Mobility & Email Blog » Free Services

BES Express: What is it exactly and what can it be used for?

Ozgur — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 14:02:10 +0000

BES Express is tool that allows small businesses to network their desk top computers in the office with their mobile BlackBerry phones securely. It is free with most BlackBerry data plans. The software is installed directly onto the server that belongs to the business.

BES Express is the same as BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) except that it is cost free. It was originally limited to a certain number of users, but that restriction has been lifted to 2,000 users if they have their own server. BES Express now allows some non BES devices access to the features that used to be restricted. Check the BlackBerry.com website for full details.

The main features of BES Express include wireless email access to your business email account. It also allows for wireless synchronization of your email account, the calendar on your desk top computer, personal and business contact information and other information stored on your desk top computer.

Other features of BES Express include wireless remote access to the files on your desk top computer and internet access. It can be installed on your existing business mail server. It also has enhanced security features to protect the information you are transferring wirelessly between your SmartPhone and your desk top computer.

These features are provided with no software license fees and there are no charges for adding additional users to the plan. It is most compatible with BlackBerry data phones and BlackBerry enterprise data plans.

BES Express is compatible with both Microsoft Exchange and IBM Lotus Domino. Free downloads of these software packages are available at BlackBerry.com. It is also compatible with Windows Small Business Server.

There are three steps for getting BES Express. First, download the software for free from http://us.blackberry.com/apps-software/business/server/express/ . Then choose the deployment model you wish to use. Install the software and activate the BlackBerry SmartPhones that will be used with BES Express.

Add on packages for BBS Express include a mobile voice system that allows you to access the phone in your office through your BlackBerry SmartPhone. Add ons allow employees to communicate with each other wirelessly and remotely through the office social networking software and instant messaging software. Add on features also allow users to send and receive media rich communications and training wirelessly on their BlackBerry SmartPhones.

BES Express supports BlackBerry Messenger, AIM, Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, Google Talk, ICQ and the instant messaging service of the host business server it is installed on. It also supports web based social messaging sites, such as Twitter and FaceBook.

Cloud Applications – Notes and Dropbox

Ozgur — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 14:30:28 +0000

One of the most popular cloud applications at the moment is a feature called Dropbox. This system allows users to utilize online storage for their personal or business needs, with capabilities to sync the service to the computer and have the whole system done automatically.

The point of Dropbox is much like an archive file for important paperwork. The originals can be stored away safely, or can be duplicated into storage for added security. Data backup can be set to happen regularly, preventing the risk of loss of data though equipment damage, loss or theft. The system can also be used to share data with others, especially where that data is much larger than conventional email attachment limits.

Anything can be put into the Dropbox, from photos and videos to important work documents, email back-ups and even notes. The whole idea of the system is that it’s a storage space for anything that can fit in the cloud. For those that only want to store a handful of files and documents, Dropbox even offers a free 2GB account. That’s enough to hold a decent amount of text-based email backups.

Dropbox isn’t just a system for manually uploading files. Many apps tie into the system to automatically upload information and back-ups when the user has finished working on that session. The piece of mind this gives to users is worth so much more than the maximum monthly cost of $20 per month, and many happy customers have reported that the security given from knowing that their data is safe is a great relief to them. Another benefit of the system is that data retrieval can be as instant as finding a computer with a connection to the internet, and the information can stay safely stored until another, more permanent solution can be found.

One option that many users have taken advantage of is account sharing. Some online communities open an account for the whole community to use, sharing audio and video files, programming code and even large graphics. It’s a great tool for businesses where email and hard drive space is limited, and one account can be used for the whole workforce.

The gradual move to cloud computing has so many benefits and plus points that it’s hard to see why anyone wouldn’t participate. The servers used for Dropbox are as secure as a home computer, and could just save a lifetime of work and memories.

Get Mobile with Cloud Based Services

Kevin Richard — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:24:13 +0000

More and more we are becoming people on-the-go. From business travel and meetings, to events, appointments and the many other things going on in our daily lives we are constantly on the move.On average we spend more than an hour a day traveling to and from work. And with the demands of our digital lifestyle with smart phones, email and instant messaging, we often need our files and computer programs ready and with us where ever we are.

Ensuring that our digital lives are as mobile as we are once meant transferring files back and forth between various computers; a process which often results in a disorganized mess of files across multiple systems. With the growth in netbooks popularity, that has quickly changed. With these micro computers operating on very little processing power and smaller hard drives cloud based services (web based programs) have been growing in popularity. Cloud computing is allowing people to not only save space on their computers but also have their files and documents stored in one central location.

