access everywhere! Lots of interesting services are being set up to make it easy for you to have access to files, folders, photos, and computers from anywhere, whether it's working on an office computer from home or bringing up pictures from your home computer on a mobile phone.

The latest entry comes from Dell, strangely enough. Dell just introduced Dell Remote Access, a ten dollar per month service for a number of tasks loosely related to "remote access." It's designed to be extremely easy to use. You'll install some software on the computer to be controlled; the software will run continuously and periodically check in with Dell Server Central Command. Then when you go to my.dellremoteaccess.com and log in, you can control your computer remotely as if you're sitting in front of it. That's not all, though! You can stream music and photos to your remote device or upload files to the computer running the Dell software. Plus one more interesting feature that I haven't seen before - you can send a link to someone by email that gives them an encrypted connection to a folder on your computer, so they can look at pictures, say, with very little fuss.

Here are a couple of places where people say nice things about the new service. The people saying those nice things work for Dell. Haven't seen much feedback from the real world yet.

That's pretty cool stuff, and you might want to try it, but I'd offer two thoughts before you jump in.

This is an increasingly crowded field. You have alternatives to choose from at a range of prices, with simple or difficult interfaces, and with similar or different features. You can jump into whichever one gets your attention first - just be aware that's what you're doing. LogMeIn will let you run its software and connect remotely to a single computer for free; its paid subscription adds very easy file transfers and the ability to email a link to a single file on your computer. GoToMyPC is slightly more expensive and aimed more at business users. Windows Live Mesh is a free service from Microsoft that will let you connect remotely to a number of computers, along with file and folder sharing and syncing and more to come; it's a little complicated to get started but might be worth the learning curve for its extra capabilities. Windows Home Server sets up remote access and photo sharing along with its file storage and backup features. Businesses running Microsoft Small Business Server already have remote access to their office computers using Remote Web Workplace.

Which leads to a point that gets more important all the time. A new program or service requires a commitment! Do not install programs or sign up for services on a whim! Each program will require time to learn its features and its quirks; it will require periodic attention to keep it up to date when security issues inevitably appear; if it's a good choice, it will require time to figure out where it fits in your life or your business. You'll likely have another web page address to memorize and another login name and password to add to the notes you can never find when you need them.

There are exciting new services out there! Choose them wisely and stick with the ones you choose so you can make them work for you. If you flit from one new thing to another, installing programs and abandoning them quickly,  you'll wind up talking to me about why your computer is slow and programs are crashing. You'll be depressed when I click on your Start menu and nod my head sadly and give you an economics lesson in the cost of cleanup versus the cost of a new computer.

With that in mind, get connected remotely! You don't have to leave computers behind any more.

Labels: computers, Internet, Microsoft, mobile, phone, photos, remote, SBS, software, web_services

posted by bruceb at 10/21/2008 01:36:00 AM | permalink

GETTING STARTED WITH WINDOWS LIVE

I routinely set up a Windows Live ID for my clients when they get a new computer. There are many programs and online services in the world; Microsoft's programs and services under the Windows Live name are well designed, free to explore, and reasonably simple - a good choice for people who want to do some new tricks without being overwhelmed.

Here are the steps to get started.

Windows Live ID is a single sign-on service from Microsoft that allows people to log into many websites and services with one account. A Windows Live ID is an email address and a password stored in Microsoft's servers. It's free. Follow the instructions here to log in with your Windows Live ID, or set one up if you don't have one already. If you're at your own computer, check all the boxes to sign in automatically and remember your password - the services will then work automatically.

Download and install Windows Live Photo Gallery, a free program for viewing and editing your photos. It's an upgrade for the version of Windows Photo Gallery included with Vista, and also runs on Windows XP. It includes an easy way to share photos online for free. Here's more information about Windows Live Photo Gallery.

• Be careful when you install Windows Live Photo Gallery! You'll have the option to install other Windows Live programs; only install the ones that you are genuinely interested in. Watch the checkboxes on the right - if you're not careful, your Internet Explorer home page will be changed and you'll get an unnecessary extra toolbar.

Explore Windows Live Skydrive, a free place to store and share files online. It is a genuinely useful service, completely free and very easy to use! You'll have access to the files stored in Skydrive from any computer, and you can set up easily that can be shared with someone else, or left open for anyone. Once you're familiar with it, it can be very handy! Here's more information about Windows Live Skydrive.

Windows Live Mesh is (a) a place to store files online, (b) a program that runs on your computer to keep folders in sync on multiple computers, and (c) a way to get remote access to your computer from anywhere - and in the future it will do more! It's a little more complex to get started with but it's already one of the most interesting services available. There's basic information about the service here, and notes about how to get started here. (If you get a message that the Mesh service is not available in your country, it's a glitch - the instructions to solve it are here.)

The world is already flooded with online services, and this is just the beginning of a very big transformation indeed. We're moving from complete dependence on our usual computer, to a much more amophous relationship with a number of computers and other devices that communicate with each other and a mix of locally installed software and services running up in the cloud. Stay sharp! Things are changing.

Labels: file_sharing, Internet, Microsoft, photos, remote, software, web_services

posted by bruceb at 10/13/2008 12:49:00 AM | permalink

RESTORING A CRASHED COMPUTER WITH WINDOWS HOME SERVER

Windows Home Server deserves more recognition. It had a nasty bug that took too long to cure but that's over now and it's back to being the helpful tool that I described a year ago. It offers safe storage of your files and photos,  easy ways to share your photos and other files, and remote access to your computers from anywhere. The best devices - like the HP MediaSmart EX475 - are attractive and easy to set up.

