You cannot connect over the Internet to Exchange Server 2003 from Outlook 2007 or from Outlook 2003

Thursday, October 23, 2008

SYMPTOMS
When you try to use Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 or Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 to connect over the Internet to your mailbox on a Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 based-computer, you are prompted for your logon credentials many times, and you do not connect to Exchange Server 2003.

CAUSE
This behavior occurs if an outbound proxy authentication is required, and if you use Remote Procedure Call (RPC) over HTTP to connect to an Exchange Server 2003 account. When Outlook is using RPC over HTTP, the default timeout is 45 seconds. If RPC over HTTP takes longer than 45 seconds to connect, the connection is not successful.

RESOLUTION
Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
322756 How to back up and restore the registry in Windows


To resolve this behavior, you can add the ConnectTimeout, the ConnectTimeoutLow, and the RFRTimeoutDWORD values to the RPC registry key. To do this, follow these steps.

Note All the "connect timeout" registry values that are mentioned in the following steps are expressed in milliseconds (ms).
1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type Regedit, and then click OK.
3. Expand the following registry key:

Outlook 2003
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\RPC
Outlook 2007
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\RPC
4. Right-click RPC, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
5. Type ConnectTimeout, and then press ENTER to name the new value.
6. Double-click ConnectTimeout.
7. In the Value data box, type 000493e0, and the click OK.
8. Right-click RPC, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
9. Type ConnectTimeoutLow, and then press ENTER to name the new value.
10. Double-click ConnectTimeoutLow.
11. In the Value data box, type 000493e0, and the click OK.
12. Right-click RPC, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
13. Type RFRTimeout, and then press ENTER to name the new value.
14. Double-click RFRTimeout.
15. In the Value data box, type 000493e0, and the click OK.
16. Exit Registry Editor.


MORE INFORMATION
When Outlook tries to connect to each server type, Outlook uses the registry values that you added in the Resolution section to determine how long to wait before the connection is considered a failed connection (a time-out connection) and the connection is dropped.
• Outlook uses the ConnectTimeout registry value when it detects connections that use a network adaptor that is functioning at greater than 128 kbps.
• Outlook uses the ConnectTimeoutLow registry value when it detects connections that use a network adaptor that is functioning at less than 128 kbps.
• Outlook uses the RFRTimeout registry value for a server referral. For example, Outlook uses this value when it asks the Exchange store for a referral to the global catalog server, to another user’s mailbox, or to a public folder. Outlook uses this registry value for all network adaptor speeds that are detected.
Outlook uses these registry values to determine how long to wait for a connection to succeed before Outlook times out and the connection fails.


APPLIES TO
• Microsoft Office Outlook 2003, when used with:
-------Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise Edition
-------Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Office Outlook 2007

The body of the e-mail message appears empty when you open an encrypted or a digitally signed e-mail message in Outlook 2003

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

SYMPTOMS
If you open an encrypted or a digitally signed e-mail message in Microsoft Office Outlook 2003, the body of the e-mail message appears to be empty. This problem occurs when you use Outlook 2003 in Cached Exchange Mode. If you use Outlook 2003 in online mode, the content in the body of the e-mail message appears as expected.

CAUSE
This problem may occur if both of the following conditions are true:
• You use the CryptoEx Outlook security add-in program. This third-party software is made by the Glück & Kanja Group. It is used to encrypt or to digitally sign e-mail messages.
• Outlook 2003 is configured to use Cached Exchange Mode.
When the CryptoEx Outlook security add-in program tries to replace the original encrypted or signed e-mail message body with the decrypted content, the call is unsuccessful, and the e-mail message body appears to be empty.

RESOLUTION
This problem was first fixed in a hotfix that is now contained in a service pack. If you installed the latest Microsoft Office 2003 service pack, you do not have to install the hotfix.

Service pack information
This problem is corrected in Microsoft Office 2003 Service Pack 1.

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Microsoft Office 2003. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
870924 How to obtain the latest service pack for Office 2003

How to obtain the hotfix
This issue is fixed in the Outlook 2003 Hotfix Package that is dated December 17, 2003. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
830003 Outlook 2003 hotfix package: December 17, 2003

WORKAROUND
To work around this problem, do not use Outlook 2003 in Cached Exchange Mode when you use Outlook 2003 with Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server or with Microsoft Exchange Server 2003. To turn off the Cached Exchange Mode feature, follow these steps:
1. Start Outlook 2003.
2. On the Tools menu, click E-mail Accounts.
3. Click View or change existing e-mail accounts, and then click Next.
4. Under the Name column, click the account that you want to modify, and then click Change.
5. Click to clear the Use Cached Exchange Mode check box.
6. Click Next, click OK, and then click Finish.
7. Quit and then restart Outlook 2003.

STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.
This problem was first corrected in Office 2003 Service Pack 1.

MORE INFORMATION

For additional information about the standard terminology that is used to describe Microsoft product updates, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
824684 Description of the standard terminology that is used to describe Microsoft software updates

The third-party products that this article discusses are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding the performance or reliability of these products.

Spam Blocker For Microsoft Outlook - Do You Really Need It?

Friday, October 10, 2008

Microsoft Outlook is a slightly different product from Outlook Express in terms of email management. Released in versions like Microsoft Outlook 2000 and Microsoft Outlook 2003, the Outlook email programs have had and will continue to have their share of users along with Outlook Express. Considering that spam emails are a constant threat to anyone using e-mail as a form of communication, irrespective of which email program is being used, downloading a spam blocker for Microsoft Outlook becomes all the more significant. But the question is, do you really need to download spam blocker software exclusively for Microsoft Outlook?
Microsoft Outlook comes with an in-built anti-spam, junk email filtering service which uses Microsoft’s SmartScreen Technology. Based on machine-learning Bayesian Technology, the SmartScreen Technology uses probability based algorithms to determine if an email is legitimate or a spam email. The key inputs to the database which helps the SmartScreen Technology detect spam are inputs from thousands of users of Hotmail. The way it works is the moment hotmail users spot a spam email, they are encouraged to report it back to Hotmail. What Hotmail does is feed this data back to Microsoft, which in turn maintains the database for spammers. This database is often referred to by Microsoft’s email products for anti-spamming. The features that come with Microsoft Outlook 2003 to counter spam are as follows
• Junk e-mail filter
• Safe Sender’s list
• Safe Recipients list
• Blocked Sender’s list
• Auto Update
The difference between Microsoft Outlook 2000 and Microsoft Outlook 2003 is that in Outlook 2000 the email user has to create his own spam filter customized to what he needs. Outlook 2003 on the other hand comes with a pre-defined spam filter which combats spam. Though one can customize the degree to which a user wants Outlook 2003 to block spam emails. A brief tutorial in Microsoft Outlook 2003 teaches users exactly how to allocate the degree of spam control for the Outlook inbox. Users are given options between low, high and No Junk email filter. Needless to say, if one wishes to prevent the email inbox from being bombarded by spam, it's wise to choose one of the first two options.
Other features like the "Safe Senders List" allows to define the email addresses who should never be treated as a spam email address. This allows Microsoft Outlook to clear emails coming from these email addresses through the anti-spamming test. Making anti-spamming a two-way traffic, a "Safe Recipients List" also allows users to send emails to addresses or domains without ever having to be in danger of being reported as a spammer.

Error message when you try to start Outlook 2003: "MAPI32.DLL is corrupt or the wrong version"

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Error "MAPI32.DLL is corrupt or the wrong version" while start up :
Cannot start Microsoft Office Outlook. MAPI32.DLL is corrupt or the wrong version. This could have been caused by installing other messaging software. Please reinstall Outlook.

CAUSE
This issue may occur if you install and then uninstall Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 Beta 2 on a computer that has Outlook 2003 installed. When you uninstall Outlook 2007 Beta 2 version, the Outlook 2007 Beta 2 version of the MSMapi32.dll file is not removed from the following folder on your computer:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\System\Msmapi\LocaleID


Note Different Locale ID for different languages appears in LocaleID. For example, 1033 is for English - the United States. For more information about these techniques, visit the following MSDN Web site:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/0h88fahh.aspx

RESOLUTION
To resolve this issue, follow these steps:
1. Start Windows Explorer.
2. Locate and then open the following folder on your computer:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\System\Msmapi\1033
3. Right-click the MSMapi32.dll file, and then click Rename.

Note The file (Msmapi32.dll) that you are renaming differs from the file (Mapi32.dll) that is mentioned in the error message.
4. Type Msmapi32.old, and then press ENTER to rename the file.
5. Start Outlook 2003.


Note When you start Outlook 2003, the program will repair itself.

APPLIES TO
• Microsoft Office Outlook 2007
• Microsoft Office Outlook 2003