The preceding chapter looked at some of the intricacies of making connections within Windows NT. This chapter examines some of the things you can do with those connections after you make them. Unlike its predecessor, Windows NT provides a combination of communication options that should meet the majority of your needs.
Looking Ahead: This version of Windows NT even provides support for the Internet. I consider this support so important that I decided to devote an entire chapter to the topic. Take a look at Chapter 19, "Surfing the Net," for complete coverage on how to access the Internet. One of the other things that a lot of people are doing with Windows NT is building their own Internet servers. I'll provide the information needed to get you started in Chapter 20, "Building Your Own Internet Server."
Before I discuss the actual communications packages, look at the communication subsystem architecture. Actually, you won't get the total picture in this chapter. Figure 18.1 reflects only the local part of the communication structure. Chapter 21, "Peer-to-Peer Networking," looks at the remote network architecture. If you look carefully, however, you see all three of the main connections discussed in Chapter 17, "Windows NT Connections:" dial-up networking, phone dialer, and direct cable connection. The following list provides details about all the components of the communication subsystem.
Figure 18.1. An overview of the Windows NT local communications architecture.
Unlike many other subsystems, the communication subsystem looks fairly straightforward, and it isto a point. There's a risk of underestimating the effect of this subsystem on the rest of Windows if you don't account for the number of ways it interacts with other subsystems. The centerpiece of this whole subsystem is VCOMM.386. This module loads the port drivers, provides access to them during system operation, and generally manages the way Windows interacts with the outside world. It's an important role that you might take for granted until it stops working. Chapter 25, "Hardware Problems," looks at some things that can go wrong with this subsystem.
Microsoft Exchange is central command as far as communications go. You can perform almost any kind of communication that Windows NT will support just by opening Microsoft Exchange. We'll see, as time goes on, that, like Explorer, Microsoft Exchange pops up in the strangest places. Even if you think that each communication module under Windows NT is a separate entity, they aren't. They all rely on Exchange for a user interface. The details differ from service to service, but the part that the user sees remains fairly constant.
Before I begin discussing specific communication services provided by Windows NT, I want to take you on a quick tour of Microsoft Exchange. I'm not talking about working through the intricacies of every service it provides; I'll cover that in the individual service descriptions that follow. What I'll cover now is the generic core that you should know about. Once you get this part of the interface down, the little differences between components will seem a lot less intimidating.
The following discussion assumes that you have Microsoft Exchange installed. I'll look at how you can install individual components later. You'll use Microsoft Exchange to perform that work. What you want to do now is look at the user interface itself.
Figure 18.2 shows a typical Microsoft Exchange display. Of course, your display will probably vary from this one a bit, but you get the idea. The main thing to remember is that your interface will vary a little because of the settings you choose and the options you install.
Figure 18.2. The Inbox folder not only provides access to your messages, but it also helps you organize them in a variety of ways.
Microsoft Exchange always defaults to your Inbox as the first location it shows. After it opens the Inbox, it updates any e-mail messages you have on the network (assuming that you're attached). You'll need to go on-line to update your other messages, but they all appear in this single Inbox (unless you change the settings that I'll discuss later).
I want to briefly discuss how Microsoft Exchange presents your Inbox messages. This is the default setup of columns; I'll tell you how to change this setup later. I'll start at the very first column of the message header and work across. The first column can contain nothing, a red exclamation mark (!), or a blue down arrow. Medium-priority messages receive no symbol. A red exclamation mark tells you that this message is high priority, and a blue down arrow indicates that the message is low priority. The second column tells you what type of item is stored there. In most cases, it will be a message, as shown by the envelope symbol. The paper-clip symbol in the third column tells you that a message has attachments. You can either attach files outright or add OLE objects to your messages. I was surprised to find that you can add objects in such a way that they'll actually start an on-line session. You can also create an object that will access a file on the network. In the fourth column, you'll find the name of the person who sent the message or item. The fifth column contains the message's subject line. The sixth column tells you when the message was received. Finally, the seventh column tells you how big the file is.
Tip: It almost always pays to change the default setup. Exchange provides a wealth of column headings that old versions of Microsoft Mail didn't. You'll at least want to see what's available and consider how you can use it to optimize your setup.
Sorting the messages in any given folder is easy. You'll notice that the column headings are actually buttons. Clicking on a column heading sorts by that column. You can change the sort order by clicking a second time. Exchange displays an arrow in the heading that the messages are sorted by (if there's room in the heading). It uses an up arrow for ascending order and a down arrow for descending order. If you prefer a dialog box interface for changing the sort order, you can always use the View | Sort command to display the dialog box shown in Figure 18.3. It offers the same column selections that you see on the display. All you need to do is select one from the listbox, click on the order you want to sort in, and click OK to complete the action.
Figure 18.3. The Sort dialog box enables you to select a sort order, but clicking on the column headings is a lot faster.
Notice the use of bold text on the display. Whenever you see either a folder or a message name in bold, it means that you haven't read that message or completely viewed the contents of the folder. I find that this is the fastest way to see new messages on my system. Of course, this is a little less valuable when you use the default folder setup, but it can be quite valuable as you expand your system. Because the default folder system only includes three folders, marking your in basket bold when you go on-line doesn't really say anything you didn't already know. As you expand your folder system, though, the bold text tells you which folders to look in for new information. Along with this use of bold text are two Edit menu options. You can mark a message as read or unread using the two options on this menu.
Tip: It's important to use all the Exchange features to your benefit. Some people might view the Edit | Mark As Read and Edit | Mark As Unread commands as superfluous, for example, but they're really quite useful. I don't often mark a message as read, but I do mark messages as unread from time to time. This is handy for times when you read a message, realize you don't have time to take care of it now, and mark it as unread so that you'll remember to look at it again later.
Looking at the default display, you can see a relationship between Exchange and Explorer. Certainly the hierarchy of folders is the same, and the messages equate to files in your postoffice. There are other similarities as well. You can add folders to the default hierarchy to better organize your messages, for example. I find that moving messages around into various project areas is a great way to make Exchange a lot easier to use. Use the File | New Folder command to display the dialog box shown in Figure 18.4. All you need to do is type in a name and click OK to complete the process. Moving messages from place to place is also as easy as using Explorer. Each entry has a context menu containing Exchange-specific functions that work the same as the Explorer equivalent. The bottom line is that if you know how to use Explorer, learning Exchange shouldn't be very difficult.
Figure 18.4. Adding folders to the default Exchange hierarchy will let you organize your messages more easily.
Note: Exchange will let you remove folders you create by using the Delete command or by pressing the Delete key, just like Explorer. It stops short of allowing you to delete the default folders in the hierarchy, however. These folders have to remain in place to support the mail structure.
You might notice that the Recycle Bin doesn't change if you delete a message. That's because Exchange provides its own delete area in the Deleted Items folder. If you delete a message from any area of Exchange, it ends up in this folder. If you delete a message in the Deleted Items folder, you remove it from the system permanently. I usually disable this option to keep myself from removing old messages that I'll need later. You can't place Exchange messages in the Recycle Bin. You'll see later that you can make the process of removing old messages a little more automatic by changing the Exchange options.
Exchange also provides a fairly complete toolbar right under the menu bar. You'll notice some standard icons here, but most of them are unique to Exchange. Chapter 2, "Exploring the Interface," discussed all these icons, so I won't go through them again.