One of the best tricks for Windows Home Server is the way it backs up computers on your home or small business network. Every night, WHS does a backup of each computer in a technically marvelous way that uses a very small amount of storage space. By default, it keeps 3 months of monthly backups, 3 weeks of weekly and 3 days of daily. That gives you a lot of power to recover a file that is accidentally deleted.

The real magic happens if a hard drive fails on one of the computers backed up by the Windows Home Server. This article explains how a marriage was saved by WHS when the blogger's wife had a laptop failure. Here's what he describes:

• A CD is provided with WHS (or downloaded from Microsoft) that can be used to start the computer after the bad hard drive is replaced with a brand new one.
• The software on the CD starts the networking on the failed computer and locates the Windows Home Server.
• The WHS identifies which computer is connecting (probably by the MAC address) and offers to restore the computer.
• The backup image is able to be copied to the computer very quickly, and the computer is immediately usable when the restore is finished - it is literally identical to its state at the time of the backup.

According to the blogger, his wife's laptop was operational 11 minutes after he gave the command to perform the restore.

That's just cool stuff. Vista Business has a similar process called "Complete PC Backup & Restore" but it can't be automated - almost no one knows it's there. Windows Home Server doesn't ask any questions or require any knowledge - it just does the right thing.

You might want a server for your home. We might talk about it for your small offices. There's some good technology here.

Labels: backup, hardware, Home_Server, remote

posted by bruceb at 9/08/2008 12:05:00 AM | permalink

SETTING UP LIVE MESH

Microsoft's Live Mesh service, now in beta testing, has the most promise of any of the online services. With an easy setup, you can make your files available on multiple computers, you can share files with other people, and you can access your computers remotely, all for free. At the moment it only works on Windows PCs but soon it will be possible to add Windows Mobile devices and Macs.

Let me take you through a simple setup to help you get started.

Your use of the Live Mesh service starts with your Windows Live ID, the free email address and password that Microsoft uses to set you up with its services. Here are the instructions to set up a Windows Live ID. Have your Windows Live ID in mind before you start, and make sure your Live ID account shows "United States," per my instructions.

Now go to the Live Mesh web site, www.mesh.com, and click on Sign In. Provide your Live ID credentials and accept the license agreement on the next screen.

You should be taken directly to the main Mesh screen, shown on the right.

Click on the "Add Device" button. You'll be adding the computer you're sitting at by installing a small piece of software. It will take 3-4 minutes to install the software. (It hasn't frozen. Wait for it.) When it's done, you'll have a distinctive new icon by the clock.

Now click on the "Live Desktop" icon on the main Mesh screen. You'll be looking at your "Live Desktop." It will have icons for files and folders but don't get confused - these folders are online, not on your computer.

Add a folder and give it a recognizable name - "My Synced Files," say. Now close the browser window! You're done with "Live Desktop" for now.

Minimize all your open programs so you can see your computer desktop. Within seconds, a shortcut named "My Synced Files" will appear on your desktop.

When you click on it, you'll be asked where that shortcut should lead. By default, Mesh offers to set up a new empty folder on your desktop with the same name. Take that choice for now. The folder on your desktop will quickly turn to a translucent blue. It's now part of the Mesh system.

It's just a folder. You can put any files you want into it. You can fill it with Word documents and open them and edit them just like any folder. It's just a folder.

But everything in it will be automatically copied to the online folder. Every change will be copied online. If you delete a file from My Synced Files on your desktop, it will be deleted from the online copy automatically. You don't have to do anything, it just happens.

So put some files and folders into "My Synced Files"! Don't go nuts. Put in 50 files, not 5,000. It works with 5,000 but you'll get impatient and think it's broken. Put in some folders full of files.

The reward comes when you sit down at a different computer.

If you have a second computer, go to the Mesh web site on the second computer and log in with the same Windows Live ID, then click "Add Device" to install the software. After it's installed, you should have the same shortcut on your desktop to set up "My Synced Files."

• If that shortcut doesn't show up automatically, then go back to the Mesh web site and click on Live Desktop. When you right-click on "My Synced Files" and click on "Change Sync Settings," you'll be able to change your second computer to sync "When files are added." You'll immediately have the same shortcut on your desktop to click on to establish that you want "My Synced Files" to appear on your second computer desktop. Within minutes, the "My Synced Files" folder on your second computer will be filled with all of the files that are on the first computer.

From now on, when you change a file in that folder on one computer, the changed file will be there on the other computer right away, automatically. The two computers will always be in sync.

Let's reiterate. Once this is set up, you will work with your files on your computer, in the folders on your desktop, just like before. You don't need to "upload" files to Live Desktop - just save them into "My Synced Files." In fact, normally you'll never visit Live Desktop from one of your own computers except to set up a new folder.

Try that to get started! It's only a taste but you'll be past the hard part. Here are just a few things to look into when you've gotten your bearings!

