Microsoft Introduces IMAP Support For Outlook.com Users

Microsoft introduced Outlook.com a year ago, and since then users were expecting the software giant to introduce IMAP support for the program. Now, finally, Microsoft has decided to introduce IMAP support for the program, which is glad news for the millions of Outlook.com users.

The advantage of using IMAP protocol is that this protocol makes changes introduced in any of the device appear on other sets of devices where the email is configured. For instance, if you delete an email by accessing your account from your computer, you will find the email deleted when you access the Outlook email setup in your phone. This feature has many advantages, as most of the people access their accounts from multiple devices.

Since the introduction of Outlook.com, the program used Microsoft’s Exchange ActiveSync technology. However, the drawback of this technology was that some email clients and Mac programs did not support it. This created many problems and the users who relied on clients that did not use EAS technology had to use the POP protocol. The disadvantage of POP protocol is that it simply downloads the emails to the user’s machine and does not make changes in the email servers. Now, with Outlook.com ready with IMAP, let us see some of the important settings for the program.

Incoming mail server settings

For an Outlook email setup, you need to enter the following information in the client program without errors.

Server: The incoming mail server address for Outlook.com program is ‘imap-mail.outlook.com’

Port: The incoming port number is 993.

Encryption: Outlook.com supports SSL encryption.

Outgoing mail server settings

Server: The outgoing mail server address for Outlook.com is ‘smtp-mail.outlook.com’

Port: The outgoing port number is 587

Encryption: The encryption supported by the program for outgoing mails is TLS.

OAuth authentication

In addition to IMAP support, Microsoft has also said that the program would start supporting OAuth authentication. With this, third party applications can work together with Outlook.com. You can already find many services released for Outlook.com integration. For instance, if you integrate TripIt with your Outlook.com account, the program automatically identify travel confirmations and add them to the list. You can also make use of programs like OtherInbox and Unroll.me, which will help you to keep your inbox clean.

With the introduction of IMAP support and OAuth authentication, Microsoft has put up a tough fight against its competitor Google’s Gmail service.

Fixing PST Files In Outlook

If you are a regular user of MS Outlook then you probably know quite a lot about PST files. Outlook saves all the relevant information like emails, calendars, journals, notes and contacts, in a PST file on the system’s hard disk. PST is the abbreviation for Personal Storage Table, which is a file extension used by Microsoft for products like MS Office Outlook. All the information is gathered from the Microsoft exchange mailboxes. Even though the PST file is stored on the system, it can be delivered to the server. By default, you will find these PST files of Outlook in the location specified by C: \Documents and Settings\USER\Local Settings\Application Data\MicrosoftOutlook . Here, USER is actually your Windows Login screen name. For your current mailbox, the default name of the file is outlook.pst, and archive.pst represents the archive file.

One of the prevalent issues MS outlook users have to face with PST files is their tendency to get damaged or corrupted. Once that happens, users are denied access to their MS Outlook accounts. Users will find they cannot start Outlook whatsoever.

You can either employ Outlook’s inbuilt tools to fix the corruptions, or you can also download some third party software that is capable of fixing Outlook PST file corruption.
MS Outlook typically tries fixing corruption on its own. If your Outlook program is trying to fix the PST files, a window will appear on-screen, informing about the repair process. Typically minor corruptions caused by file size extending limit or other issues can be repaired easily. If this automatic repair fails to fix the PST file then the user must see through the process and remove the corruption in the PST file.

• Find the Inbox Repair tool. The name of the file or executable program is Scanpst.exe. If you chose to run the executable program, be careful not to have MS Outlook running simultaneously. 
• A window will appear where you must type in the name of the PST file that is filled with corruptions. Browse to the PST file’s location and select it. 
• Click Start to initiate the scan and repair process, if an error message appears make sure that you have Scanpst.exe in the file location mentioned. If not, find and run CNFNOT32.EXE, so that Scanpst.exe is installed. 
• The Scanpst.exe program scans for errors and fixes any it finds. 

In case you still cannot start Outlook, then contact our support site for Outlook.