Microsoft Exchange provides an address book that helps you maintain a list of the people you usually contact. You access it using the Microsoft Exchange Tools | Address Book command. Before you send a message to anyone, it's usually a good idea to add his or her name to the address book, even if you intend to use the address only once. The reason is simple. I've often been in a situation where I think I'll use an address only once, but then I have to look all over the place for it later when I need to send a second message.
Figure 18.5 shows the initial Address Book dialog box. Exchange defaults to using the Microsoft Mail postoffice address book, but you can reset this default to any address book you like. It also adds all the names of people on your local network or workgroup, enabling you to send messages immediately without a lot of typing. The display usually provides the person's name as a minimum. Any other information it provides is format-specific (which I'll cover in detail later).
Figure 18.5. The initial Address Book dialog box shows the addresses that you select as a default.
The toolbar below the menu bar provides access to the majority of the Address Book functions. In fact, I don't think I've ever had to use the menu itself. The following list provides an overview of each toolbar button:
Note: As of this writing, the actual function of the Properties button tends to change with the address book you're using. In some cases, it works, but in others, it doesn't. In some cases, it changes the properties of the address book itself, and in others, it brings up the Properties dialog box for the individual entry. The definition provided here is consistent with the current Microsoft documentation.
Adding a new address is fairly easy. The only challenge is figuring out exactly what you need to provide. Each of the MAPI clients that Exchange supports uses a different address format because their methods of sending messages are different. Besides a few vagaries in the way an address gets stored for a specific type of MAPI client, however, the different addresses have a lot of similarities. The first step in adding a new address book entry is deciding what type of address it is (see Figure 18.6). Once you decide what type of address to add and where to add it, click OK to view the format-specific address page. Take a look at one or two of specialty pages in the Address Book dialog box. Then, I'll describe the pages that are common to all formats.
Figure 18.6. You need to decide what kind of address to add before you can add it.
Figure 18.7 shows a new address book entry for Microsoft Mail. You'll need to add new entries using this page only for users who are part of other workgroups. All the local workgroup names get entered automatically. This page has four blanks. Each one provides part of the routing information needed to send your message to its destination. The first field, Alias, is the person's login name. This might or might not be his full name. It could be a nickname or a shortened version of his full name if more than one person on the network has the same name. Type whatever name he uses to log into the network. The Mailbox field contains the person's nickname, the name that the Postoffice Administrator used when entering his name in the postoffice. This field usually contains the same information as the Alias field. The Postoffice field contains the name of the postoffice. This might or might not be the name of the machine that actually contains the postoffice. Finally, the Network field contains the name of the network, workgroup, domain, or other identifying information. It's the name you'll see at the root of a network entry in Network Neighborhood.
Figure 18.7. A Microsoft Mail address entry requires just a few simple pieces of information about the network routing needed to reach a recipient.
You see a new Internet address entry in Figure 18.8. This is typical of most on-line service entries. In fact, the Microsoft Network dialog box looks precisely the same as this one. The dialog box consists of a member name and an on-line identification number. Notice that you can choose to send all your messages in rich text format (RTF)a method that might not work with some on-line services such as CompuServe. RTF enables you to preserve the formatting in your messages.
Figure 18.8. The Internet address entry is the easiest to fill out. All you need is a name and identification number.
Now that you've seen all the format-specific pages, look at the common pages that the Address Book provides. Figure 18.9 shows the Business page. It enables you to record all the specifics that you're likely to need about contacting that person. All of the fields are self explanatory; you'll find them in any contact manager. One of the nice features of this particular page is the Phone Number field. You can select the location you want from the listbox and then enter a number. I'll describe all the locations in the next paragraph, but it's nice to know that you can record more than one. Another nice feature is the capability to dial that phone number right from this page using the Phone Dialer utility discussed in Chapter 17.
Figure 18.9. The Business page provides a fast way of recording all the pertinent contact information you need in order to reach someone.
The Phone Numbers page, shown in Figure 18.10, provides a quick list of all the phone numbers you can use to contact the person. I felt that adding the assistant's phone number was an especially nice touch. Unfortunately, you can't record any more than the eight phone numbers shown here. In most cases, this is enough unless the person you're trying to contact travels a lot or usually works in more than one location.
Figure 18.10. The Phone Numbers page enables you to enter up to eight contact numbers for each person in your address book.
The final page, Notes, is a big notepad as shown in Figure 18.11. You can enter previous contact information or any other freeform information here. I often use it to track the last date I contacted someone and a brief note on what we talked about. This note taker won't replace a contact manager, though. If you spend most of your time on the phone and keeping track of all those contacts is important, I recommend a full-fledged contact manager in place of this solution. The notepad provided with Address Book is more for the occasional user than anything else. You could store a customer ID or another number here, though, to make it easier to find this person's record in your contact manager.
Figure 18.11. The Notes page is fine for the occasional note, but it won't replace a full-fledged contact manager.
Note: Some services might include an additional page. Figure 18.11, for example, shows an additional page for the Internet service. You can be certain that this page will become prominent as third-party developers add their own MAPI drivers. Make sure you follow the vendor-supplied instructions when filling out the contents of this page.
Finding names in your address book is very easy. All you need to do is click the Find icon on the toolbar. Address Book will display the dialog box shown in Figure 18.12. All you need to do is fill in a name or even part of a name. Clicking OK will display the list of names in a new address book called Search Results. You can switch between this address book and your original one using the listbox below the toolbar.
Figure 18.12. You can use Find to whittle down a large address book into one containing only the names you need.
You can make a few configuration changes to each address book on your system except the public postoffice address book. You access the Address Book Properties dialog box shown in Figure 18.13 by clicking the Properties icon on the toolbar.
Figure 18.13. The Address Book Properties dialog box enables you to change the way your address book works.
The first page contains three fields. The Name field allows you to change the name of the address book. In most cases, you'll want to retain the name of the default personal address book that Exchange sets up for you so that you can automatically add names to it. The second field contains the location of the actual address book file on disk. This, too, usually stays the same unless you move the address book to a new location. The group of radio buttons changes the way the address book lists names. I find this feature quite handy when I'm looking for a specific name. Changing the order makes it easier to find an entry for someone when I forget his last name.
Tip: You can create new address books with specific names using the Find button. Use the Properties dialog box to change the name of that address book to something else so that Windows won't overwrite it the next time you need to create a special address book.
The Notes page of this dialog box contains a miniature notebook. You can use it to track the address book and anything you do with it. It might come in handy for writing a reminder of why you started this particular address book.
One Address Book feature isn't covered by the toolbar. The Tools | Options command brings up the dialog box shown in Figure 18.14. This dialog box actually performs two different functions. The first is to configure Exchange to use your address books. The second is to create new address books as you need them.
Figure 18.14. Use this dialog box to configure Exchange to use your address books and to create new ones.
Take a look at the first purpose. The Show This Address List First field determines which address book Exchange shows first whenever you create a new message. If most of your messages go to the company e-mail, using the default setting of Postoffice Address List makes sense. If you're like me, though, you send messages to a variety of places, including the company e-mail. In this case, you might want to select your Personal Address List as the first location instead. The second field contains the name of your personal address list. Unless you want to personalize this setting for some reason, you'll want to keep the default setting. Exchange automatically creates this address list for you, so there's no real reason to change it later.