• You can add existing folders on your computer by right-clicking the folder name and clicking on "Add folder to your Live Mesh." I'm syncing my Internet Favorites folder on my desktop and laptop, for example.
• You can share a folder that's been made into a Mesh folder. It's easiest to do that from Live Desktop - open the folder in Live Desktop, then click on the bottom of the right hand column where it says "Members."
• The person you invite will get a nice email invitation. It will lead them through installing the software and giving them shared access to the Mesh folder. Remember, they need to have a Windows Live ID ready, and they need that email invitation to lead them to your folder.
• You can share a Mesh folder; you can't share subfolders inside the Mesh folder.
• You can log into www.mesh.com from another computer and see all the files in Live Desktop. You should be able to download them or open them at that new computer but I've seen some bugs in that process.
• More interesting - you can log into www.mesh.com from any computer, click on one of your computers, and click on "Connect." If the computer is turned on, you'll start a remote desktop session that allows you to control the remote computer as if you're sitting at it. This is very, very cool.

This is a beta service. Test it carefully, with backups of important data, but by all means test it! This is one of those times when you can gain new powers that you do not currently have. Enjoy!

Labels: file_sharing, Internet, Microsoft, remote, Vista, web_services, WinXP

posted by bruceb at 9/05/2008 12:05:00 AM | permalink

LIVE MESH OPEN FOR TESTING

Microsoft is developing a platform capable of lots of interesting tricks. I wrote about Live Mesh a few months ago; now an updated version is ready for testing and it's quietly been made available to anyone with a Windows Live ID. You can get started at www.mesh.com.

FILES ARE SYNCED ON MULTIPLE COMPUTERS AND ONLINE AUTOMATICALLY

Live Mesh starts with online storage space where you can create folders and store up to 5Gb of files. A small bit of software is installed to integrate the "Live Desktop" into Windows so the online folders can be accessed easily.

The next step is to add a computer to your "mesh" and tell Live Mesh to sync a folder on your hard drive with a folder in the online Live Desktop. Immediately, all the contents of the folders are synced back and forth, and any changes in the future at either location are synced right away.

Now add a second computer and similarly designate a folder on the second computer to receive a copy of the same files. Now everything is in sync in folders on both computers and in the online folders. When you make a change on either computer - add a file, edit a file - the change is immediately synced so all locations are identical.

Random trivial example: I set my Favorites folder to sync on both my desktop and notebook computers, so I've got a constantly updated list of Internet favorites in both places.

FOLDERS CAN BE SHARED SO MANY PEOPLE CAN WORK ON THE FILES

Okay, now add someone else to share one of those folders. When they install the Live Mesh software and designate a folder on their computer to hold the files, they'll get a complete copy of the folder synced on their computer, and any change they make is immediately reflected on your computers. A log is displayed whenever you look at the folder to show what changes happened recently and who was responsible.

That's powerful stuff for collaboration. It's similar to the online storage with Windows Live Skydrive and Office Live Workplace, but with easier access to the shared files and more information about what's happening with them.

REMOTE ACCESS TO COMPUTERS RUNNING LIVE MESH

This is exciting! From the Live Mesh website, you can start a remote control session with any computer running the Live Mesh software. The software starts a Remote Desktop session easily and does some technical magic to avoid firewall problems. Reportedly it allows remote control of a computer running Vista Home Premium, which is not otherwise able to host a Remote Desktop session.

MORE

The recent update added the ability to sync folders among several computers without also storing a copy online, which might be useful in some circumstances. This makes Live Mesh almost completely overlap the features of Foldershare but with much added functionality. It's hard to predict but it sure looks like this will make Foldershare irrelevant.

You can find a long writeup of Live Mesh features and lots of screen shots here.

Microsoft is designing Live Mesh as a platform that will be extended to mobile devices and other operating systems (including Macs), and that will be able to do many more things in addition to file syncing and remote access. I can see the possibility that it will become a standard tool for many of us.

Labels: file_sharing, Microsoft, remote, web_services

posted by bruceb at 7/16/2008 02:01:00 AM | permalink

REMOTE WEB WORKPLACE TRICKS

If you work in a business run by Microsoft Small Business Server, you probably know about Remote Web Workplace, one of the best things Microsoft has created in the last few years. With just a few clicks, an SBS user can bring up the company's RWW web site and connect to an office computer using Remote Desktop.

Recent changes caused by service packs and security updates have changed that experience a bit. At some point you may need to know a few new tricks.

INSTALLING THE ACTIVEX CONTROL IN VISTA

The first time a connection is made to an office computer with RWW, a small Remote Desktop ActiveX control has to be installed. On Vista computers, I could not get the ActiveX program to install - I'd click the bar and say OK and be taken right back to the message asking for it to be installed.

If that happens to you, click on Start and type in "Internet" so you can see Internet Explorer on the menu. Right-click on IE and click on "Run As Administrator." (You won't have that choice if you right-click on IE where it always appears at the top of the Start menu.) That session of IE will run with elevated permissions and you'll be allowed to install the ActiveX control when you return to the RWW site. Once it's installed, IE can be run normally and it will start the session just fine.

ENABLE THE ACTIVEX CONTROL IN WINDOWS XP

Susan Bradley reports that the Remote Desktop ActiveX control may be disabled after installing Windows XP Service Pack 3. You'll get this screen:

Click on the little gear at the bottom to bring up IE7's controls to manage addons, or click on Tools / Manage Addons / Enable Or Disable Addons. You can enable the Microsoft Terminal Services ActiveX control there.

SCARY SECURITY MESSAGES

There's new Remote Desktop software with some security improvements, a few improvements in video quality and speed, and improved support for Vista and Windows Server 2008. But it adds a security warning that looks alarming, even when you're connecting to a computer you know is safe.

If you're connecting to your business network or a safe computer, go ahead and connect.

