Steve Galloway - Comstat | Ruthin, North Wales

Webmail goes offline

by Steve Galloway | Oct 17, 2015

For business users who want to send and receive email with the simplicity that comes with Windows Live (formerly Hotmail) and GMail, but without the dreary advertising, Office 365’s Outlook Web Access (OWA) comes with simplicity, no ads, and the same tools available to the corporate world that makes OWA a serious alternative to Outlook for Desktop.

Mentioning Outlook stirs memories of an awkward email client that is too complicated to use and impossible to back up. Nor is there a shortage of clients who have worn out two buttons in Outlook – check mail, and send: Many users are only interested in email; calendars, tasks, contacts, etc. are just bloat. If any of this sounds familiar to you, you are not in the alone, and something that many people have hoped for which provides an advertising-free webmail service for commercial use is available to Office 365 users – Outlook Web Access, or OWA.

OWA is the portal for Microsoft’s Office 365. OWA is a web version of Outlook for Desktop which provides to Exchange Email, a service providing 50 GB of email per user account which can be synced across 5 devices – including sent items, which you will never see with POP accounts. Calendars, contacts, and more are all there too, albeit ring-fenced from email. although they are bound to be there. OWA is Microsoft Exchange. Importantly, whereas Google users expose their email to data mining, Exchange email is a secure content system that restricts access to “your eyes only”. Among other reasons, this privacy feature is why Exchange email is used almost overwhelmingly in commerce.

Perhaps the niftiest trick in Microsoft’s web based email client is the facility to run their email in “offline” mode.

Wait a minute. Read that one more time. Offline? Managing email with your web browser – offline? Did Hotmail ever do that? No. Nobody else did, either. That is why everybody needed Outlook for Desktop, or Outlook Express, or Eudora or Thunderbird. In case you still do not believe the proposition, the illustration above shows how offline mode is not more than two clicks away.

Offline email management is a trump card. Do not expect to see an entire mailbox in offline mode, more like a few day’s worth of traffic, but enough to keep you with something to do on the road. It is one feature of many “gimme’s” Microsoft deploys from time to time to keep the corporate world so attached to Exchange.

The great thing about OWA is that if you only want to run email, the browser interface does just that, and beautifully so on iPads. OWA connects directly to Exchange 2013, though, so all the tools that high end users need like shared address books, distribution groups, rules, instant messaging, administrator tools like mail policies and even in-line archiving, are there if you want them too.

You might be disappointed that this does not mean the end of Outlook for desktops. Outlook still has a place, and if anything has upped the ante as a portal not only for email, but for user access to Office 365 to document folders and Sharepoint mind boggling services ..but that is for another few articles.

For a thirty trial of Microsoft Exchange and OWA, contact Steve Galloway on 07834 461 266 or Fred Dreiling on 07919 340 570. No credit card required for trial services.

Printer email services using Office 365

by Steve Galloway | Sep 12, 2015

The simplest way to set up a network multifunction printer to send captured scans by email is by using SMTP client submission. It allows your printer to log in to an Office 365 mailbox and send mail just like Outlook Desktop does. Emails from your printer are then delivered to your hosted mailboxes or external recipients. This way avoids some of the problems associated with the other configuration options available which is covered here.

Print services: SMTP submission

If your printer has settings for an email address/username and password for the send to email feature, then there is a good chance that it can send using SMTP client submission. The settings needed for SMTP client submission to connect to Office 365 are:

Office 365 Printer Settings

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Limitations

Unless your printer is advanced enough to store multiple mailboxes login credentials, you can only send mail from one mailbox for this option. Also, Office 365 imposes a limit of 30 messages sent per minute for each mailbox.
Other configuration options

We have recently updated the comprehensive configuration document that details the three configuration options for setting up your printer. If the settings above to not work, you should visit the article for its more detailed explanations covering Microsoft’s 3 recommended process for printers/scanners/multifunction devices:

How to set up a multifunction device or application to send email using Office 365

Synchronize files using OneDrive for Business

by Steve Galloway | Aug 29, 2015

These notes explain how to sync OneDrive for Business to a local workstation or laptop.

OneDrive: Saving vs Synchronisation

OneDrive is a reliable and resilient file storage service provided with Office 365. Syncing OneDrive means you can keep copies of files stored on OneDrive locally, so that you can access files without Internet Access to Office 365 services. However, OneDrive provides up to 1TB of storage, and users with large file stores may not have sufficient space to store files locally. Check that you have enough disk space before syncing large volumes of files.

If you want to use OneDrive, but you only need to save files without synchronisation, see these notes.
You can also sync OneDrive to Outlook Desktop. Contact ComStat Support for help about this.

