Mark Pace, Author at Sterling IT

How to manually connect Outlook to Office 365 Hosted Exchange

Posted on December 13, 2013March 12, 2023 by Mark Pace

Hooking Outlook to Office 365 or Hosted Exchange is a little different to a local server.

In this article we will explain step by step, how to manually connect Microsoft Outlook to Office 365.

Part 1

Before we begin we need to gather a bit of information.

3. Under Microsoft Office Outlook Connectivity Tests click on Outlook Autodiscover.
4. Fill in the information: Email address and Microsoft Account are your Office 365 Username.
5. Password, is your Office 365 password.
6. Check “I understand the terms and conditions…” and continue.
7. When the test is done hit Expand All.
8. On your keyboard press Ctrl+F and type “Server” within the Find tool. Copy this information within “<Server>” and “</Server>” as you will need it later.

Note: It is highly recommended that you change your Office 365 password after using the above website.
Note: If you are doing this for multiple Users, please be reminded that their mailbox may not be within the same Server as your other Users. It is recommended that you use this tool each time you wish to find your Users Server.

Part 2

Now on your computer.

1. Next click on Start.
2. Click on Control Panel.
3. Navigate over to Mail.
4. Select Show Profiles.
5. And click New.
6. Enter a new Profile Name.
7. Within Add Account : Select Manual Setup of Addition Server Types.
8. Select Microsoft Exchange Server Or Compatible Service.
9. Within “Server:” Paste your Server Name from Part 1. Step 8.
10. Within “UserName:” type your Office 365 Account Username (User@mydomain.com).

11. Click More Settings.
12. Under the Security Tab, uncheck “Encrypt Data between Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Exchange“.
13. From the “Logon Network Security” drop down box select Anonymous Authentication.
14. Click on the Connections Tab.
15. Check Connect to Microsoft Exchange Using HTTP.
16. Click on Exchange Proxy Settings….
17. On the right of “Https://” type outlook.office365.com
18. Check “Only connect to proxy servers that have this principal name in their certificate:” and type msstd:outlook.com
19. Check “On Fast Networks, connect using HTTP first, then connect using TCP/IP”
20. Under Proxy Authentication click the drop down box and select Basic Authentication.

21. Hit Okay twice and continue with your setup.

Some December Humour

Posted on December 9, 2013September 20, 2017 by Mark Pace

High speed internet solutions using fibre, fixed wireless, NBN and ethernet connections throughout the country

Posted on December 4, 2013 by Mark Pace

Looking for a faster internet connection without breaking the bank?

We have a number of different technologies that can offer high speed internet. Not all areas and locations can get any or all of the services listed.

If an address and phone number is provided to Sterling IT, and an understanding on usage including speed requirements and download limits, we can provide a solution to suit.

Please note: If you are a Pacnet customer (ADSL only), we can transition you to another provider and save you over $130 per month, in most cases. Contact Us Immediately

The technologies Sterling IT work with and recommend to our clients include :

1. NBN – This is a residential grade service however some businesses are taking this on due to cost and current speeds. An example of this is for $79 per month you can get speeds up to 70Mbps with a 250GB download limit. However as more clients come online, the services will reduce in speed as they are shared.

2. FIXED WIRELESS – This is NOT 3G/4G but a proprietary wireless solution offering 1:1. Unlike ADSL/NBN, it is not a shared service. While one of the most expensive connections, it is not reliant on any Telstra infrastructure and is a full business grade service. Sterling IT use this technology to manage 1000+ computers. Unlike cabled services, it is not reliant on distance to exchange and does not slow down if you are

far or close.
Other advantage is we can install within 1 week in most cases (please contact us to confirm at time required)
Cost of this start from $199 per month however has a high setup fee from $300-$950.

3. METRO ETHERNET – This service is by far the best and most cost effective service. The problem with this service is it is very limited to where it has been rolled out and available.
We currently have some awesome specials till the end of December 2013. Services do take 25 days to install so an install wouldnt complete to the following month of order in most cases.

Here is this months only special (expires end of Dec 2013)
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE FIRST BOX SHOWS NORMAL PRICES WHERE SECOND BOX IS SPECIAL.
THIS IS ALSO UNLIMITED DATA

For any service listed above, please contact us for an obligation free quote and service check

Encrypted password creator and storage – Adobe password hack check – Password strength test

Posted on December 4, 2013September 20, 2017 by Mark Pace

Do you use the same password on multiple sites and/or applications?

If so, PLEASE STOP. With many websites getting hacked such as Sony and recently Adobe, using the same password on multiple sites is becoming extremely dangerous.