The second purpose is to add new address lists to your address book. The listbox will always show a complete list of the current address lists that you have, except for any recent searches. You can add a new address list by clicking the Add button. Simply follow the prompts to create the new address list. In most cases, you'll find that the default address books provide more than enough flexibility.
Do you ever find yourself buried in a mound of messages with no real way to organize them and even less opportunity to find the one you need fast? Exchange provides a handy search dialog box that looks similar to Explorer's Find dialog box (see Figure 18.15). This dialog box contains quite a few mail-specific features. Of course, it won't help you find any files on your drive.
Figure 18.15. Exchange's Find dialog box looks similar to the one found in Explorer with some important exceptions.
Most of the fields in this dialog box are pretty self explanatory, but using some of them might not be. If you want to search through all your mail, for example, you select the Personal Information Store folder. You can't search from the Exchange level. Of course, you can always go lower than this top level by looking through the folder hierarchy.
The Sent Directly To Me and the Copied (Cc) To Me checkboxes aren't mutually exclusive. If you select the first one, though, you won't be able to ask for a specific person in the Sent To field even though Exchange doesn't blank it out. You can combine the Copied (Cc) To Me checkbox and a specific Sent To Name, though.
Using the various fields in tandem is the key to finding precisely the message you want. The Advanced button will show you some additional criteria you can use to search for messages. It uses the dialog box shown in Figure 18.16 to enable you to perform a more stringent search.
Figure 18.16. You can perform a very detailed search of the message base using the criteria in the Advanced dialog box.
Some of these options have interesting uses. When it comes time to make room on the server containing the postoffice, for example, you can get rid of the bigger messages using the Size group. I use this option from time to time just to see how many large files I have accumulated. You'd be surprised how fast they can build up.
Getting back from vacation usually means you have a lot more work to do than time to get it done. I start by categorizing the various things I need to do by placing them in separate folders. Then I use a high-priority search to find the items I need to get done right away.
You can also use the entries in this dialog box to search for messages you haven't read yet or messages received during a certain time span. The time span option is nice when you know you received a message during a specific time period, but you can't remember much else about it. Any attempt to look through the entire message base will likely prove frustrating.
Once you select all the search criteria, clicking the Find Now button will display a list of matching messages in the listbox at the bottom of the Find dialog box. This list will respond to all the usual actions, such as right-clicking and double-clicking. You can also delete messages in this list and respond to them in the usual way. The one item in this dialog box that surprised me a bit was the capability to create new messages. It certainly makes life a lot easier when you remember to write an important message in the middle of looking for something else.
Windows NT comes with a limited number of MAPI servers. (I'll cover both MAPI and TAPI later in the chapter; a MAPI server simply provides access to a particular on-line service.) Each server uses Exchange as a front end. In other words, once you learn how to use Exchange, you pretty much know how to use all the generic pieces of each MAPI server as well. The big difference between servers and the interface that you get is the medium in which they operate. The medium will determine some of the differences that you see in how the various MAPI servers operate.
Exchange might come with some or all of the servers added. The default servers are pretty much self installing. It's quite likely that you'll need to add new MAPI servers as third-party products arrive on the scene. You might choose to use a MAPI server to access your local BBS instead of buying a full-fledged communications program, for example. Not only would you ease the learning curve that such a product requires, but the software vendor will be able to provide similar functionality in a much smaller package.
Use the Tools | Services command to display the dialing Services dialog box, shown in Figure 18.17. The top of the dialog box contains a list of the current servers you have installed. In most cases, you won't need to install the Windows NT servers individually unless Microsoft comes out with an update or the original server gets contaminated in some way. The five buttons below this list describe various actions that you can perform when adding, removing, or modifying a MAPI server.
Figure 18.17. The Services dialog box is where you manage the MAPI servers attached to your machine.
Adding a new service to Exchange is very easy. All you need to do is click the Add button in the Services dialog box. Exchange will display a list of default services available for Windows NT, as shown in Figure 18.18. You can add third-party MAPI services by clicking the Have Disk button, however.
Figure 18.18. The Add Service To Profile dialog box enables you to add new MAPI servers to Exchange with little effort.
Usually, the procedure would involve selecting the service you want to install and clicking OK. I found an interesting piece of information in this dialog box, however. Clicking the About button displays a dialog box similar to the one shown in Figure 18.19. Notice that it lists all the files required to make this service operate. You can use this dialog box later if you need to know the names of the files to remove from your hard drive when a service is no longer needed. This dialog box also provides helpful diagnostic information if you have problems later. You could use it to determine the size of the various files, the version number of each component, and who to call for help with a particular service, for example.
Figure 18.19. The About Information Service dialog box tells you a lot more than the usual About dialog box.
After Exchange completes the installation of a new service, it usually asks if you want to configure it. This involves providing routing information or perhaps some specifics about the equipment you plan to use. You don't necessarily have to configure the service right away if you don't have the required information. Clicking the Properties button later will enable you to configure the service to meet your needs. If the service does require some type of routing or equipment-specific information, however, you'll need to perform the configuration before you can use the service.
Exchange provides a great deal of flexibility in the way you access information. You've already seen much of that flexibility in this chapter. As third-party vendors create more MAPI servers, we'll only see that flexibility increase. Exchange's flexibility goes beyond that, however. You can also configure just about every aspect of the interface itself. The Tools | Options command displays an Options dialog box like the one shown in Figure 18.20. This dialog box allows you to change the way Exchange interacts with you.
Figure 18.20. The Options dialog box enables you to change the way Exchange interacts with the user.
The General page contains four main sections. The first tells Exchange how to notify you about new mailif you do in fact want to be notified. The checkboxes in this group are fairly easy to figure out. You can have Exchange play a sound, change the mouse pointer, or display a message to notify you of new mail. Of course, you can select combinations of all three if you like. The second section tells Exchange what to do with deleted items. The first selection tells Exchange to warn you before it permanently deletes anything, just in case you really want to keep something. You can automatically remove any deleted messages from the hard drive when you exit Exchange by checking the second selection. The first setting in the third section enables you to choose the profile (list of services) that you'll use each time you start Exchange. You can keep more than one profile if needed, but I usually find that centralized control of my messages is far more valuable than the flexibility of using additional profiles. The default setting is to use the standard Microsoft Exchange Settings profile.
The final two checkboxes on this page are miscellaneous settings. The first setting affects ToolTips, which are the little dialog boxes that appear under each control if you rest your mouse cursor there long enough. They provide a quick description of that control's purpose. The second setting affects how the editor works. Checking this box means that Exchange will select an entire word at a time instead of single characters. It comes in handy for block deletes, but I personally find that the editor works better without this option turned on.
The Read page, shown in Figure 18.21, contains two main sections. The first tells Exchange how to move the cursor after you read and either move or delete a message. The default setting moves the cursor to the next item in the list. This is very convenient when your message base is sorted by date because you waste a lot less time positioning the cursor this way. Of course, you might organize your list in reverse order to see the older messages first. In this case, the second setting would work better. Whichever way you organize your messages, selecting the right radio button can add a measure of convenience to the process of selecting and then reading your messages.
Figure 18.21. Use the Read page of the Options dialog box to change the way Exchange reacts when you read messages.
