Outlook connection issues with Exchange 2013 after Office 365 upgrade

One of the top benefits of migrating to Microsoft Office 365 is the fact that Microsoft automatically upgrades your Office software to the latest versions. However, they are not always without bugs. The latest upgrade issue is with the new version of Exchange 2013. This upgrade is actually creating a serious problem with Outlook. Once upgraded, Outlook can’t connect, and users will not be able to send or receive mail at all. Needless to say, this is a major problem for IT professionals, IT support providers, and users.

Unfortunately, Microsoft has not yet release a fix for this buggy update. Through trial and error and classic troubleshooting (and research) we found a fairly simple solution for this problem:

Close Outlook.
Go to Control Panel, Email, Email Accounts
In Email Account, select click on the Name e.g. yourname@fedsolutions.com (this is user email address), then click Repair. This will automatically update the user mailbox connection setting via autodiscover for the domain name. The user needs to enter their email password for authentication.
Click Close to update your setting.
Open Outlook
Outlook will ask you to restart to accept the new settings.
Re-open Outlook, and make sure it is not connected Offline (lower right corner of the screen).
NOTE: If you try these instructions, and there still is an issue, you will manually have to replace the server with “mail.office365.com” and Outlook should be able to find the mailbox.

We are hoping that Microsoft will fix this problem relatively soon. In the meantime, IT Support providers will have to devote quite a bit of time to manually correct this issue, particularly in environments with a larger number of mailboxes. Office 365 is a great product that many businesses in the Washington, DC area are migrating to, and it would be a shame for issues like this to continue with their automatic updates. If you receive an notification from Microsoft stating that your Office 365 account will be updated, we recommend that you plan to implement the workaround listed above. Do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

Microsoft Windows 8 Update On the Horizon

Microsoft recently announced that they will be releasing an update to Windows 8, codenamed “Blue,” by the end of the year. IT professionals are no stranger to Windows updates. For years, IT departments and IT Service Providers have been patching and updating Windows on a weekly basis to ensure proper security and stability for their users. However, since the release of Windows 8 last year, IT professionals have been slow to adopt the new operating system for their users, citing numerous reasons. Microsoft is hoping that “Blue” will change that.

Paradigm Shift: IT as a Business Service

Business managers generally view their IT service providers as people to contact when their computers malfunction. They’re more than satisfied if all they have to do is call a number, speak to a “tech person” and await word that the computer is working properly once again. This “break-fix” paradigm is what many consider to be the entirety of satisfactory IT service.

Microsoft Office 2013 and Exchange 2003

Are you using Exchange 2003? Then don’t buy Office 2013!

Still waiting to upgrade from Exchange 2003 to a newer version? Recently, we posted an article about the reasons for upgrading Exchange, but recently, we discovered a new reason that many IT professionals are not aware of that could lead to potential issues. When working with a client that is still using Exchange 2003, we noticed a problem when trying to install Microsoft Office 2013. Apparently, Outlook 2013 doesn’t support Exchange 2003. This will obviously come as a huge problem for users.

IT Services and the HR Business Function

How well does your Human Resources (HR) Department understand the inherent nature of its company’s business? Typically, HR managers do not participate in executive policy decision-making.  What is their role then and how do HR managers learn to understand the true nature of their organization’s business and the functioning of its Information Technology (IT)? Answers to these questions frequently elude HR managers to the detriment of the organization’s ability to carry out its strategic plans.

First Fix of the 2013 Cyberwar Season

It all started at the beginning of the week with the discovery of an attack against the Washington DC based Council on Foreign Relations website. A malicious Adobe Flash file was discovered on the site.  The file infects unknowing visitors that are using Internet Explorer 8 (and possibly IE 6 and IE 7 users as well). In a nutshell, a malicious Adobe Flash file (called “today.swf”) launches an attack against IE causing a memory overrun that enables an attacker to remotely execute code on an infected computer. Since its initial discovery at the beginning of the year, the website attack, coined the “IE Zero-Day Watering Hole Attack”, has expanded to several other websites including a handful of political websites.  It should be noted that since the majority of users have already upgraded to IE 9 and IE 10, the scope of the attack is rather limited.

Nevertheless, Microsoft has already issued a Fix It for the Watering Hole Attack.  The fix is the first release in what is surely to be a very busy 2013 cyberwar season. Microsoft has also confirmed that the fix is a temporary resolution.  Indeed, Microsoft plans to release a more robust IE update in the near future.  Unfortunately, the update will not be part of Tuesday’s upcoming Patch Tuesday security updates.

We strongly recommend that users running IE 6, 7, and 8 deploy the Fix It as soon as possible.

7 Questions for Your IT Provider

Many organizations in the Washington, DC area have IT functions that are essentially “invisible” to the rest of their corporate operations. All too often, what transpires within the confines of the “IT world” remains relatively unknown to the majority of users across the organization. That is, of course, until problems happen and productivity is severely impacted. Unfortunately, waiting for problems to occur before asking questions is too late.

Last Patch Tuesday of 2012 is Critical!

Today, Microsoft released its final group of updates for 2012 for its products. Patch Tuesday, as it’s known in the industry, signals the time when IT professionals should ensure that all their users are up to date to avoid any critical issues or potential security threats. It seems that Microsoft saved one of the biggest updates for last.

Why You Should Have Certified IT Support

IT service providers whose job it is to support their clients should be staffed by qualified, certified technicians. Certifications assure that a technician has expertise within a certain area of IT. Applying the skills of certified technician’s guarantees that a client’s needs will be met and the job will be properly completed, the first time.

How To Select An IT Service Provider

IT Support may be regarded as the backbone of your organization’s daily functions. Choosing the right IT service provider, however, comes with some important considerations, including identifying realistic budgets and understanding the nature of support your organization actually needs.