How do I change my Exchange/Outlook Password via the web? (Clicking this will take you to the How-To section of the website)...

Q: What are the attachment types being blocked by the virus scanning engine on the Exchange servers?

A: There are several attachment types we are blocking in an attempt to stop the future spread of virus here at the University. The attachments being blocked are as follows... ??_ 386 3GR ACM ADT ASD ASP AX? BAT BIN BO? CAB CBT CHM CLA CMD COM CPL CPT CSC D?B DEV DL? DRV EXE GZ? HLP INF INI JS? LIB MB? MD? MRC MS? OBJ OBT OCX OLB OTM OV? PCI PDB PDR PIF PRC QLB REG SCR SHB SHS SIS SMM SYS TLB TSP VB VBE VBS VBX VWP VXD WBK WPC WS? XLB XML XSL XTP

Q: Why are people receiving a "winmail.dat" file along with the email from me?

A: This is caused by a setting in Outlook. If you look under Tools, Options, and Mail Format in your Outlook client there is a section dealing with your Message Format. Under "Compose in this message format" the setting reads either Rich Text format or the check box for "Use Microsoft Word to edit email messages" is set. The checkbox for "Use Microsoft Word to edit email messages" should be clear, and the message format should be set to either HTML or Plain Text as in the picture above.

Q: If the email server is scanning for viruses does that mean I should feel safe in opening any email that is sent to me?

A: No. Even though we are blocking attachments and scanning the email that comes in and goes out of our email server there is no way to be 100% virus proof. New viruses are not found by the virus scanners until Mcafee has had time to evaluate the virus, and find a way to clean or identify it on the system. Until this is done, our virus scanners will not be able to protect against the virus. Continue to use caution when opening emails. If the subject line looks suspicious, or it is sent by someone you don’t know, delete it.

Q: Why do we have space restrictions, I have a lot of email I need to keep.

A: On our previous email systems, mail was not generally left on the server. Clients connected and downloaded their mail to their local machines. With this system there was no reason to set size restrictions on email boxes since the majority of mail didn't collect on the server and take up huge amounts of room. Exchange does not operate this way. Exchange email will be left on the email server unless moved off. This allows us to backup your email, and allows you to access the majority of your email from the webmail portion of Exchange from any web browser in the world. Since every user of the system will be keeping some of his or her mail on the server we have to limit the space each mailbox can take so we can accommodate all customers. If you have more mail than is allotted by the space restrictions, there are options such as a personal folders and message archiving that will allow you to keep and access your messages on your local machine while seamlessly continuing to operate with your mailbox on the Exchange server.

Q: How do I determine how much space my email is using on the server?

A: In Outlook select "View", then select "Folder List", you may already have the folder list up. Right click on "Outlook Today - [Mailbox - username]", then select properties. When displayed select the "Folder Size" tab. You should get a screen that displays: Note the highlighted portion indicates total size "71982 KB". The mailbox size is listed as KB not MB. A rough conversion of KB to MB is that 1000KB=1MB. So if your mailbox is 71,982 as listed above your mailbox is roughly 72MB (this is not precise but it is close).

Q: Will I be able to access my email when I am away from work?

A: Yes, Exchange has a very robust feature that allows you to access your mail when away from your desk via Outlook Web Access. You will have access to not only your email but your calendar, contacts, and tasks as well.

Q: Can I use my Digital Certificate or Encrypt email messages using Webmail?

A: Webmail or Outlook Web Access does not support the ability to use Digital Signatures or Encryption.

Q: Why am I not able to find all University employees in the Webmail Global Address Lists?

A: No, webmail does not support this feature. However you will be able to access the Global Address List which only contains users that are using Exchange email.

Q: I have a laptop but when I get home I can't open Outlook, why is this?

A: Security prevents you from directly connecting to Outlook when you connect to the internet at home. If you wish to access Outlook from home you will need to load up the VPN client. Information on obtaining and configuring the VPN client is available here... Please note many of the resources are password protected, to access you will need to use your OAC LDAP account. If you are having issues contact the Helpdesk at 4848.

Q: I sent an email to a friend and they say they never received it, is email broken?

A: Well now your making me work, the short answer is no, email is probably not "broken." Email is not a guaranteed delivery medium. Email is designed as a kind of "pass the buck" system, when you send a message your mail server looks at the email address you're sending it to, does a search to find the email server responsible for this address, and sends it on. After the message is sent from your email server the messaging system can no longer track the message. The receiving email server for many institutions does not contain mailboxes, it is a "front-end" email system that performs virus and spam filtering then sends the message on to a back-end server where the mailboxes actually reside. In some cases there are several back-end systems the email will need to traverse before reaching it's finial destination. If a message gets flagged as spam, or filtered for some reason no notification will be sent back, the message will be discarded without notice. If a someone says they have not received an email that you sent verify the email address and send it again. If it does not reach them the second time you send it call the helpdesk and we can attempt to verify the source of the problem (we can verify that your email left the system but not whether it was delivered after it left).

Q: I received a call/email from someone who said I sent them an infected email, but I have virus protection, how can that be?

A: Chances are you do not have a virus but we will need to verify that indeed you are not infected. The most likely cause is that a virus on someone else's machine is sending out infected mails with your email address placed into the From: field. Many of the newest viruses do this to prevent administrators from finding infected users and cleaning them, the practice is known as "spoofing" the email header. Just to be safe call the Helpdesk and have them guide you through verification that your machine is not infected with a virus.

Q: Why do I need a digital certificate?

A: There are two circumstances under which a digital certificate would be required. Official state business is often required to be accompanied with a digital certificate. If you wish to encrypt any sensitive information you may be transmitting through email, you will need a digital certificate.

Q: I have a digital certificate when should I use it?

A: You should use your digital certificate whenever you are involved in email correspondence dealing with state business. Any communication where you need to certify who the email is from should be marked with a digital signature. Any communication that is of a sensitive nature, and needs to be encrypted, will make use of your digital certificate.

Q: I am trying to encrypt a message I am sending to someone at another institution, but I'm getting an error, how can I fix this?

A: To encrypt an email you are sending to someone you will need to obtain a digitally signed message from the person you are wanting to send the message to. After you have received a digitally signed message from them, add them to your Outlook contacts. After adding them to your Outlook contacts you should have no problem digitally encrypting a message to them. You will not need to add anyone from within the University to your contacts because Outlook is setup to pull the needed information from UT White Pages.

Q: I received a call from someone saying that I sent them a word / excel file that has a heuristic virus what does that mean?

A: A heuristic virus is not really a virus, it's a program / file that could potentially contain a virus. What the virus engine is doing is warning you that while it cannot match the program/file with any known viruses it looks like it could be a virus so be careful. Word and Excel files containing macros are often times flagged with the "heuristic virus" message. If you were not expecting a file from the sender you may want to be cautious about opening the file. If this was an expected email you should feel safe opening the file. If the mail system stops the message have the sender zip up the word/excel file and resend it.

Q: I have some folders and emails that are not available in webmail but I see them when I'm logged into my Outlook client at work, why is this?

A: Any items that you have moved to your Personal or Archive folders at work will not be available in Webmail. When you move files to either of these folders they are being moved off of the server onto your workstation. For more information on Personal and Archive folders click here...