The second section of this page enables you to change the tasks that Exchange automatically performs when you answer a message. The first option allows you to include the original message in your response. The second option indents the original text to make it clearer that you are including the original text. If you use the first option, always include the second for the sake of clarity. The third option closes the original item after you respond to it. This enables you to move to the next message without wasting time. Finally, the Font button displays a list of fonts and font sizes in a dialog box. You should usually select a typeface and font size that'll help the other person see your response clearly.
Peter's Principle: Quoting: A Waste of Money or a Friendly Gesture?
Exchange offers you the chance to include the text of the original message when you make a reply. This process is called quoting when you use it with an on-line service such as CompuServe. Other services might use different names, but the effect is the same. When you include part of the original message in your response, you're quoting the other person.
This particular policy generates a lot of controversy in some on-line services. Some people think quoting is a waste of time because the other person should know what you're talking about. Time spells money on some on-line services because they charge you for every minute that you spend actively using it. To the people who oppose this practice, downloading quoted material means wasting money. Other peoplethose who spend a lot of time on-linereally like this practice because it enables them to keep individual conversations separate. They believe that including the small amount of additional text is the cost of maintaining a clear dialog box.
You can compromise to keep both parties happy. Simply enclose the significant part of the original text in angle brackets, like this: <<Some part of an original message.>>. Make sure you place the quoted text on a separate line so that it's clear you're quoting the other person. I usually use this measure if I'm not sure whether the other party likes quoting or not. My responses usually include quoted questions or perhaps a comment that caught my attention. I never include more than what's absolutely necessary to get my point across or to clarify my response.
What about your company e-mail? Quoting is always a good idea when you're carrying on a lot of conversations with one person. I find that it helps me remember the exact nature of a particular discussion as I go from topic to topic. Whether or not you use quoting when you access an on-line service is a matter of personal preference. Using it with the people you work with is a matter of necessity.
The Send page shown in Figure 18.22 contains settings that change the way you send messages to other people. This dialog box has five main areas. The first setting enables you to change the font that you use to create messages. Clicking this button displays a list of typefaces available on your machine. Always select a typeface and font size that will allow the other person to read your message with a minimum of squinting. The second item enables you to determine if the other party received or read your message. I almost never use the receipt feature unless I've been having communication problems. It tends to make the other person think you don't trust him. The Set Sensitivity listbox tells the other person how much secrecy to attach to your message. I usually include a lot more than just a sensitivity setting, though, if the information is very important or if it's critical that the other person guard the contents of the message. The next setting allows you to adjust the standard importance associated with a particular message. Unless you're the president of the company, you'll probably want to keep it at the Normal setting. Fortunately, you can easily adjust this setting on an individual basis when needed. I'll tell you how later in this chapter. The final setting on this page places a copy of your message in the Sent Items folder. I always use this feature because people often lose the messages I send. Keeping a copy of the message where you can grab it quickly changes a major headache into a minor nuisance.
Figure 18.22. The Send page of the Options dialog box enables you to change the way Exchange sends messages you create.
The Spelling page, shown in Figure 18.23, can save you more than time. It can save you the embarrassment of making a major spelling error on a message you planned to use to impress someone. I often wonder what the other person was thinking when he wrote a message because of the number of spelling errors. In fact, such a problem is almost inexcusable today because just about every product that works with Windows also includes a spelling checker of some type.
Figure 18.23. The Spelling page determines when and how the spelling checker will keep your messages free of spelling errors.
The preceding section looked at both the Addressing and Services pages. The Addressing page is where you add new address lists and define the default address list to use when creating a message. The Services page enables you to add new services to Exchange.
The Delivery page appears in Figure 18.24. The first two fields allow you to define a primary and secondary mail delivery location. All you need to do is select the desired location from the listbox. The third listbox defines which address lists Exchange will use to process recipient addresses. You can change the order by highlighting the desired entry and using the arrows to move it up or down the list.
Figure 18.24. The Delivery page enables you to define the delivery location for your mail.
I like the way the Exchange toolbar is arranged. It seems to contain everything I need without getting cluttered with things I don't use. You might need to use different Exchange features to get your work done, though. That's one reason I was so happy to see the customization feature.
Use the Tools | Customize Toolbar command to display the dialog box shown in Figure 18.25. This is where you customize the toolbar with two lists. The list on the left includes all the commands and other features you can include on the toolbar. The list on the right contains all the commands and other features that are on the toolbar right now. To add a new feature to the toolbar, simply highlight the position on the right list where you want it to appear and then highlight the item on the left list that you want to add. Click the Add button to add the new item. Likewise, if you want to remove an item from the toolbar, simply highlight it and click Remove.
Figure 18.25. Customizing the toolbar is as easy as a few clicks using this dialog box.
You can also move things around on the toolbar. Simply select the item you want to move and click the Move Up or Move Down button to make the change. If you decide that all the changes you made were in error, a click the Reset button will return them to their previous state. Finally, click the Close button to make your changes permanent.
Exchange enables you to modify the amount and type of data it displays. You can easily change the column widths by moving the mouse cursor between two columns, waiting for the pointer to change to a line with two arrows (one pointing each direction), and dragging the column line wherever you want it. Once you get past column widths, though, you'll need to use the View | Column command to modify other column features. Figure 18.26 shows what this dialog box looks like.
Figure 18.26. Get rid of data you don't need using the Columns dialog box.
There's no reason to keep specific columns around when you no longer need them. Likewise, you might find that Exchange provides some type of information you would really like to see. I usually err in favor of too much data if I have the screen real estate to support additional columns. It's better to have too much data than to miss something important because you don't have enough.
This dialog box works like the toolbar dialog box I discussed in the preceding section. To add a column to the display, simply select where you want it to appear in the right list, highlight the data you want to appear there in the left list, and click Add. Removing unneeded data is just as easy. Highlight the entry you want to get rid of in the right column and click Remove.
If you find that you added or removed too many columns, click Reset to restore things to their unedited state. Moving columns around is easy, too. Just select the desired column in the right list and use the Move Up and Move Down buttons to change its position.
The Columns dialog box has one additional field. The Width field enables you to set the size of the columns in pixels. Personally, I find this a little counterintuitive. I prefer to use the mouse to change the column size using the technique I described at the beginning of this section.
WinChat is a fun utilityso fun in fact that a lot of administrators probably remove it from the workstations on a network. I think it has a few useful features as well, so I usually leave it in place as long as no one abuses it. A network administrator could use this program to provide a user with the location of a file on the network or some other important piece of information, for example. The fact that you can cut and paste information in the communication dialog box makes this utility even more useful. What is WinChat? Figure 18.27 shows the initial screen for this utility. It provides a method for communicating with other people on the network in real time.
Figure 18.27. WinChat enables you to send messages between workstations in real time.
Starting a conversation is as easy as clicking the Dial button on the toolbar. You'll see a dialog box similar to the one shown in Figure 18.28. All you need to do to start a conversation is click the computer you want to contact. I hope the administrator added comments such as the one shown in the figure to make finding someone easy; otherwise, you'll find yourself spending quite a bit of time learning computer names. If the other party is available, he'll click the Answer button to establish contact with you. WinChat will display an error message in the status bar if it can't contact the other computer.
Figure 18.28. The Select Computer dialog box enables you to find the person you want to talk to.