How To Remove Auto-complete Drop Down List In Outlook 2010

By configuring an email client program in your computer, you can start downloading emails from the internet email servers to your machine. This will help you to view and work with these emails even when there is no connection to the network. Some of the famous email client programs are Microsoft’s Outlook, Outlook Express, Mozilla’s Thunderbird etc.
Among the above-mentioned email client programs, Outlook has been the favorite of majority of email client users. This is because Outlook has numerous useful features loaded in it. It not only helps you to download and view emails, but also helps you to add tasks, maintain a schedule of things etc.
When you compose an email, you need to enter the complete email address of the sender in the field for To. However, the frequently used email addresses are stored in your Outlook program, and it automatically gives you a drop down list of email addresses whenever you start entering an address. This can avoid the difficulty of entering the complete email address each time. However, some users may find this feature annoying and might want to delete these suggestions. In this help with Outlook section, we will take you through the steps involved in deleting these entries from your Outlook 2010 program.

Steps Involved

• Select the option Start and go to All Programs. 
• From the list of all installed programs in your computer, locate and click on Microsoft Outlook 2010 to launch the program. 
• Select the tab File in the program and choose Options from the box that appears. 
• Choose the option Mail, and this will give you the options associated with your email messages. 
• Locate the option Send Messages in the window and select Empty Auto-Complete List. This will open a window, which would ask you to confirm your selection. 
• Choose the option Yes, and this will delete all the email addresses stored in the auto-complete list. 
• Select the option OK and this will take you back to the main window of the program. 
• Restart the program and select the New email option. 
• Enter an email address and you will find that the auto-complete drop down list no longer appears in the program. 

We hope that the above-mentioned steps have helped you to clear the auto-complete list from your Outlook program. If you need further help with Outlook program, you may contact Microsoft chat support or our technical support associates.

Restoring Emails After Uninstalling Microsoft Outlook

Microsoft Outlook is one of the most popular and flexible email applications and it helps in effective communication other than helping you to manage and consolidate all your email messages. The basic functions rendered by Microsoft Outlook include creating contacts, manage contacts, prepare address books, create distribution list, manage tasks and other functions.

Sometimes due to a hard drive failure, you might have wiped out everything from your computer and you might have even uninstalled the Microsoft Outlook from your computer. Even if you reinstall Outlook, you may not find the email messages. Among them, there might be email messages that were of utmost importance and hence you would definitely wish to restore Microsoft Outlook. If you wish to have email in Outlook restored, you need to follow the below mentioned steps that would help you recover all your email messages that you have lost.

Instructions

• In order to acquire the email messages back once again, you need to get Microsoft Outlook reinstalled on your computer. You need not create a new email address and it would be better to stick to your old email address and password in order to acquire your email messages back. After the reinstallation of Microsoft Outlook, you can get all the email messages backed up and later you could uninstall Outlook if you want.
• You can contact the Internet service provider because the email messages would normally be saved on the server of your network. Contacting the support desk will help you to find out appropriate remedy for your problem and they may even direct you to the help desk of Microsoft who can in turn assist you with your issue.
• Your computer may still have all the missing emails and hence it would be better to search your computer for the missing files in your hard drive. You need to click on Start button on your desktop and click on Find and here, you need to type in any phrase or word present in your email and check whether they are pulled up when you click on the Find button.
• Finally, it would be better to go through your Recycle bin and check whether you can find the uninstalled email messages.  There is a possibility of finding the email messages from Recycle Bin because normally when Outlook or Microsoft Office is uninstalled, email in Outlook move to the Recycle Bin.

If you have any difficulty in finding email, you can contact the Outlook support for help.

How Customer Representatives Can Help You Handle Tacky Situations

To get professional help for your problems, you can contact the customer support executive of the hardware or software manufacturer. The job of a customer service representative is to understand the issue that the customer is facing and find suitable solutions and help. However, sometimes customers beat around the bush and do not explain what the exact problem is and this takes a lot of time. Time is money and if the customer goes on talking without having a solution, financial losses are bound for the company. So for the customer care representative to take control over the situation and to stop or prevent the customer from going out of topic, the below provided tech support guidelines need to be followed.

Instructions

• Listen to the customer’s problem with utter patience. Since the customer is calling the representative, there might be a specific reason. So hear him out completely so that you can provide him with the necessary help.
• If the customer is beating around the bush regarding the queries, ask the customer questions to which he can give yes/no answers. That way, the customer representative as well as the customer can focus at the problem in hand.
• If the customer is speeding like a bullet train and not stopping, you may politely interrupt the customer. This way, you can have a better understanding of the problem at hand; otherwise, if they go on nonstop, you will not get an idea of what they are talking about.
• Provide fruitful answers for the questions asked by the customer. When you give efficient and to the point answers, the customer can understand easily and this will help in resolving the problem that the customer is facing.
• The customer representative should be gentle and polite and should never lose his cool, as every customer is very much valued and for the growth of the company, large numbers of loyal customers are needed. When you help in providing the best help solutions and tips, the reputation of the company increases and the end result will be a larger customer base.