There are some limits to bear in mind:

You can sync up to 20,000 items in your OneDrive for Business library, including folders and files.
You can sync up to 5,000 items in site libraries (Sharepoint), including folders and files.
In any library, you can download files up to 2 GB.

About OneDrive for Business file sync

You can use OneDrive for Business or Sharepoint site libraries to synchronise folders and files to your computer and then access your files from Windows File Explorer instead of using a web browser to manage files. All subsequent updates you make to files saved in OneDrive sync to OneDrive for Business or site libraries whenever you are online.

To use the sync feature, you need OneDrive for Business Sync App. This app is available with Office 365 subscriptions that includes Office 2013 applications like Word, Excel, Outlook, etc. If you do not have Office 2013, you can download the OneDrive for Business sync app from the app store your device’s operating system relies on for Android/Apple/Windows apps.

Sync OneDrive for Business

To sync OneDrive for Business, follow these steps to open the Library tab and select the Sync option.

Open your usual web browser and navigate to http://mail.office365.com
Sign in to Office 365 with your Office 365 email address and password
Select OneDrive at the top of the page, or select the Office 365 app launcher icon, and then select OneDrive. The app launchers looks like this:

Users can start OneDrive’s background sync by finding the Sync button on the Library tab of OneDrive’s ribbon. Like Office apps (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc.), Office 365 apps use ribbons to organize processes. The OneDrive ribbon features a Sync tool on the ribbon’s Library tab. The OneDrive ribbon is located underneath your web browser’s navigation bar. If the OneDrive ribbon is available (see the last screenshot in this article), skip this next step and go to the last step.

If the OneDrive ribbon is not displayed in your browser window, you need to make a minor adjustment to your web browser. Open OneDrive Settings and then click Show Ribbon. Now, you can go to the last step.

Now, click the Sync icon on the Library tab to complete the process.

Aabout OneDrive Synch

OneDrive is a file storage service provided with Office 365. Syncing OneDrive means you can keep copies of files stored on OneDrive locally, so that you can access files without Internet Access to Office 365 services. However, OneDrive provides up to 1TB of storage, and users who manage large file with OneDrive may not have sufficient capacity to synchronise all of their files to tablets and mobile devices. Check that you have enough disk space before syncing large volumes of files.

If you want to use OneDrive, but you only need to save files without synchronisation, see these notes.
You can also sync OneDrive to Outlook Desktop. Contact ComStat Support for help about this.

There are some limits to bear in mind:

You can sync up to 20,000 items in your OneDrive for Business library, including folders and files.
You can sync up to 5,000 items in site libraries (Sharepoint), including folders and files.
In any library, you can download files up to 2 GB.

About OneDrive for Business file sync

Saving files to OneDrive for Business

by Steve Galloway | Aug 27, 2015

Files can be saved directly to Office 365 OneDrive accounts. This article explains how to save files to OneDrive, open files stored OneDrive using Apps like Word, and how to restore a OneDrive for Business file location if it does not appear in Office Apps or in Windows Explorer.

Save a document to OneDrive

To save a document you are working on, open the options panel on the left of the screen, click Save As, and select OneDrive – YourCompanyName. For example, in this screenshot the company name is Contoso.

Note that there is also an option to save to OneDrive – Personal. This option is available to users who have Hotmail, Outlook.com, Live, or other personal Microsoft accounts. OneDrive for Business provides a more fully featured facility, including service levels, rights management, and more, If you have a OneDrive for Business facility, you should file business documents in OneDrive for Business.

Open a document using an Office App

To open documents from OneDrive for Business, click open the Office App you want to use, for instance Word, and open the options panel on the left of the screen:

OneDrive does not exist in File Locations

If you do not see OneDrive – YourCompanyName, in the list of available file locations, open an Office App – for example Word or Excel – and create a new document. Then, opening the options menu on the left side of the screen and click Add a Place > Office 365 SharePoint. Then, sign in to Office 365 with your account. You will need your Office 365 account name (your email address) and your password.

OneDrive for Business vs Sharepoint

There are some considerations when saving files to OneDrive. For instance, Office 365’s Sharepoint stores documents including emails in “team sites” for shared access. Sharepoint can also be used for managing business documents. Use the guidelines below to decide how to manage your documents using Office 365.

