I can be a Microsoft fanboy from time to time, I’ll admit that. I’ll also admit that I’ve been looking forward to Outlook 2010 since Outlook 2007 first arrived… mainly because when OL2K7 was released to manufacturers in late 2006, it was STILL missing alot of productivity features; some of which Gmail debuted with almost 3 years prior. I’m talking about conversation view, the ability to quickly move a message to a specific folder, effective keyboard shortcuts, etc.

Continue Reading

Beginning today, GoDaddy (you most likely have – or someone you know has – a domain parked at GoDaddy) is offering hosted Microsoft Exchange plans. 

There are two plans currently available: individual access (dubbed “Outlook with Mobile”) with 2GB of storage for $9.99/mo and group access (dubbed “Group Outlook with Mobile”) with 20GB storage space for $56.99/mo.  The latter enables up to 5 users and both plans come with Outlook 2007 for each user to use on your desktop or laptop (MS Licensing may even permit both but don’t quote me on that).  Here’s a snippet of Microsoft’s official press release:

“GoDaddy.com Inc., the world’s largest domain registrar and largest hosting provider in North America, and Microsoft Corp. today announced that GoDaddy.com is delivering mobile and group e-mail plans with Microsoft Outlook, powered by Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, to help small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) improve worker productivity and communications regardless of physical location. The new e-mail plans from GoDaddy.com, including Personal Outlook, Outlook with Mobile, and Group Outlook with Mobile, give SMBs the ability to manage all of their online services from one place.”

GoDaddy certainly isn’t the first to offer hosted Exchange plans but they are a company you’re almost certain to see around tomorrow (although you can’t be too sure now) and that’s definitely something to consider when it comes to your email. You can find plenty of other hosted Exchange providers by just doing a Web search for “hosted Exchange plans.”

Microsoft Exchange, in my humble opinion, offers a much more pleasant and stable experience than, for instance, IMAP with Gmail.  (I can’t quite emphasize “stable” enough.)

Plus, of all the services you should be paying money for, email might just be one of the ones you should consider – especially given how critical it can be sometimes.  I mean, you wouldn’t want to find yourself, oh – I don’t know, locked out of your email account with no sign of support whatsoever… would you?

If you’re a frequent user of Microsoft Outlook 2002 or 2003, you may have already stumbled upon and gotten used to having the Personal Folders Backup utility.  The 2mb download installs as an add-in to Outlook and allows you to backup your Personal Folders File (.PST) with just a click or two.  It’s quite convenient and the team behind it has finally updated it to be compatible with Outlook 2007.

Download the Personal Folders Backup Add-In here or read more about it on the Microsoft Office Outlook help site.

As an alternative, you can also use the (much more powerful) Amic Email Backup from Amic Tools. This freeware application not only allows you to backup the E-mail & calendar(s) stored in your PST but also backs up your mail and newsgroup account settings in addition to message rules, blocked senders and signatures. (Basically, everything in Outlook that you’d want to back up.)  In addition, you can schedule automated backups because, let’s face it, manual just doesn’t cut it.

Source: — Rob Sealock via MSDN Blogs