File Storage:

Working on multiple systems can be an easy way to become disorganized and even loose important data. With cloud computing files can be stored in one central space online, ensuring that these files are safe and secure. This means no worrying about whether your system crashes and no searching through multiple computers to find the documents you need.

Two popular online storage services are Syncplicity and Dropbox. By downloading a single storage folder wherever you need your data, these services allow you to save your files online and syncs them with all of your devices. As an added feature both services provide up to the minute backup allowing you to go back in time to retrieve older copies of your files. Both of these services provide 2 gigabytes of free storage space in their basic accounts but for a monthly fee you can also upgrade your space by up to 50 gigabytes of storage. A few other online storage options include Mediafire, Yuntaa and Orbitfiles.

Productivity:

Having your essential office programs online means you can take your work with you where ever you go. A more widely known cloud based office suite is Google docs, which allows you to create and share documents, spreadsheets and presentations through your Google account. This can act as a great central storage hub for all of your documents. Similar to this service is Microsoft’s Office Live Workspace which allows you to store and share your Microsoft Office documents in a single workspace and may be a sign of things to come with Microsoft Office 10.

For email on the go mail2web Webmail and mail2web Personal Webmail are great options. Without having to use computer based email systems such as Microsoft Outlook, you can securely read your email. mail2web Personal webmail also provides you with your own personal email portal (such as http://mail2web.com/kevin) and contact manager which you can view on your laptop or mobile device and customize whichever way you want.

In addition to these services there are some other great productivity tools to build your digital office such as presentation tools like Slide Rocket and Prezi , digital desktops such as G.ho.st and Evernote or online collaboration tools such as Adobe Acrobat, Zoho and Microsoft Sharepoint services.

Photo and Video Editing:

Once thought to be the most hardware intensive tasks for your computer you are now able to upload and edit your digital media on the go. Well known for their software based photo editing suite Adobe has released a simplified version of Photoshop for the web. Containing many of the basic photo editing tools it allows you to save and edit your photos on the go. A similar service to this is Picnik which allows you to grab the photos you have stored online from sites such as Facebook and Flickr and edit them with their online toolset.

For online video editing there are also a number of services to choose from such as Stash Space , Motion Box and JayCut. With easy upload and online storage space these sites let you edit your videos and share them with your family and friends as well as help convert them to storable files when you’re ready to produce it on physical media.

As more and more traditionally software based tools are transferred online, people are becoming less tied to their desks and are able to take their work with them on the go. By using cloud based services you don’t need to worry about where your files are stored as they’re now available to you anywhere you can find an internet connection. With services that store your files across computers, allow you to work and collaborate as well as edit your digital media on the go the internet is allowing people to do what they want wherever they are.

MailBrowserBackup to Backup your Email, Contacts, Calendar and more

Meaghan Ringwelski — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 20:37:15 +0000

MailBrowserBackup is a new backup utility for Windows Live Mail. But you can use it to backup more than just Live Mail. It’s built-in .NET 2.0 application also lets you create complete backups of Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007, Windows Contacts, Windows Live Messenger, Live Messenger Plus!, Internet Explorer Favorites and Windows Calendar.

You can even create complete backups of Mozilla Firefox, Flock, Mozilla Thunderbird, Opera, Apple Safari, Google Chrome, SRW Iron, FileZilla FTP Client, Notepad ++ and Pidgin, as well.

When you run the program, it automatically scans your accounts and profiles. You can check or uncheck the corresponding boxes of these items, that you want to back up. For now, it works only on Windows PCs. As you can see, it’s very simply to use. Plus, it’s free! You can download it from here.

Enter to Win FREE Web Hosting from myhosting.com

Tim Attwood — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:54:14 +0000

Starting today, you can enter to win one of three FREE web hosting packages! All you have to do is follow myhosting.com on Twitter and retweet a message announcing the contest.

To visit the contest page, please click here!

5 Free and Useful Outlook Plug-ins

Meaghan Ringwelski — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 12:41:50 +0000

We gathered some useful and free Outlook Plug-ins for you. They will save you time and help you improve your efficiency…

Xobni

Xobni is a free Outlook plug-in that makes searching and finding people and email faster and easier. It also let’s you organize your contacts automatically by company, title and more… The part I like the most about Xobni is that it gives you statistics about your contacts, like how many LinkedIn connections they have, how many emails you sent them, and so on. There’s also a full set of Xobni Analytics which gathers information about your email giving you lots of useful statistics. Give it a shot, you may like it.