Save documents to OneDrive for Business when…

You do not plan to share them.
Documents you place in OneDrive for Business are private by default, unless you place them in the Shared with Everyone folder. This makes OneDrive for Business your best option for draft documents or personal documents that no one else needs to see.
You plan to share them, but they have a limited scope or lifecycle.
You may sometimes work on documents that are not related to an ongoing project, which are important mostly to you, but that you still want to share. For example, perhaps you are writing an article to appear in a blog, and you want to ask colleagues to review and edit it before you post it. In this case, you expect people to use the document once and then be done with it. People do not need any additional context information, or need to know where you are keeping the document. All they need is a link to the document and editing permission.
You cannot identify an existing team site where your document belongs, and you do not think the purpose of the document warrants creating a new one.

Save documents to a team site library when…

You want team members to recognize the document as being relevant to an ongoing project.
You want to spread ownership and permissions across a wider collection of people. If a document is important to the success of a project, it is a good idea for there to be people other than yourself who can control what happens on the site.
You want permissions to be granted on a site basis, instead of on individual documents. If people have access to the team site, then they have access to documents stored in the site.
Other project-related documents are already saved to the team site library, and others expect to find it there.
You want to create a check-in workflow that assigns the document to someone else.

Famous Hacks

by Steve Galloway | Jun 5, 2015

Twitter, Facebook, NBC, New York Times, Home Depot, Amazon, Staples, Sears, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom and many, many more companies that have concealed data breaches in recent times to protect their reputations underline a glut in hacking which small businesses seem to read as a signal that only big business is at risk.

However, the idea that “it won’t happen to me” just does not wash in 2015. True, by lagging behind the “chip and pin” standards that so many countries adhere to, the US (which incidentally boasts more credit cards per head of population than any other nation) makes itself a soft target and Europe perhaps attracts a little less attention. When the US wakes up to its epidemic credit card theft, hackers will move on.

For small businesses which still imagine it cannot happen to them, ignorance is bliss.

The truth is that often you do not know when the reaper has been, and if he has, he is probably still there. For now, the fashion grows for watering hole attacks, where hackers target large companies for soft spots to give them access to bulk customers records. The problem with this for hackers is what to do with such large databases. This is where people like you come in: hackers often store and or process stolen data on third party networks, so even if your data records are not playing host to prying eyes, there are many more ways your IT might be helping “the dark side”.

The cost of cleaning up after high profile hacks is enormous. Home Depot reported its “hack” could cost up to £28 million. Do not think it cannot happen in North Wales on a scale that can cause real damage. In 2002 an IT company in North Wales was taken for a substantial ransom. If there is any message in this, it is that weak targets get plucked first.

Below are a list of high profile breaches. The regularity is remarkable. One conclusion we might draw from this is that the bigger the IT department and budget, the easier it is to hack. More realistically, the more credible conclusion is that the Press is only interested in high profile hacks and if this many IT departments are losing their shirts, then as Dirty Harry said, you have to ask yourself, “Do (you) feel lucky?”

As fibre broadband rolls out across and you are thinking about that cheap router, or whether you need that antivirus software now that GMail does it for you, just bear in mind you are not out of sight either.

Jun -2015: The US Federal Government’s Office of Personnel Management discovered a breach in its systems affecting over 4 million past and present employees. The breach was discovered during an “aggressive effort” to update OPM’s security systems. The US Government alleged that the intrusion was orchestrated by China’s notorious PLA Unit 61398 which is believed to have systematically stolen hundreds of terabytes of data from at least 141 organisations around the world according to BBC News. In the latest breach, the hackers targeted an OPM data center housed at the Interior Department, according to the Washington Post. The database did not contain information on background investigations or employees applying for security clearances. OPM was hacked reportedly by the same group about a year previously. In the March 2014 breach, OPM officials discovered that hackers had breached an OPM system that manages sensitive data on federal employees applying for clearances, according to the Washington Post. That often includes financial data, information about family and other sensitive details. Read more OPM allegedly hacked by Chinese.

August -2015: Hackers claim to have distributed the personal information on 33 million accounts via the dark web following an earlier attack.

April-2015: France’s national TV network, TV5 Monde, disabled by Islamic State hackers

Feb-2015: Anthem hacked for 80 million user accounts

Jan – 2015: US Military’s Central Command Twitter & Facebook feeds hacked

Jan-2015: Hackers steal more than £5m worth of bitcoin from Bitstamp

Dec-2014: Lizard Squad takes down Micrsoft XBox & Sony Playstation

Nov-2014: Sony Pictures & “The interview”

Oct – 2014: Home Depot lapse compromises 56m credit cards

Sep – 2014: Sears raided for undisclosed numbers of credit card records

Jul-2014: P F Chang’s POS machines hacked

Aug-2014: Celebgate – Apple & iCloud targeted password theft

Jun-2014: Domino’s Pizza hacked costing est 650,000 compromised French & Belgian records