Using WinChat is about as easy as it can get. All you do once you start a conversation is type whatever you want to say in the first window and wait for a response from the other person in the second window. You can use the Cut, Copy, and Paste options of the Edit menu to take information from WinChat and use it elsewhere. Once you finish a WinChat session, click the Hang Up button on the toolbar.
Dialing into a host machine at the office is becoming more common for two reasons. First, more people are working at home more often. A lot of companies are finding that some employees are actually more productive this way. It also means that a company could get at least a partial day's worth of work from an employee home sick with a cold. Second, a lot more people need access to the company machine while on the road.
Remote Access Server (RAS) is the Windows NT answer to this need. RAS provides a set of three utility programs: Remote Access Admin, Remote Access, and Remote Access Monitor. These three utility programs work together to provide remote users complete access to your Windows NT workstation without compromising network security. The two different kinds of RAS access are direct dial and Internet. I'm only going to cover the direct dial mode in this chapter; Internet access is really designed for the server version of Windows NT. (Despite what Microsoft's documentation will attempt to tell you, the load on an Internet server is too much for a standard Windows NT workstation.) I'll also cover the three utility programs in detail.
The first utility that you'll need to work with is Remote Access Admin. It's the central configuration point for RAS and the place where you'll do a lot of your work. The first thing you'll need to do before you can use RAS is start the server. Use the Server | Start Remote Access Service to accomplish this task. Selecting this command will display a dialog box asking which machine to use; the default is the current machine. Simply click OK to accept the current setting. What you'll see next is a timer display like the one shown in Figure 18.29. Once the server is started successfully, you'll see the status display shown in Figure 18.30.
Figure 18.29. You'll see this timer display during the startup portion of the RAS.
Figure 18.30. Once the RAS is started, you'll see this status display.
Note: Make sure you wait long enough for RAS to start. Even on a fairly fast 133MHz Pentium machine with a single port, it took about three minutes to get the service started. You'll find that the amount of time increases as you add ports or use a slower machine.
You'll find several other entries within the Server menu. The three other status commands are Stop Remote Access Server, Pause Remote Access Server, and Continue Remote Access Server. These commands are pretty self explanatory. Essentially, they enable you to change the current server status. Remote Access Admin automatically disables any commands that you can't use, so there isn't much chance that you'll select the wrong option. The Select Domain or Server option allows you to change the machine that will actually host RAS. Usually, Remote Access Admin assumes that you want to use the current machine. This command displays a dialog box showing the same network setup that I've shown you before. All you need to do is select a server from the list provided. Remote Access Admin keeps the list easy to use by removing any non-RAS capable machines from the list of network computers.
Once you get the server started, you have several different ways to use Remote Access Admin. The two most common ways are to manage users and ports. The following sections discuss those two activities in detail.
You'll need to tell RAS which users can dial into your workstation. It assumes that no one can, so the first thing you'll need to do is add some users to the dial-in list. Simply use the Users | Permissions command to display the Remote Access Permissions dialog box shown in Figure 18.31.
Figure 18.31. The Remote Access Permissions dialog box enables you to add users to the dial-in list.
The first thing you'll see is a list of users. This is the same list that the administrator sets upso anyone who has any form of access to the workstation will automatically appear on this list as well. To give someone dial-in access, just select the Grant Dial-In Permission To User checkbox.
At this point, you need to make a decision. What kind of call back access do you want to provide? The No Call Back option is the easiest on the user. As soon as they make contact with your machine and provide a valid password, they can start using the workstation. (I'll tell you later in this section how to limit the level of access they get to the workstation and the network.) The second option, Set By Caller, requires a call back, but the user gets to select the location. This is kind of a middle-of-the-road solution. Because the user must provide a call back number, the chances of some hacker gaining access to your machine are minimized. No hacker in his right mind would just give you his telephone number. The third option is the most secure. Presetting the call back to a specific number is the best and easiest way for the network administrator to ensure that no unauthorized person gains access to the machineat least not without considerable trouble.
Allowing users to access your machine through a dial-in connection doesn't come without risk. Remote Access Admin also provides a way to see who's connected to your machine at any given time. Just select the Users | Active Users command and you'll see a dialog box similar to the one shown in Figure 18.32. Notice that it shows who is connected and to what serverenabling you to monitor not only the current workstation, but any others that you started from the current machine. The User Account button shows you what permissions the user has. You can also send one user a message using the Send Message button. The Send To All button enables you to send the same message to all users. Finally, the Disconnect User button gives you the option of terminating a user connection if you suspect something is wrong.
Figure 18.32. The Remote Access Users dialog box enables you to monitor who is connected to a particular server and to communicate with them.
You'll also want to know about the ports connected to the machines that you're monitoring. The Server | Communication Ports command displays the general status dialog box shown in Figure 18.33. All this dialog box tells you is what ports you're monitoring and who's using them. Notice that this dialog box gives you some of the same options as the Remote Access Users dialog box. I won't discuss them again here because I already covered these features in the previous section.
Figure 18.33. The Communication Ports dialog box gives you an overview of the current connections.
If you want to find out more about a particular connection, just select it from the list and click the Port Status button. What you'll see is the Port Status dialog box shown in Figure 18.34. This dialog box has five areas; each one provides a specific type of port status information.
Figure 18.34. The Port Status dialog box provides you with detailed information about a specific port.
The first section of the dialog box isn't surrounded by a group box. It contains the name of the port and the server it's attached to. You'll also find the modem speed and the line and modem condition. The other areas of this dialog box only provide useful information once a user establishes a connection with the port.
The next two sections provide information about the data flowing through the port. The first group box tells you about the incoming data, whereas the second group box talks about outgoing data. Both group boxes provide the same kind of information. This includes the current number of bytes and frames, along with the compression ratio. I usually don't pay too much attention to the first two figures. The compression ratio is a good indicator of line condition, though. Just about every modem made now provides various "fall back" states. One of these states changes the amount of compression used by the modem in order to establish better communication conditions. You'll also find that modems will reduce their baud rate in order to maintain optimum communication. Check your modem vendor manual for more information.
The next group box is the one that you'll want to watch carefully if you suspect line noise or other conditions are causing problems with remote access. The Errors group box provides a wealth of information about the state of your communications. If you're seeing a lot of hardware or buffer overruns, for example, it might indicate that the workstation is overloaded. You might have to add another machine to handle the communication burden. A lot of timeouts usually indicates line noise or some type of imminent modem failure, but it can also indicate a user who's trying to do too many things at once. The cyclic redundancy code (CRC) indicator is almost always tied to line noise or some type of connection problem.
Check out the Remote Workstation information if you're worried about security problems. It tells you the name or network address of the machine connected to the port. Strange IPX or IP address information could indicate someone is trying to break in.
Remote Access is the other end of the RAS connection. It enables you to create a connection to a server. Before you can do that, though, you have to perform some configuration tasks. The first time you start Remote Access, you'll see a dialog box telling you that the phone book is empty. Click OK to clear the dialog box and you'll see the Add Phone Book Entry dialog box shown in Figure 18.35. This dialog box has three essential fields: Entry Name, Phone Number, and Description. You should fill out all three to create even the most basic phone book entry.
Figure 18.35. The first step to configuring the Remote Access utility is to add a RAS phone number.