You can test the strength of your password by visiting GRC.COM . A trusted and brilliant website.

One step better than making your own passwords is use a trusted application called LASTPASS.
You only need to remember ONE password, that’s it. This is also FREE, however if you want to use it on your mobile, its $1 per month. (thats right $1).
For business where you want to have encrypted secure passwords, its $2 per month.

You can double secure this by using a USB key so even if someone was to get your username and password, without the USB key, a hacker will still not be able to access.

Contact Sterling IT for an online demo. We can also assist in setting up but more importantly, customise your lastpass for additional security.

Want to check if your email was hacked at Adobe? Click Here

You ask then HOW can I remember so many passwords?

A couple of ways of doing this is create passwords based around the website you are using, however if there is a pattern, a hacker will still work out your passwords

Prices correct at time of publishing 3.12.2013

Security and protection for your business – Servers and Workstations

Posted on December 4, 2013September 20, 2017 by Mark Pace

Security is key over holiday season and every other day.

With Christmas Holidays coming up fast, it is important to ensure that your systems are secure & protected. Please consider not only that your office is securely locked up, but also you have power protection, latest versions of a good antivirus solution, all your computers are automatically updated and monitored as well as cooling.

1. Ensure your servers are in a secure area where they are safe from unauthorised access to your office.

2. Ensure that you have a UPS on all network equipment including servers, switches, routers and even your phone system.

3. Ensure that the servers are kept at a cool constant temperature, especially if you are closed. Power is expensive, however cooling your servers and critical equipment is priceless.
(if you need air conditioning advice, we can assist with this as well.)

4. To protect from nasties, ensure that you have all your systems fully patched, not only with Microsoft Software Updates but also Third Party such as Adobe, Java, Flash and more. Ensuring that these applications and software is patched will reduce the risk of infections and attacks. Also ensure your antivirus is fully updated.

For all our Managed Clients, we will ensure updates are done for you to protect you best we possibly can.

5. Last but not least, ensure you have backups backups backups and backups. Not only have backups, but ensure you have an offsite copy as well.

From around $20 a month, we can offer an offsite backup solution to protect your data.

If you have any questions with the above, would like a quote or even would like to just discuss anything, please contact our office.
Please mention this post as well.

Have you thought about Dropbox and the loss of files? How do you recover whether its theft or crash?

Posted on November 14, 2013 by Mark Pace

People rave to us about how useful cloud services like Dropbox are for work, but not many say to us that they are worried about whether it’s safe.

So it was interesting to hear a reminder recently that it’s the simple, mundane, day-to-day mistakes you can make in Dropbox that might expose your data. These risks aren’t to do with popular concerns about government spying or hackers – they’re primarily to do with “losing control” from within.

What is the risk of using Dropbox?

The warning comes from Ali Moinuddin from Workshare, which provides software designed to help businesses stop accidentally exposing sensitive data online.

The way he sees it, there is the risk that someone within your business could share a link to a file with someone outside the company. Or one of your staff could be storing sensitive company files within a password protected personal Dropbox account. When they leave the company you might lose any chance of accessing the files.

“If one of my employees started to walk and they were using a Dropbox personal account, they could basically take that information with them. You have no control over it, ” Moinuddin said.

Emailing or sharing an attached file can be a mistake if it’s hiding sensitive information – Word documents can contain information you mightn’t want anyone to see if you’ve turned on “track changes”, and Excel spreadsheets could contain hidden columns. Information about who created the document and when it was last modified could be something you don’t want people to know in certain situations.

“99% of the time it’s done without malice. They’re creating a document, then sharing the document, and they’ve not seen the hidden metadata”, said Moinuddin.

Do you know where your data is?

If you haven’t stopped to think about all this, here’s another reason – changes to the privacy laws coming into effect in Australia in March next year. If your business stores sensitive personal information about your customers, it’s up to you to make sure that information doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. If that data goes offshore, you will be required to tell your customers. In the worst case, your business might be held accountable if a third party (and our reading of the draft guidelines is that this includes cloud service providers) does the wrong thing and exposes the information.

There are various details (for example, some businesses with a turnover of less than $3 million won’t be subject to the requirements) but overall, the push is on to make businesses pay attention to where personal information about their customers is going, and to make sure it’s protected.

Sterling IT can provide a backup service with versioning for $275 per year for 50GB. We use this with dropbox so if there is the case of losing files in dropbox, there is a second copy elsewhere. Contact us to discuss further and provide a trial.