It's a little like the unnecessarily alarming screen that appears when you connect to the Remote Web Workplace web site, if your company server is using the server's default security certificate. The warnings are really poorly chosen for SBS users! Everything's fine - click OK to go to your company server if you see this screen.

Labels: IE, remote, SBS, Vista, WinXP

posted by bruceb at 5/08/2008 12:56:00 AM | permalink

MICROSOFT LIVE MESH

In 2006, Ray Ozzie took over the title of Chief Software Architect from Bill Gates at Microsoft. Ozzie was instrumental in the development of Lotus Notes and his company Groove Networks was folded into Microsoft in 2005, leading to Microsoft Groove, one of the less well known programs included in the Microsoft Office family. Last week he announced some details of the project occupying his time for the last couple of years, Live Mesh.

Although the first group of testers is getting a look at Live Mesh, the service is still in its infancy. The features that are visible now overlap other Microsoft services, so it's hard to know whether this is revolutionary or just another half-baked proprietary service that will be advertised badly, like so many of Microsoft's recent products.

If we give Ozzie the benefit of the doubt, then Live Mesh represents a long-term effort to develop Microsoft services that are not focused on the old vision of a user sitting at a single computer. Live Mesh assumes we will be using multiple computers, smart phones and cameras and other mobile devices, and participating in multiple online communities - email, instant messages, text messages, online social networks and more. Live Mesh is intended to unify all of those, acting as the infrastructure to unify those devices and services and share information seamlessly with others.

Let me underscore the significance of that. Microsoft is developing an online cloud in which a computer is just one of many components. It is the first time Microsoft has embraced something that competes with (and potentially undermines) its lucrative Windows and Office franchises.

At the moment Live Mesh includes only the ability to sync files and begin remote desktop sessions on connected devices. File syncing is easy to understand: imagine that you've got a collection of photos.

• Live Mesh stores that folder online, so it can be accessed from any computer running any operating system.
• It allows you to create a hub of devices that each have a copy of that folder - the photos can be edited on your computer or displayed on your phone or played in a slideshow in your living room. When you edit a photo on your computer, the updated version is immediately synced with all the other devices.
• You can share that folder with others, who might just view the photos or might be given permission to edit them.

That's basically a combination of Foldershare (sync folders among multiple computers and share folders with others), and Windows Live Skydrive (store files online). Users of those services have been hoping for them to be consolidated, but that may wind up being superseded by Live Mesh. Microsoft often acts like a collection of little fiefdoms that don't communicate well; this is the kind of overlap that deserves a clear vision and a single coherent choice for users.

It's also exciting to think about easily being able to start a remote desktop session. From a web site, connect to your office computer, drop a file into your Live Mesh folder, and have it appear on your notebook computer a few seconds later - that's good stuff! It's possible to do that now with LogMeIn (and it's one of the best features of Windows Home Server) but it gains much value if it's part of a unified system.

File syncing is only the first and simplest function of an interface that's being developed to support far more. At the moment it's rudimentary and limited to PCs, but support for Macs and mobile devices will appear shortly. There won't be a final product until much later this year.

If you want a long explanation of the service and how it fits into Microsoft's past and future, this article gives the background and details about program features.

And if you want to put it in perspective, here's a smart guy blowing up and predicting that Live Mesh spells corporate doom for Microsoft, "a confused company with no control over its creations and a new direction with each passing day. It demonstrates a core Microsoft frustration that partners, developers and now even customers are avoiding Microsoft for: A series of incomplete and incoherent solutions for general information technology use." And he makes a good point:

"This amazing company, with billions of dollars invested in software creations supported and utilized by tens of thousands of partners worldwide has decided to scap all that and provide yet another incomplete synchronization framework to live in complete void of all its desktop applications existing sync features. I suppose the sync, presence, and access in Grove, SharePoint, Outlook, DFS, ActiveSync, Exchange ActiveSync, Live.com Office Live, FolderShare, Spaces, Live Messenger and Office Communicator was just too perfect that it needed no improvement, but a better way of unintegrated document-based sync was necessary.

"This from a company whose new slogan is 'Better Together'?"

Labels: file_sharing, Microsoft, mobile, remote, web_services

posted by bruceb at 4/28/2008 12:46:00 AM | permalink

REMOTE DESKTOP FOR MACS

Microsoft has updated its Remote Desktop software for Macs, allowing them to connect to a computer running Windows XP Professional or Vista Business and control the Windows computer just as if sitting in front of it.

Remote Desktop has been so thoroughly optimized on Windows computers that menus pop up and down, windows appear and disappear at virtually full speed, sounds are played, until it's easy to forget that the computer under control is in a different office (or across the world). I won't be using the Mac software but it is also reasonably mature at this point; Mac users can hope for a similar experience.

For most people, however, Remote Desktop does not work over the Internet. It's possible to configure a firewall to forward port 3389 to a computer and control it with Remote Desktop but it's difficult to set up and it's not secure.

Businesses running Small Business Server can use Remote Desktop over the Internet because SBS does a special trick - it sets up a web page with an ActiveX control that can start a Remote Desktop session on office computers. SBS users can use Remote Desktop to control their office computer from any PC running Internet Explorer, anywhere in the world.

Mac users cannot take advantage of that SBS function - and as far as I know, the new Remote Desktop software for Macs does not change that. People with Macs at home that want to work remotely with an office PC should look at LogMeIn, which has software that runs on both PCs and Macs.