The Entry Name is the location that you're calling. I use the name of a business or the person whose workstation I'll be accessing. The Description field usually contains enough information to tell me what the connection is for and why I added it to the phone book.
You can add more than one entry to the Phone Number field. Just click the ellipses to display the Phone Numbers For dialog box shown in Figure 18.36. This dialog box has two areas. The first area is where you add a new telephone number. Just type the number and then click the Add button. If you want to replace an old telephone number with a new one, click the Replace button instead. The bottom area enables you to arrange the telephone numbers in order of preference. To change the position of a number, highlight it and then press either the Raise or Lower buttons. Highlighting a number and pressing the Delete button will remove it from the phone book. Once you've entered all the numbers you need, click OK to save the changes.
Figure 18.36. The Phone Number For dialog box enables you to add all of the phone numbers for a specific location or server.
Tip: Sometimes, a RAS will provide more than one connection. Place all the high-speed connections first on your list. If a server has a modem with newer features, place it higher than an older modem on the same machine. Always place the number that offers the optimum communication features first on your list. You might even want to create two phone book entries for the same serverone for remote communication and another for local. The remote communication entry would contain only the high-speed modem numbers, saving your valuable long distance dollars and time while on the road.
That's all you need to make your first phone book entry. You could do a few other things as part of the setup for this entry, however. Remote Access assumes that you'll make the connection using a modem, so it selects the modem port. You could select any of the other port options that Remote Access provides including any modem port, any X.25 port, or any ISDN port. Below the port selection is five buttons. Four of these buttons enable you to configure the port option you selected. Most of them are pretty straightforwardasking simply that you provide connection information and nothing more. The modem configuration asks you to set the modem speed and hardware feature settings, such as compression and error control, for example. You also have the choice of entering the modem commands manually.
You should probably take a close look at the Security button. Clicking this button displays a dialog box like the one shown in Figure 18.37, which has two different settings areas. The first area controls the level and type of encryption that you want when communicating with the server. Of course, the server must be able to provide this level of security or else Remote Access won't complete the connection. The security options are ordered from least secure to most secure. If you check the last encryption option, Remote Access enables the Require Data Encryption checkbox. Selecting this checkbox forces the server to provide data encryption or break the connection.
Figure 18.37. The Security Settings dialog box enables you to control the level of security between the remote workstation and the server.
You'll also find that you'll need some form of script to handle some communication situations. The last two entries provide two forms of setup mechanism. You can either enter the name of the script or choose terminal mode so that you can handle any setup manually. In most cases, you'll find that writing the script is a lot more time consuming at the outset, but it's definitely worth the time if you use the connection more than a few times. I do resort to using the terminal options for those rare occasions where I only need to log into a server a few times.
Now that you've completed both the optional and required setups, click OK in the Add Phone Book Entry dialog box. What you'll see next is the main dialing screen for Remote Access as shown in Figure 18.38. Begin by looking at the seven buttons across the top of the dialog box.
Figure 18.38. The main Remote Access dialog box is very simple to use; the seven buttons enable you to do most of the work without resorting to menus.
The first four buttons deal with phone book entries. You can use them to add, edit, clone, or remove any of the phone book entries. All but the Clone option should be self explanatory. The Clone button is a nice feature that enables you to create a copy of a particular phone book entry and then modify it as needed. Clicking this button displays the same Add Phone Book Entry dialog box that you saw before but with all the entries filled in with the cloned data. I use this feature to my advantage. Creating the most complex form of telephone entry first enables you to create other forms by removing what you don't need. I previously mentioned that you might want to maintain two phone entries: one for a remote connection and another when you dial in locally. You'll find that you can clone phone entries in other ways as well. You might need separate phone entries for each of the workstations you access at a particular company, for example. You can create the first entry and then clone it. In most cases, all you'll need to do is quickly modify the entry name and a phone number for the new entry. This makes the process fast and easy, rather than a chore.
The next two buttons on the dialog box are pretty simple to understand as well. The first allows you to dial into a RAS. It'll try all the numbers for a phone entrystarting with the first one on the listbefore reporting a failure. The display you see depends on what kind of setup you created and the kind of access you need. In most cases, you won't see anything until you actually make contact with the remote server. The exception to this rule is if you select Terminal for one of the entries on the Security Settings dialog box. In that case, you'll see a standard modem dialog box like the ones that most communication programs provide. The terminal window enables you to interact with the remote server as needed.
The last button on the dialog box displays the current status of the connection. I'll describe this in a little more detail in the section "Remote Access Monitor" later in this chapter. For the most part, you won't need to use this option unless you're experiencing some kind of trouble making the connection work.
Sometimes, you'll want to change the default settings for Remote Access. All of these options appear on the Options menu shown in Figure 18.39. The menu actually has two groups of settings, along with an Exit command that closes the program. The first group controls communication settings. The second affects how the program interacts with the user.
Figure 18.39. Remote Access provides quite a few options that you can use to fine-tune your setup.
Clicking the Redial Settings command displays the dialog box shown in Figure 18.40 where you select how often and how long Remote Access tries to establish contact with the remote server. The Number Of Attempts field tells how many times Remote Access will go through the list of numbers you provided. The default setting tries each number once. The second setting changes the interval between tries. In most cases, you'll find that the default 15 second interval is more than sufficient if you have more than one number to try. On the other hand, you might need to increase this value if you have only one number. The remote server might need to reset the modem after each failed attempt, and the 15 second default might not provide enough time to do it. You'll also want to provide extra time when calling from a motel room or other area with an older telephone system. Some of these older setups also require a reset time for optimum results. This dialog box also has two checkboxes. The first enables you to retry after a failed link. Remote Access defines a failed link as one where you established contact with the remote server, but something went wrong and the server hung up. Usually, Remote Access won't try contacting the server again when this happens. The reason is simple: You usually need to change something in the setup to make the connection work. The second checkbox tells Remote Access to display itself when it tries to redial the number. Personally, I find this a nuisance because I'm usually working on something in the foreground while Remote Access makes the connection.
Figure 18.40. The Redial Settings dialog box enables you to change how long and how often Remote Access tries to establish contact with the server.
Selecting the Phone Number Settings entry of the Options menu will display the dialog box shown in Figure 18.41. What this dialog box does is allow you to enter the prefix and suffix numbers needed to dial your phone. Many business phones require that you dial 9 first, for example. Clicking the ellipses next to each field displays a dialog box containing standard prefixes and suffixes for you to choose from.
Figure 18.41. Use the Phone Number Settings dialog box to add a prefix or suffix to the phone numbers in your phone number entry.
Now, look at the other entries on the Options menu. Remote Access provides two phone books. The default phone book is the public one that everyone can use. You can also use a personal phone book by checking the Personal Phonebook option. The next two entries tell Remote Access when to minimize itself: on dial or on hang-up. You can choose either or both options. Some people find that a modem speaker goes over like the proverbial lead balloon in a cramped office environment. You can get rid of the annoyance on a temporary basis by selecting the Disable Modem Speaker option. You can also disable software compression and automatic dialing from this menu. Finally, you can choose whether you want to automatically launch the Remote Access Monitor. I'll describe this utility in the next section.