By following the above-mentioned tech support guidelines, a customer support executive will be able to handle customers efficiently and not let customers go out of topic. If you have not understood the guidelines properly, you may contact our customer support center. Our customer support center will help in resolving your problems and queries.

Windows Tablets Suffer As Many Popular Apps Still Absent In Windows 8

Market reports suggest that tablets based on Windows operating systems perform poor when compared to tablets from Apple or other Android based tablets. So, why does this happen? A recent study revealed that the poor Windows 8 support for apps could be the major reason for this trouble. According to the study, the tablets with Windows operating system do not include many of the popular apps in the market that are readily available on tablets based on other operating systems.

According to Nick Landry, who is the product manager at Infragistics, Windows Store does not have about half of the popular apps in the market. Some of these missing apps include Facebook, Vine, YouTube, Pandora and Instagram. You will also not find another popular app for professionals, LinkedIn in it. If you are keen on news and current affairs, you will still be disappointed with a Windows tablet, as it does not include the apps for BBC News, Bloomberg and Flipboard. Banking can also be a difficult job with a Windows tablet since it does not include the apps for some of the most popular banks in the world like Chase and Citibank.

Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights and Strategy says that "The numbers just reinforce the challenge that Windows 8 still has in apps. Windows 8 still doesn't support the No. 1 social app, Facebook, the No. 1 paid-content app, HBO GO, the No. 1 sports app, Watch ESPN. These, and others, are the same apps that I've been griping about for over a year, and they're still not supported."

Experts say that this drawback or lack of apps may not be a challenge when it comes to desktop or laptop computers. However, when it comes to tablet computers, these apps are going to play a major role as tablet users may find it difficult to open the webpage for these corresponding apps and view the content.

Even though the lack of apps for Windows 8 tablets is a major concern, a recent report from IDC finds that there is a small rise in the market share of Windows 8 tablets. About 4 percent of tablet users are working on a device with Windows 8 OS. Keep in mind that this figure stood at one percent last year.

Reports suggest that Microsoft is getting ready to provide more Windows 8 support for apps. The company says that apps are getting ready for Flipboard and Facebook and we may see the release of other popular apps soon.

Appy Pie Support Now On Windows 8 Phones

Appy Pie recently announced that they would provide support for their Windows Phone Apps. The arrival of the new Windows 8 OS with its new interface and touchscreen optimization has sparked new interest in Windows Phones. The new Windows 8 support has been extended to users of Appy Pie, an emerging cloud based Mobile Apps builder. The recent shift in technology and operating systems in Windows Phones, and now support from Appy Pie people with virtually zero programming knowledge and skill requirement, will let developers create custom apps easily. With the added Windows 8 support on Windows Phones, Appy Pie’s Windows app builder is rated as one of the best online app builders.

Appy Pie is not a new player in the game. Already established as one of the top app builders, Appy pie has allowed users to create apps on all major platforms, which also include Apple’s iOS, Android, Blackberry 10 and Windows 10. Now they have also added support for Amazons Kindle Fire HD, which according to Abhinav Girdhar, CEO of Appy Pie Inc., was just the next logical step. He added that the company is always on the lookout for new features to integrate and support into Kindle Fire HD, which is just another addition to their large platform base. The added support for Kindle Fire HD opens up a great door of opportunities that help millions of users design mobile apps for the Kindle Fire market - currently this platform has shown rapid growth. All new apps on the Kindle Fire HD will soon be lining up on the Amazon Store, allowing millions of users to use the new set of applications.

However, there is more from Appy Pie’s end. With support for Windows 8 Phone apps and apps for Kindle Fire HD already in the bag, Appy Pie also added features that help users without a mobile website. Now, the Appy Pie can roll out apps that can also act as mobile websites. Using this new feature, users can apply or configure a redirect code between mobile an desktop websites, by just copying 2 lines of code into the desktop website’s Head tag.

With all the the new inclusions in mobile phone operating systems and new set of apps, the smartphone industry is definitely getting a huge surge of developers. Recently, when Blackberry unveiled the Blackberry 10, the markets saw a huge rise in Blackberry sales. The future for app developers and more importantly users, sure seems like a bright and prospective one.