So the Remote Desktop software for Macs is really only useful for computers in the same network - using a Mac to work remotely on a PC across the room or down the hall in the same home or office. That's useful but not quite as exciting as it looks at first.

Labels: Apple, computers, Microsoft, network, remote, SBS

posted by bruceb at 4/11/2008 12:14:00 AM | permalink

WINDOWS HOME SERVER DATA CORRUPTION

The products developed using Microsoft's Windows Home Server software do a number of extremely useful things - backups, remote access, file and photo sharing, and file storage - using a very smart mixture of new and old technology.  Here are some notes about Windows Home Server from last year.

Unfortunately, a bug has been identified the causes data on the server to be corrupted in rare circumstances.  It affects a very small number of people and only occurs under very specific conditions, and it has been very difficult for the Windows Home Server team to track down.  But the effect is potentially devastating - especially to WHS' reputation - because a server that cannot be trusted to save files is useless. Here's an FAQ about the bug, and here's Microsoft's Knowledge Base article about it.

More details are emerging about the data corruption bug.  Apparently the fix will require a significant retooling of one of Home Server's core components, so the team predicts that the fix will not be available until June.  AnandTech just wrote a detailed explanation based on the available information and some informed guesswork, sympathizing with the difficult problem faced by the team but also noting the sad reality of the effect on WHS' reputation:

"The media will eat this up (and we?re just as guilty) and this will tarnish the product?s name for the rest of its life; customers don?t need to understand an issue to understand that a product is imperfect and that they should stay away from it. Yet data corruption is a serious issue that isn?t acceptable and can?t be ignored.

"Perhaps the worst bit however is that as an OEM-only product, Microsoft is not exerting any real control over what the OEMs do about the issue until the corruption problem is fixed. As of right now retailers are still selling OEM servers with 2+ drives (making them susceptible to the bug) and computer enthusiast retailers are still selling the OS itself, all with no notice about this bug. WHS is a good product where plenty of functionality can still be used even with the presence of the bug (e.g. backups) but we have serious problems with it still being offered for sale given these problems. WHS is already heavily tarnished due to this bug, there?s no (okay, some) shame in cutting one's losses and halting all sales of the OS until the bug is fixed, even if it won?t affect most users.

"Ultimately it?s a damn shame to see something like this happen, no one is going to be a winner. Windows Home Server will be fixed, but only after a lot of grief for the developers and a lot of concern for server owners. Thankfully current server owners can take steps to prevent the corruption issue entirely, but at a cost of functionality, and we don?t doubt some people will still feel insecure about their data even after taking those steps. For the time being WHS is dead in the water. It?s a promising product that is not suitable for further sale given the potential severity of the bug. It also undermines a great deal of confidence in Microsoft that will take some time to recover."

Do not buy a Windows Home Server device until this is resolved. When it's resolved, go back to Windows Home Server with enthusiasm; this should not detract from its features or diminish its potential.

If you own a Windows Home Server device:

1. This does not affect backups.
2. This does not affect remote access or file/photo sharing.
3. This does not affect single-drive devices.
4. This does not affect word processing files stored on the server.

If, however, you are streaming media from the server or routinely moving very large files on and off it while other file operations are in progress, you should look very closely at the support bulletins about this problem.

Labels: backup, computers, hardware, Home_Server, Microsoft, network, remote

posted by bruceb at 3/17/2008 12:28:00 AM | permalink

FOLDERSHARE UPGRADE

FolderShare, Microsoft's invaluable free utility for syncing and sharing folders among multiple computers, has gotten a long overdue upgrade.

Foldershare starts with a free account - just a login name and a password. It is not yet tied in to the "Windows Live ID" that Microsoft uses for other services; that will likely happen at some point. A small bit of software runs on your computer while you're logged in.

The software can then sync a folder or a group of folders with another computer - your own or someone you know. Whenever a file is added or changed on either computer, FolderShare updates the file on the other computers.

That's surprisingly powerful! It's a simple concept but it gets more interesting as you think about it. Here are some notes about FolderShare with more details about how the program works.

Most of the setup is done at the FolderShare web site, which has been completely redesigned. It's got the same layout now as the Windows Live Skydrive service for online storage of files (which also might be integrated with FolderShare in the future).

An interesting additional feature of FolderShare - from the web site you can connect to any of your computers running the software and download any file from that computer, including files from mapped network drives.

Current FolderShare users can get updated software by going to the web site and clicking in the upper right corner on "Install FolderShare." I don't see any huge changes in the updated software but the menus are reorganized and clarified. Reportedly performance on Windows Vista is improved and the back end servers have been beefed up.

The FolderShare team promises to keep a new blog running with regular updates; here's the post about this upgrade. This forum is also a good place to check for news and troubleshooting.

Labels: file_sharing, Microsoft, remote, software, web_services

posted by bruceb at 3/11/2008 09:20:00 AM | permalink

WINDOWS HOME SERVER DEBUTS

Microsoft's Windows Home Server just arrived on the market - and it's what you want for Xmas.

I'll give you a short overview and some links for you to click on, but let's do some superlatives first. Windows Home Server is the coolest technology to arrive in years! It's innovative, it's beautifully designed, it does a lot of exceptionally useful things in elegant ways, and it's open for third parties to extend it in the future. This is seriously good stuff.

Let's get oriented. Microsoft has created software named "Windows Home Server," but you won't buy the software separately. You'll buy a device made by HP or Iomega or Intel or a host of others that runs the Windows Home Server software.