You'll find that the Remote Access Monitor is one of those handy little tools that you really won't want to be without. You can use this utility with Remote Access and when you have your machine set up as a RAS. It displays the current status of each of your ports in a handy display on the desktop. You can also place the monitor on the Taskbar to free up desktop space if needed. Take a look at the desktop display first. Figure 18.42 shows the monitor as you'll usually see it. All it tells you is what the modem status lights wouldwhether someone is connected and if they're exchanging data. Notice that I've also right-clicked the display to show you the associated context menu.
Figure 18.42. The default Remote Access Monitor display shows the current modem light status.
The context menu associated with the Remote Access Monitor has three sections. The contents of the middle section obviously varies depending on whether you display the Remote Access Monitor on the Desktop or the Taskbar. All you need to do is select an option to move it from one place to the other. You also get an extra option here when you display the Remote Access Monitor on the Desktop; you can choose to keep it on top at all times. The function of the last section is pretty obvious, too; it closes the Remote Access Monitor.
That leaves the first three entries to discuss, so look at the first one. If you select the Open Dial-Up Networking Monitor option, you'll see a dialog box similar to the one in Figure 18.43. The first page, Status, looks just like the status dialog box that I mentioned in the section "Remote Access Admin" earlier in the chapter. (Refer to Figure 18.34.) The second page, Summary, tells you which connections are idle. It's the third page, the one shown in the figure, that's the most useful in this particular case.
Figure 18.43. The Preferences page of the Dial-Up Networking Monitor dialog box enables you to set the RAS preferences.
The Preferences page has two sections. The first section allows you to choose a connection location. I'll explain this later in this section. The location information enables Windows NT to make some settings for you automatically. If you usually call from Los Angeles with a local number, for example, Windows NT adds the proper area code when you dial from New York. Likewise, when you dial from a foreign country, Windows NT will also add the proper country codes for you. Below the location entry, you can select sounds to associate with specific events. I find that the On Connection and On Line Error checkboxes are the most useful, but I usually turn them off when working in an office environment. This dialog box makes it easy to do so without making any permanent changes. You just change the checkboxes back when you get done.
The last two entries on the context menu display status screens of another type. You've seen them before in other sections of this chapter, so I won't describe them again here. The Connection Status entry enables you to see the current status of any connections to your machine. I covered this as part of the section "Remote Access Admin" earlier in this chapter. Likewise, I covered the Hang-Up Connection option as part of that section. In this case, you'll see a list of connections. All you need to do is select the one you want to disconnect. The connection list isn't quite as complete as the Remote Access Admin displays, but it takes up a lot less memory too.
Now that you have a better understanding of Microsoft Exchange, it's time to look at some of the things you can do with it. Exchange comes with three default MAPI servers: Mail, Fax, and Microsoft Network. Each of these servers uses Exchange as its front end to varying degrees. A CompuServe server comes with the Windows 95 disks, but it's not certain as of this writing whether that server will appear on the Windows NT disk. You can safely use the Windows 95 servers on your Windows NT installation if necessary.
The following sections explore the MAPI servers that come with Windows NT. These servers can interact with each other through Exchange. All the messages you receive will appear in one place, regardless of which server you used to retrieve them. In fact, from a user's perspective, you might even be tempted to think that you're using a single product for all your communication needs. Of course, it's just the level of front-end integration that makes it appear that way.
Microsoft Mail is the easiest of the MAPI servers to describe. I've already discussed all the interface elements in this chapter. The only thing you'll notice as far as Mail is concerned is that any changes to your local postoffice automatically appear in your setup as well. I find that Mail is probably the most integrated of all the MAPI servers.
Sending a Mail message is very easy. All you have to do is click the New Message icon on the Exchange toolbar to display the dialog box shown in Figure 18.44. Your dialog box might not have all the fields that mine does. I selected all the options in the View menu so that I could show you what they look like. As with every new Windows application, this one has a toolbar that provides access to just about every feature that Mail supports. The following list provides an overview of what the features can do for you.
Figure 18.44. The New Message dialog box provides the basic tools for creating any kind of new message in Exchange.
Besides all these toolbar options, the menu also has other configuration options. All the configuration options you saw in the section "Exchange" earlier in this chapter also appear here. You can configure the New Message dialog box toolbar to meet your needs, for example. The service configuration option appears here as well.
Below the toolbar is a formatting toolbar. It includes everything you might expect. You can select a typeface, font size, bold, italics, underline, and font color. This toolbar enables you to format the paragraph by adding bullets and indentation. It also allows you to determine if the paragraph is right-, center-, or left-justified.
The Microsoft Network (MSN) is Microsoft's attempt at creating an on-line service similar to CompuServe or America On-Line. Whether it will be successful remains to be seen. Microsoft has changed the orientation of MSN in recent months to take a lot stronger advantage of the Internet. What this means to you as an MSN user is that you might see less in the way of MSN content but get better overall service in the long run. Take a look at Appendix A, "On-Line Resources," for some more detailed MSN descriptions. The purpose of this section is to show you the basic usage details.
You can access MSN in a variety of ways. If you're currently using Exchange, use the Tools | Remote Mail option to display the dialog box shown in Figure 18.45. This is where all your MSN-specific messages get stored after you connect to the network. Notice that the indicator in the lower-right corner shows when you're connected or disconnected.
Figure 18.45. The Remote Mail dialog box is where MSN stores any messages you receive on the network.
Clicking the connect icon on the toolbar will display the dialog box shown in Figure 18.46. Notice that this dialog box contains three fields. The first field contains your name. The second contains the password for your MSN account. The checkbox tells Exchange to remember your MSN password between sessions. Notice the Settings button. Clicking it brings up a centralized dialog box for changing your modem and dialing properties. You've seen both of these dialog boxes before, so I won't describe them again. The only other setting that this dialog box changes is your access numbera single setting that enables you to access the Microsoft Network. You change this setting by selecting the city with an access number nearest your own.
Figure 18.46. The MSN Sign In dialog box is where you enter your name and password prior to going on-line.
Once you enter your name and password and change any required settings, click Connect to proceed. You'll hear your modem attempt to make access with MSN. The dialog box also displays messages during this process in case your modem speaker is turned off.
This method of access doesn't show the full MSN display that you'll see in a few moments. All it does is allow you to access your e-mail. When you do finally make a connection, Exchange displays the Remote Mail dialog box again. Use the Update Headers button to collect all your message headers (this doesn't actually retrieve them). You'll use three buttons on the toolbar to mark the various message headers as you read them. The first retrieves the message and erases it on-line. The second retrieves a copy of the message but leaves the original in your on-line e-mail box. The third deletes the message without reading it. After you decide the fate of all your message headers, use the Transfer Mail button to retrieve any messages you decide to keep. This will download them from MSN and place them in your Inbox.
Getting e-mail isn't the only reason to use MSN. Now that you've looked at the speedy way to get your mail, look at what you can do to browse through the features that MSN offers. You should see an MSN icon on your Desktop. Double-clicking it will display the same Sign In dialog box that you saw before. Instead of simply getting logged on and seeing the Remote Mail dialog box, however, you'll see a different display this time. Figure 18.47 gives you an idea of what you might see.
Every time you connect to MSN, you'll see MSN Central. This is the starting point for all your adventures on MSN. From here, you can check your e-mail, get some assistance with using MSN, or check out the categories of other places you can visit on MSN. Notice the Favorite Places option. You can store the locations of places you visit frequently so that you can find them quickly.
