I can’t see my security question

19. September 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Hotmail, Outlook.com · Tags: ,
I'm having several issues here.

I use my hotmail frequently for RECEIVING ONLY.  I rarely send mail out from it (I did send 3~4 mails recently)

I happened to use VPN (proxy) to launch a game that I play and opened up outlook.com while the VPN was still on.

Now, Microsoft saw this suspicious and locked my accounts.

It's linked to an old email (another hotmail account) which I forgot the password to and cannot recover/reset the password on that old email (tells me the page is busy and try again)

Now only option I have left is sending my infos to see if I'm the correct owner.

I don't remember if I used my Korean name or my English name.

I don't remember putting in what country I was, (because I reside in two countries, USA and Korea)

The security question shows up as '?? ? ??? ???' so I can't answer it.

Please help me recover this account, I'm disappointed there is no customer service for this...

vpn confuses skydrive sync

12. August 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Hotmail, Outlook.com · Tags: , ,
I've been getting frustrated about skydrive sync, and I think I might have found the reason.  

the problem is that skydrive on my mac is where I do most of my work.  Then I take my laptop somewhere and try to access my documents only to find that the latest version or new documents I have created are not updated on skydrive. This is not a sync problem to my laptop - the files do not exist on the web.

Looking through the error log files, I see some references to proxy name errors and I wondered about my VPN.  On the mac, I use a VPN some of the time, but i will disconnect and use the VPN service on the laptop.  Anyway, I close skydrive on the mac, and restart it and now the file has synced.  

Is the VPN causing skydrive to get confused for syncing, or is skydrive getting stuck for some other reason?

btw, why force someone to select a 'version' when posting a question?  I use a mix of mac & PC, so what 'version' should I select?

How do I keep the Exchange server address from changing?

26. July 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Outlook for Mac · Tags: , , , ,
I am using Outlook with an Exchange Server 2007 from outside a company network. The address to this Exchange server is given as https://externally-reachable-address/EWS/Exchange.asmx . However, when I VPN in, apparently the Exchange server overrides this to be https://internally-only-reachable-address/EWS/Exchange.asmx and remembers the new address. When I stop the VPN connection, obviously the internal address is not reachable, so I will not get any email and scarcely a warning about this until I think to dive into the account settings and correct the address to point to the externally reachable address again manually.

For a number of reasons, staying connected with the VPN every second I want to use Outlook is neither preferable nor viable. How do I tell Outlook to disregard the change telegraphed by the server and keep using the address I entered manually?

(I know that manually remapping the internal server name to alias the external server name in e.g. the hosts file is a technical workaround - one that will create other issues instead and is not viable either.)

Can’t access calendar.live.com. All other live.com addresses work.

18. July 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Hotmail, Outlook.com · Tags: ,
So, having a strange issue here and it's affecting every computer at my location. I can log into my live account, check my mail, etc, however if I try to view my calendar (calendar.live.com), I get Page Cannot Be Displayed. This has been going on for over a week now. If I take my laptop next door, or any other location, it works fine. I installed a free VPN to test with and as long as that VPN tunnel is active, calendar loads up fine. Since Microsoft doesn't seem to have a technical email for this kind of stuff, I thought I'd post here. I feel it's either calendar.live.com inadvertently blocking my WAN IP, or it's my ISP blocking connections to that site (yet nearby locations on the same ISP can access it fine). It's definitely not an internal issue as I've checked our equipment. Anyone have an idea of where to go from here?

exchange work email on Mac

03. February 2013 · Write a comment · Categories: Outlook for Mac · Tags: , ,
Hello,

I've successfully set up my work email (exchange) on my iPhone & iPad and everything works and syncs.
I also want to set it up on Outlook for Mac (2011) but the exact same settings will not work on Outlook.  
By the way, I've tried this with both the VPN on and off (not using VPN on iPad & iPhone).

Am I missing something?

Outlook 2011 constantly changes status to "Not Connected" and must be relaunched.

21. November 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Outlook for Mac · Tags: , , , , , ,
Using Outlook for Mac 2011 Version 14.2.3

A few facts:
1. It is not my company's policy to require VPN to access email.
2. On my Mac I can only access email when using VPN.
3. My Android phone has no problem receiving email and has become my primary email retrieval method.
4. Whether I am on ethernet in the office (no VPN) or on VPN from home or a hotel/cafe, I am constantly switched into "Not Connected" status.
5. When I am having problems I regularly get prompted for my password (even though I have saved it in my Keychain) and it NEVER works.
6. When I relaunch Outlook and am NOT prompted for my password, it connects and syncs fine.
This point deserves reiterating: When Outlook prompts for a password, it fails to connect 100% of the time and will always fail until relaunched. When Outlook is launched and successfully connects it does so without prompting for a password 100% of the time. This means the algorithm that decides whether or not to prompt for a password is fatally flawed.
7. I have used Charles Proxy[1] to log HTTP traffic and it is a complete mess.
7a. My email ends in @coxin.com, however, while at this company I have had @ajc.com and @cmgdigital.com email addresses and I still receive email that is sent to those addresses in my current account.
7a. I have seen Outlook request https://autodiscover.coxinc.com/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml and get an XML response that includes: <RedirectAddr>[name-hidden]@ajc.com</RedirectAddr>
7b. There is no autodiscover.ajc.com

When Outlook silently switches to "Not Connected" status I can find no way to get it to attempt to reconnect other than to quit and reopen Outlook. Everyone I know says that their iPhones/iPads and Android phones/tablets are the most reliable way to interact with an Exchange server. This should not be. There should be a lot of work invested in connection error handling, messaging, and logging.

[1] http://www.charlesproxy.com/

Exchange problems within a company’s network

02. November 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Outlook for Mac · Tags: , , , , , , , ,
HI guys,
I'm trying to set up outlook for a client on their mac.
the version of outlook is 2011 for mac. it is with an exchange server. I am setting this up on an internal network. (using a VPN with VPN Tracker 6)
I have internet connectivity though the VPN and can Ping the mail server's URL.

However,
whenever I try to send/receive with outlook, I get error -17199

what am i missing?

Connecting to an Exchange Server (without VPN) through Outlook for Mac 2011?

09. September 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Outlook for Mac · Tags: , , , , ,
This enigma of connecting to an Exchange Server using Outlook for Mac 2011 has puzzled me for 2 months.

It seems simple to connect other devices, such as the iphone & ipad to the same server and sync calendars & contacts... why, using the same settings as those on the iphone & ipad can this not be done using Outlook?  Is it mandatory to use a VPN tunnel?

Thanks, Steve