Look at that image above and shrink it in your mind. The device you pull out of the box will look more like an oversized toaster than a computer. The HP MediaSmart in the picture is less than ten inches tall.

And that's all there is. No keyboard. No mouse. No monitor. You'll attach it to your router with a network cable and plug it into electricity. You're done setting up the hardware!

You'll install some software on your computer that will take care of the actual setup. In a series of easy-to-understand screens, you'll make a few choices that get the Windows Home Server started. Sooner than you realize, it will be doing its tricks.

What does it do? A lot, more than I can convey in a few words. The categories are backup, file storage, computer monitoring, and remote access.

BACKUP

Every computer on the network is backed up automatically, every night.

The backups can be used to restore individual files or to restore an entire computer after a hard drive fails. There's technical magic to make the backups take an amazingly small amount of storage space, and there's design magic to make this easy to use.

FILE STORAGE

Your computers will have easy access to folders on the Windows Home Server for documents, photos and video. You'll be able to get to those folders as easily as you get to your My Documents folder now - no complicated trips through Network Neighborhood.

Most Windows Home Server devices will have two or more hard drives. You won't know anything about that - you'll just see a single place to store things without having to look for an F: or a G: drive. Windows Home Server will be using technical magic to store duplicate copies of your stuff - if a hard drive fails on the Windows Home Server, your files will still be there.

If you plug in more drives (internally or by plugging in external USB drives), Windows Home Server will absorb them and you'll have more storage space. If you unplug them, you'll have less storage space. Your files won't change either way.

COMPUTER MONITORING

Windows Home Server will be checking all the computers in the house to see if they have security issues, if their hard drives are running out of space, if there are any backup problems. You can have a single icon by the clock on your computer to give you feedback - if it's green, all the computers are in good shape; if it's yellow or red, something needs attention. If your computers are running Windows Live OneCare, it will be integrated soon so the single icon will alert you to any computer in the house that is dealing with viruses or spyware or needs updates installed.

REMOTE ACCESS

You'll be able to access your Windows Home Server from anywhere, using a web browser and a name that you choose during setup (e.g., "http://bruceb.HomeServer.com/Home"). You'll be able to download files, display photos, and do searches. You'll also be able to send links to other people to photo galleries and folders on the Windows Home Server - no need to upload photos to an online service. You might need help configuring the router, but other parts of remote access are as easy to set up and use as everything else.

If you have a computer running Windows XP Pro or Vista Business, you'll also be able to access it remotely through the Windows Home Server web page, controlling it with Remote Desktop from anywhere.

It's worth reiterating that the design for all these controls is gorgeous and intuitive. Here's the remote access portal, for example:



Go read about Windows Home Server!

Start with Microsoft's web site for Windows Home Server - click the links, read the hype, watch the cheesy demo.

Go through Paul Thurrott's review, or Gizmodo's review and screen shots.

HP worked hard to add cool features to the HP MediaSmart Server, which has a much better demo. HP's Reviewer's Guide is one of the best introductions to Windows Home Server features, as well as highlighting the work done by HP to enhance its photo sharing and other features. Here are screen shots of some HP features. Amazon is taking pre-orders for the HP MediaSmart servers, which will be shipping within a week or two.

There's a flood of hardware and software heading for the market built around Windows Home Server. (Here's a blog that's keeping track of it all.) But avert your eyes - most of you will never add anything to what comes out of the box, and I don't want you to get the impression this is complicated.

Despite the name, I fully expect this to be an essential tool for small businesses. It even has the community of Small Business Server consultants buzzing - although it duplicates some of the functions of SBS, Windows Home Server also offers such dazzling technology for file storage and workstation backups that it may have a role in networks based on SBS.

You trust me, right? Trust me. This is fun, it does things with technology that you couldn't do before, and you'll be able to make people say, "Ooohhhhh." You want one of these!

Labels: backup, computers, hardware, Home_Server, Microsoft, network, photos, remote

posted by bruceb at 11/08/2007 12:05:00 AM | permalink

LOGMEIN FREE
LogMeIn Free is a completely free service that gives you remote access to your home or office computer, any time, from anywhere.

Remote access services run software on your home or office computer that discreetly maintains a connection with the online servers run by that service. When you're at another computer, you browse to the service's web site and log in with a name and a password. With a couple of clicks, the desktop of your home or office PC appears in front of you, as if you're sitting there. If both ends have a decent Internet connection, everything responds quickly. The architecture is secure but it neatly bypasses the firewalls at either end.

At one time, GoToMyPC was the best-known name, and it continues to be a worthwhile service, but it also continues to be expensive - $19.95/month for a single PC.

LogMeIn was established in 2003 and has quickly built an impressive collection of programs for desktop remote control, data backup, file sharing, remote system administration, and on-demand customer support. I'm using LogMeIn Rescue to offer remote support to anyone, anywhere. It has transformed my business completely, as many of you know. LogMeInBackup does backups from one computer to a different computer at a different location automatically.

The flagship product is LogMeIn Pro, for desktop remote control; LogMeIn Free is a stripped-down version of that service, offering remote access to a single computer for free - no strings, no advertising.

It can be oddly liberating to realize that an office computer is readily available any time. The basic functions offered by the free service are enough for most people who have any reason to want remote access.

The paid service (about half the cost of GoToMyPC) adds two worthwhile features: the ability to send print jobs from the home or office computer to the printer sitting beside you at your remote location; and a couple of ways to transfer files easily from one location to another using a built-in file manager or by literally dragging and dropping in My Computer.