Figure 18.47. MSN Central is the starting point for any on-line time on MSN.
I'd like to provide a brief description of the various events taking place on MSN Today. It's the first icon you'll always see in MSN Central. Just click the MSN Today icon shown in Figure 18.48 and you also get a quick summary of important news events and other information of this sort. When you get done looking at this page, you can use the MSN icon in the control area of the Taskbar to get back to MSN Central.
Figure 18.48. MSN Today is the place to go for important news about the network.
Categories is where all the action is on MSN, so take a look there. Figure 18.49 shows an example of what you might see. Microsoft is constantly changing the features that MSN offers, though, so this view will change often. What's the first thing you noticed about this display? It should look just like an Explorer double-pane view with a little window dressing because that's exactly what it is. You'll navigate MSN using an Explorer-type interface. Of course, this means that it will be easy to use, but it also means that you'll spend some time boring down through the various folders to find what you want. That's why setting up some Favorite Places is so important.
Figure 18.49. It's no surprise that MSN uses a double-pane Explorer view to help you get around.
I don't want to spoil all the fun of exploring MSN, but let's check out one of the categories at random. Suppose that you want to check on what's going on in the computer community. Double-clicking the Computers and Software, the Computer News and Publications, and finally the Computer Industry Press Relations icons takes you to a forum that allows you to see what's going on. Figure 18.50 shows how the messages appear in a typical MSN forum. I've pulled down the folder listbox here to show you that you can move through MSN using the same techniques that you use with Explorer.
Figure 18.50. A typical MSN forum contains a list of messages available for reading.
You can use the File | Add To Favorite Places command to add this location to Favorite Places. That way, the next time you wanted to view the listing of available jobs, it would be easy to get to this particular forum. Instead of "drilling down" through all those folders, you would gain direct access.
As with every other aspect of Exchange, you can retrieve messages from MSN and place them in your Inbox. Once you respond to them off-line, you can upload the responses to the forum. Everything for MSN works the same as any other Exchange MAPI server.
Now that you know the basics about using MSN, I want to discuss a few things that you'll need to really use this product. The following list tells you about the language of using an on-line product like MSN.
I don't want to make this a book about using on-line services; the market has plenty of those already. I suggest that you buy one or two of them to build your knowledge of on-line services. It's important to learn the rules of the road when it comes to reacting to other people's messages. You will also need to learn rules of etiquette for forums. I've presented some of these ideas already. Many people frown on the practice of quoting on a forum, for example.
Body language is a missing element of any on-line conversation. You can't really tell someone that a comment is tongue-in-cheek by using a wry smile because he won't see it. To help avoid conflict whenever possible, people invented something called an emoticon. It's a little text icon that tells the other person what you mean by a certain comment. Table 18.1 lists common emoticons that you can use to dress up any written communication. In fact, you could even use them on your company e-mail.
Emoticon | Description |
:-) | A happy face. |
:-> | An alternative happy face. |
:-D | Said with a smile. |
:<) | Humor for those with hairy lips. |
:<)= | Humor for those with beards, too. |
B-) | Smiling and wearing glasses or sunglasses (or a message from Batman). |
8-) | Smiling and wearing glasses or sunglasses. Also used to denote a wide-eyed look. |
:-1 or :-, | A smirk. |
'-) | A wink. |
:-( | Unhappy. |
:-c | Very unhappy. |
(:-( | Very unhappy. |
:/) | Not funny: The receiver of a message sends this emoticon to show that a particular comment wasn't received as the sender intended. |
(:-& | Angry. |
:-) )-: | Theatrical comments: Use this for comments that are either theatrical in nature or used for emphasis. |
;-) | Sardonic incredulity. |
(@ @) | You're kidding! |
:-" | Pursed lips. |
:-C | Incredulous (jaw dropped). |
:-< | Forlorn. |
:-B | Drooling (or overbite). |
:-| | Disgusted. |
:-V | Shouting. |
:-o or :-O | More versions of shouting. |
:-w | Speaking with a forked tongue: You're lying to the other person in a whimsical sort of way. In other words, you're making a point sarcastically. |
:-W | Shouting with a forked tongue. |
:-r | Bleahhh! (tongue sticking out). |
<:-O | Eek! You can use this for a number of purposes. You can even use it to tell the network administrator that your equipment is down and you can't do anything without it. |
:-* | Oops! (covering mouth with hand). |
:-T | Keeping a straight face (tight-lipped): Use this emoticon when you mean something in a serious way that the receiver could interpret as a humorous comment. |
:-# | Censored: You'd love to use a little profanity but resisted the urge. |
:-x | Kiss, kiss. |
:-? | Licking your lips. |
:~i | Smoking. |
:~j | Smoking and smiling. |
:/i | No smoking. |
:-) :-) :-) | A guffaw. |
:-J | A tongue-in-cheek comment. |
:*) | Clowning around. |
:-8 | Talking out of both sides of your mouth. |
<:-) | For dumb questions: Everyone knows that the only dumb question is the one you failed to ask before trashing the network. Some people might feel that they have a dumb question they want someone to answer, though. |
OO | Headlights on: Use this emoticon to show someone that you want him to pay special attention to a comment. |
:-o or #:-o | "Oh, nooooooo!" (a la Mr. Bill). |
|-( | A late-night message. |
(:-$ | Ill. |
#:-) | Matted hair. |
:^) | A big nose. |
:-{#} | Braces. |
(:^( | A broken nose. |
:-(=) | Big teeth. |
&:-) | Curly hair. |
@:-) | Wavy hair. |
?-( | A black eye. |
%-) | Broken glasses. |
*:* | A fuzzy person. |
*:** | A fuzzy person with a fuzzy mustache. |
(:<) | A blabbermouth. |
+<:-| | A monk or nun. |
(:-|K- | A formal message. |
||*( | A handshake is offered. |
||*) | A handshake is accepted. |
<:>== | A turkey. |
@>--->---- | A rose. |
(-_-) | A secret smile. |
<{:-)} | A message in a bottle. |
<:-)<<| | A message from a spaceship. |
(:-... | A heartbreaking message. |
(:>-< | A message from a thief: Hands up! |
...---... | SOS. |
:-I | It's something, but I don't know what. . .: You can't figure out what the other person is trying to say or reference. |
@%&$%& | Profanity. |
I hope you'll come to enjoy using on-line services as much as I have. MSN is just starting out, but you can use other on-line services as well. CompuServe seems to be one of the favorite places for business people to congregate, although it has forums to attract just about anyone's attention. America On-Line is extremely popular as well. Of course, the trick to selecting any on-line service is to find the one that meets your needs. Obviously, no one but you can determine that.
Set up Microsoft Exchange to handle your fax, on-line communication, and mail needs. See if you can tell any difference between the messages you receive from the three sources. In most cases, you won't unless the sender provides some kind of clue.
Check your \SYSTEM32 folder to see if you can identify the various pieces of the communication subsystem. This chapter provides you with a list of the major files and many hints on how you can find the other special files that pertain to your system.
I provided you with a list of standard emoticons in this chapter. One of the fun elements of on-line computing is coming up with your own set of special emoticons. (Of course, this means you'll have to explain them to everyone.) Try creating a few emoticons of your own. One person recently created an emoticon that resembles Bill the Cat, for example.