Office of Educational Technology

Viewing Shared Calendars with Outlook Web Access

Outlook Web Access (OWA) is great for accessing your mail and calendar from anywhere on the web.  However, viewing someone else’s shared calendar with OWA is not as straight forward as it is with Outlook.  With OWA you don’t have the convenient check boxes in the navigation pane to choose the shared calendars you want to see.  You can view a shared calendar by keying in the necessary information into the browser’s address line:

Example:  When you’re in OET Webmail, your address line will show as follows:

https://webmail.oet.udel.edu/exchange/ 

After the final slash, key in: Smith/calendar

Like this: https://webmail.oet.udel.edu/exchange/Smith/calendar

Where Smith is the Windows user name sharing the calendar.

Part-Time Staff Need Logins Too

If you have part-time employees or students who need to log onto computers on the OET network, contact oet-help@udel.edu to request OET user accounts for them.  

These individual accounts will allow staff to log onto computers and access files in any folders that you designate. If you need to share documents with one or more staff members, request a shared network folder to allow all staff with the appropriate permissions access to the same data.

Recycling Computer Equipment on Campus

Computer equipment, including laptop batteries, monitors, and circuit boards contain hazardous materials, and procedures are in place at the University of Delaware to recycle this equipment. 

For example, to have your old laptop battery picked up for recycling, complete the chemical waste pickup request form at http://www.udel.edu/OHS/wastepickup.html. For a list of how to recycle other computer equipment, visit the Occupational Health & Safety website at http://www.udel.edu/OHS/comprecycle.html.

Remember to contact OET at oet-help@udel.edu to erase all data on hard drives, if you plan to send computers to Surplus.  

Danger From E-Mail Attachments

Recently, a new phishing e-mail purporting to be from UPS has been making the rounds on the internet.  The e-mail contains a virus that spreads through an attachment.  Never click on attachments in e-mail unless you are certain that the message is actually from the stated sender and that the sender intentionally attached the file to the e-mail for your use.  If you have any doubts at all, delete it.  As always, e-mail oet-help@udel.edu with any questions about suspicious e-mail messages.

How to Export Outlook Contacts

If you want to move or copy your Outlook Contacts to another email system, there are a few options from which to choose.  For instance, if you’re moving the contacts to another Outlook environment, the best way to port the data would be to save the data in an Outlook “.pst” file.  This file type saves the data in exactly the same format as the original contact information.  If the new email system is not Outlook, you would choose one of the following file types: Comma Separated Values, Tab Separated Values, MS Access or MS Excel.  If you’re unsure of the file type your new email system expects, your best bet is to use Comma Separated Values (.csv).  This file type can be easily converted to many other file types, if necessary.

1. On the Outlook file menu, choose Import and Export…
2. In the Import and Export Wizard select Export to a file.
3. On the first Export to a file window, select your file type.
4. On the next Export to a file window, locate and select your Contacts item under Mailbox - yourname.
5. On the next Export to a file window, key in or browse to a place to save the file.
6. On the final Export to a file window you have a chance to Map Custom Fields, in case your new email system requires different field names for the contact information.  If not, just hit Finish, and you’re dome.

Keeping Appointments Private in Outlook

If you are an Exchange client who shares an Outlook calendar with other staff members, there’s a way to keep your child’s recital, furniture delivery, and other personal appointments private.  To make an appointment private within Outlook, right-click on the individual appointment and select private. If an appointment is part of a series, right-click and select “Edit Series” then click on the icon of the lock to make the series private.

Lightweight laptop solutions at an affordable price

For faculty and staff who consider the weight and price of a laptop before making a purchase, there are several solutions on and near the horizon.

In August, Dell plans to release the E Ultraportable Notebook that is a tiny 8.9” in diameter, weighs just 2.2 pounds, and starts at $299. Although details on system components have not been released yet, since it will carry the Dell name, parts should be able to be replaced easily by OET’s Dell-certified technicians while under warranty.

Lightweight laptops such as the Dell E Ultraportable offer increased portability for less, balancing cost with available system components. Configuration choices for RAM, processor speed, hard drive capacity, optical (DVD) drive, and warranty length are usually limited but within normal ranges. These laptops may be perfect for someone who only wants use minimal processing power (e.g., to surf the web or to do word processing).

Other popular mini notebooks include the ASUS Eee PC that offer several configurations from $199 to about $399 and the HP Mini-Note which runs from $500 to $750. These laptops offer configurations with various operating systems including Vista Business, which is supported by OET, and Linux and Windows XP Home, which are not supported by OET.

If you are thinking about purchasing a laptop, OET will be happy to assist in configuring the one that’s right for you. Just write to oet-help@udel.edu.

Move Accomplished

OET file and mail services are now at home in the Computing Center operations room on Chapel Street. Call 8162 if you experience problems resulting from this move. Remember that webmail.oet.udel.edu is a backup if your Outlook client is acting up.

OET SERVICES UNAVAILABLE

OET file and mail services serving CHEP will be unavailable starting at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, July 26.  We anticipate that  service should be restored by 2:00 p.m. Watch this space for announcements.

This will affect your “H: drive” however you access it (uno.oet.udel.edu) and your Exchange mail (which you read using Outlook, Entourage, or webmail.oet.udel.edu).  If you read mail using http://mail.udel.edu, your mail will be unaffected. It is unlikely that your mail correspondents will receive non-delivery or delayed-delivery reports for mail they send you during this period.

These will be unaffected: web sites, login to desktop computers in CHEP offices, Child Plus, the ERC catalog, lab accounts and printing in 006-007 PRN, 190 GRM, 203i WHL.

This scheduled down time is for the purpose of moving our servers to the equipment room at Chapel Street, where IT will house them in a better-protected physical and electrical environment than we have enjoyed up to now. The payoff should be better continuity of service in the future for CHEP computer users.

Applying Microsoft Updates

Microsoft updates are released by Microsoft the second Tuesday of each month and shortly thereafter pushed to Windows computers on the OET network. It is absolutely essential for the security of your computers that these updates be applied promptly. The number of updates varies from month to month as does the time that it takes for these updates to be installed.

When updates are ready for installation, Windows XP users will see a yellow shield with an exclamation point on it in the system tray (right-bottom corner of your desktop), and Vista users will see a similar shield near the shutdown option in the start menu.

Windows users have some leeway as to when updates are applied. If you see that updates are ready to be applied, you can click on the shield to apply the updates which may require a shutdown or restart of your computer. Depending on an update’s critical nature, it will automatically install, possibly during the work day, if not given the opportunity to do so within a certain time frame.

If you want to prevent updates from interrupting your workday, you can apply updates at shutdown by selecting the option to apply updates and shutdown. Updates will then be applied before your computer turns off. Another option is to log off your computer and leave it on overnight, when you either see the yellow shield or receive notification through the shutdown process that updates need to be applied. Updates will be applied and your computer will reboot overnight. When you next log onto your computer, you will receive a message that updates have been successfully applied.