There's one additional feature in LogMeIn Pro: when the software is installed, LogMeIn Sharing appears on the menu when you right-click a file and click on Send To. It generates a web link that you can forward to a friend that allows the friend to download a file directly from your computer regardless of its size. It's another way to move a big file without trying to send it as an e-mail attachment.

If you'd like to try LogMeIn, here's a complete walkthrough of the process of installing the software and using the various remote features. Try it!

Labels: remote, web_services

posted by bruceb at 10/15/2007 12:05:00 AM | permalink

BRUCEB REMOTE SUPPORT
Providing support by phone is far more effective when the person at the other end can see your screen. I'm in a position now to work with your computer remotely at your request - any time, anywhere.

Remote computing has been around for a while, but it's only recently that it has become ubiquitous for small businesses and individuals. (Large businesses have relied on terminal services and Citrix and the like for years, but computing has always been a whole different world at that level.)

PCAnywhere was the pioneer; it allowed remote control of another computer way back in the early days of DOS and modems, and continued to be the only widely-known method of remote control through much of the 90s. It was neglected and never got a badly needed overhaul to make it friendly to use, and web services like GoToMyPC began to take its place.

The web services continue to be a good way for individuals to get remote access to their desktop computers, but they require a monthly subscription and software installed and running on the computer being controlled.

Windows XP Professional and Vista Business have built-in software for remote control, Remote Desktop. Businesses running Small Business Server have all their workstations set up with Remote Desktop; SBS Remote Web Workplace uses Remote Desktop to allow SBS users to work remotely with their own office computers, and administrators use it to support all the workstations from the server.

It's not as easy for others to take advantage of Remote Desktop, because it's blocked by most firewalls and routers until some configuring is done. (Microsoft introduced slightly different technology, "Remote Assistance," in Windows XP but you've probably never heard of it because it's virtually impossible to run through a firewall or router.)

And then magic happened recently when web services began to appear like LogMeIn Rescue and WebEx Remote Support. You sit at your computer and download a very small piece of software, which reaches out to a remote support person in a way that does not alarm your firewall. The support person is able to see or control your computer as if he or she is sitting there. When the session ends, the software leaves your computer; no permanent change is made and no opening is left for any uninvited intruders.

Businesses that purchase expensive software are now more likely to have the vendor offer to do the installation by getting on the company server remotely. I've had software vendors doing sales presentations and training in remote sessions set up on the fly. Dell was reportedly going to provide support in remote sessions, although I have yet to run into that in the real world.

There's a new link for bruceb remote support at the top of the bruceb favorites page. If I'm at my desk, I can be looking at your computer thirty seconds after you invite me, helping out or doing housekeeping or solving a problem. I'm running LogMeIn Rescue and it's working like a charm.

This is marvelous technology, it's fun (the first time you see your mouse moving around on the screen is always interesting), and it lets me be more effective at getting your problems solved efficiently. Cool!

Labels: bruceb, remote, web_services

posted by bruceb at 8/24/2007 09:14:00 AM | permalink

ONLINE FILE HOSTING & SHARING
Slowly but surely the world is migrating away from software running on your computer to services hosted online. The only divisions at Microsoft that are profitable rely on sales of software - Windows, Office, and Windows Server - but even Microsoft has begun to acknowledge that the future belongs to web-based services. Here's an article about some recent vague announcements about "cloud computing" that will power future Microsoft services, according to CEO Steve Ballmer.

There are two problems commonly faced by small businesses today: moving large files from place to place, and making files accessible online for collaboration. E-mail is inefficient for large files; many of the online portals for large companies are only practical with expensive hardware and full-time tech support staff.

There is no shortage of companies to fill these needs! Here's a list of eighty web-based companies offering online backup services, sending services for large files, and online storage and file sharing. Many are free or have basic free services; prices are typically low on the rest. I haven't sampled more than a handful but so far I haven't found services that have the right combination of features, ease of use, security, and longevity. Things to consider:

• Does it work? When I tried Mozy's online backup, it did not work. How much time do we have for testing?
• Is it so easy that busy people can figure it out intuitively? Services for sending large files typically put a copy of your file online, then send a link by e-mail for a specific recipient to download the file. Will the recipient know what to do when that message arrives, in an age where we trust nothing that arrives by e-mail? There are a lot of businesspeople and lawyers whose lives revolve around their e-mail but have only a rudimentary knowledge of what to do with anything more complicated than a file attachment.
• How can security be arranged for the online file so only approved people can get to the file? Services that facilitate setting up little areas with password-protected access quickly become too complicated for small businesses without an onsite tech person.
• And last, an intangible but important consideration: how long will the online service be in business? Using any of these services regularly requires an investment of time and emotion to learn them and trust them. When one of them disappears, it feels like a betrayal.

All of the eighty services in that article are worth looking into, but I haven't found any that I'm actively recommending yet. My guess is that a few of them will rise to the top in the next few years.

Labels: backup, file_sharing, mail, network, remote, web_services

posted by bruceb at 7/31/2007 12:30:00 AM | permalink

WINDOWS LIVE HOTMAIL - OUTLOOK CONNECTOR
If you've been following along, you know that you can get a free Hotmail address and use the very attractive new Windows Live Hotmail online service to read your mail.

Microsoft has now released the free "Outlook Connector" that allows you to use Microsoft Outlook 2003 or 2007 on your home or office computer, and always be in sync with the online webmail. E-mail and contacts are synced immediately and continuously.

• I've been talking about this for a while - here and here.


• Microsoft's team developing Windows Live Hotmail made this announcement.


• Microsoft set up this page with more information.


• There's an extensive review and screenshots here.


• Download the Outlook Connector here.

It's possible to sync your Outlook calendar with the online Windows Live Hotmail calendar, so you have access to your calendar wherever you are, as well as allowing others to see and edit your calendar if you choose. Disappointingly, the calendar sync is not free - it requires a paid premium Hotmail subscription or a subscription to Office Live.

If you're using Outlook but you want to be able to view your mail and contacts while you're away from your home or office, it's finally possible. Look into it, or ask me about it!

Labels: mail, Outlook, remote, web_services

posted by bruceb at 6/18/2007 01:10:00 AM | permalink

WINDOWS LIVE MAIL
Windows Live Mail has been released in nearly final form for Windows XP and Vista. It's an important step forward but only if you're able to keep Microsoft's e-mail programs straight.

These programs run on your computer:

• Microsoft Outlook - full-featured mail/calendar/address book program sold as part of Microsoft Office


• Outlook Express - streamlined mail program included with Windows XP


• Windows Mail - updated version of Outlook Express included with Windows Vista


• Windows Live Mail - the brand new mail software for Windows XP & Vista; when installed, it replaces Outlook Express and Windows Mail

These e-mail services run online in Internet Explorer:

• Hotmail - Microsoft's longtime free webmail client


• Windows Live Hotmail - the new name for Hotmail, now with an optional new interface that closely resembles the various desktop programs

Windows Live Mail was released a few days ago. Here's one of the announcements, and here's where you can download it.

It does one important new thing - such a wonderful trick that it may change the way some of you handle your mail. Windows Live Mail automatically syncs with Windows Live Hotmail.

• While you're at your computer, you can use Windows Live Mail - a fast, dedicated program with none of the disadvantages of webmail. Right-clicking always does something helpful and you'll never accidentally browse to a different page in the middle of checking your mail.


• While you're away, you can log in to Windows Live Hotmail from any computer and see exactly the same things in the mail folders and in the address book.

If you send a message from your desk, the message will be in Sent Items when you check Hotmail online. If you update an e-mail address on Hotmail, the new address will quickly be in your desktop address book.

The Windows Live Hotmail team has promised a connector to Microsoft Outlook that will sync mail, contacts and calendar items. No word yet on when to expect that connector, although it should be soon. But many of you don't need the full version of Outlook (and it's no longer included with the inexpensive Student version of Microsoft Office 2007). Windows Live Mail is a very nice mail program, with up-to-date security features and built-in spam filtering, just perfect for many people.

If you've been using another webmail service and wishing it was better, or using Outlook Express and wishing you could check your mail when you're away from your computer, think about whether you can change to a Hotmail address. This combination makes it worthwhile.

Labels: mail, Microsoft, Outlook, remote, web_services

posted by bruceb at 6/04/2007 12:05:00 AM | permalink

WINDOWS LIVE HOTMAIL & OUTLOOK

Windows Live Hotmail got its official launch yesterday, and the announcement included a compelling detail: Microsoft will make a free connector available to sync Windows Live Hotmail with Outlook. This may affect you more than you expect.

A month ago I wrote up some notes about the improvements in the new generation of web mail clients - Windows Live Hotmail and Yahoo Mail. Yesterday's announcement adds an important piece that wasn't clear before. Let me try and explain why this is exciting news for individuals and small businesses without a server.

• Many of us prefer using Outlook for its rich integration with other programs on our computers, for the well-designed e-mail interface, the junk mail filter, and the full-featured calendar and address book. It has been increasingly frustrating, though, that Outlook is only available when we are sitting at our computers. Remote access solutions are available, hosted Exchange accounts are available, but those are workarounds, not elegant solutions.


• The webmail clients are available anywhere, and the new generation is quite nice to work with onscreen - but it's not quite the same as having a program running locally on our own computer, and they don't integrate as well with other programs or handhelds.

The free Outlook connector for Hotmail is the answer to both needs. When you're sitting at your computer, you can use Outlook. When you're away from your computer, you can access the same information - the same mail folders, calendar, contacts and tasks - using Windows Live Hotmail in a web browser. And the key to it is that Outlook syncs with Windows Live Hotmail, so changes in one place are transmitted to the other. Write a message in Outlook, it will turn up in the Sent Mail folder on Windows Live Hotmail. Add an appointment in Hotmail, it will be in the Outlook calendar.

There are three things to bear in mind:

• This is a brilliant, long-needed improvement to e-mail systems for individuals and small businesses without a server - if it works, meaning it does its job with a minimum of bugs and technical glitches.


• It won't be available for a few weeks.


• And there's one requirement that's inherent in the system: for most of you, it will require using a Hotmail e-mail address.

It's possible to use your existing address but it requires fumbling a bit to forward your existing mail to your new Hotmail address, and your messages will have an odd sender - "FROM: bruceb@hotmail.com on behalf of bruceb@bruceb.com."

The Windows Live system can also take over all mail addressed to a domain name ("@bruceb.com"), or help set up a new one. That's a cool idea - families can set up domain names and each person can have their own e-mail address, accessible via webmail or Outlook or both. It's well-hidden but available under the name Windows Live Custom Domains.

I'll let you know when the Outlook connector is available!

Addendum: here's a lengthy review of the new Windows Live Hotmail, and here's a deeper discussion of the r