Chilibase for Outlook

Chilibase is an assistant to manage your people in an extra Outlook panel. It’s ideal to monitor your conversations and people. You may see all the conversation history with a single click.

Missing Attachment

Have you ever forgotten to include an attachment to an important email? I often do. This free application called Missing Attachment is designed avoid this needless embarrassment and helping you save time. All you have to do is adding alert words, such ‘attachment’ or ‘file’.

Sender’s Time Zone

If you are working and emailing contacts in multiple time zones, or different countries or continents, then you definitely need Sender’s Time Zone. If you open a message in Outlook, the plug-in shows the local time of the sender, difference from your time zone, as well as the time since the message was sent.

Advanced Folders Watch

Advaned Folders Watch is a powerful and flexible monitoring plug-in, which helps manage new emails and posts in Microsoft Outlook folders. This Outlook add-in watches the specified folder groups and informs you of new messages meeting certain criteria. It helps save your time by alerting you to only the emails you want to see, and improves he quality of work with clients.

Do you have any Outlook plug-ins that you find useful, or that you couldn’t live without? We’d love to hear about them!

And if you are interested in Outlook Add-ons and Plug-ins then stay tuned, we will have an interesting announcement for you coming up in the near future.

The new mail2web.com – It is a new dawn

Celal Ulgen — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:42:29 +0000

It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the new mail2web.com. If you are reading this we have successfully re-launched mail2web.com with a brand new look. For the last few months, we have been working hard behind the scenes to update the web site from the ground up. As we neared the launch date, things got pretty hectic with all the user testing, last minute changes, and bug fixes. It took us one last big push to put all the pieces together and here we are with the new mail2web.com for all to see!

We’ve made several major changes with this update. I’d like to highlight them here for the benefit of those who are new to mail2web.com and also for our long time users who may have questions or comments as to why we made these changes.

The New Homepage – you better believe it!

Since the inception of mail2web.com, we have embraced a minimalist approach as far as the homepage and religiously stuck to it. As the web site and the business behind it evolved, we started challenging this taboo and the rationale behind it. The challenges came first internally, and later externally when we sought opinions from trusted advisers and mail2web.com aficionados. To our surprise, we were met with responses like “what took you so long…” , “it’s about time…”, and “long overdue”. This set off a chain reaction that has led to a major breakthrough for mail2web.com.

Taking a step back, our rationale for seeking a change was primarily due to mail2web.com expanding its scope beyond the original mail2web Webmail service which millions around the world have embraced and made a part of their daily rituals. As some of you will remember, we have launched email services based on the Microsoft Exchange Email platform a few years back under the mail2web.com brand name and have been quietly promoting it. Based on the interest from the mail2web.com community and the traction we’ve got in the email services market, we’ve decided to pursue the Hosted Exchange email opportunity more aggressively. Positive feedback we’ve received externally coupled with our growing base of email customers, we thought it was time to give our email service its well deserved spot on the homepage right next to its older sibling, mail2web Webmail. And as they say, the rest is history!

From mail2web Live to mail2web Mobile Email

For the benefit of those of you who are new to mail2web.com, mail2web Live was the name of our Microsoft Exchange based email service we have been providing since 2006. As we were going through user testing, it became abundantly clear the mail2web Live name was creating confusion among the first time visitors to mail2web.com, or at best not communicating what the service is in an instant. At first, we contemplated dropping “Live” and just calling the service mail2web Email, which solved the confusion issue and clarified the service being offered. However, it wasn’t quite enough. We needed something more contemporary in the day and age of mobility; something that we thought would resonate better with the mail2web.com community. The next thing we knew, “mail2web Mobile Email” was born.

Old school, new school

We have kept the look and feel of the top navigation the same for our existing users whilst streamlining and consolidating content to fewer tabs. For our long time users who prefer the old homepage of mail2web.com, you can rest easy. The old login can be found at http://mail2web.com/login. The PDA and Chat logins are still at their old URLs, which can be found under the Webmail tab. Outlook web access (OWA) login page for mail2web Mobile Email customers (formerly known as mail2web Live) has also remained at the same URL: http://ex7.mail2web.com/live. The same goes for the OWA for domain based Hosted Exchange business customers: the login can be located at http://ex7.mail2web.com.

Last but not least, I’d like take this opportunity to shamelessly plug our new community portal at http://mail2web.com/help. This section of the web site has been built to serve you better and to give every member of the mail2web.com community a voice in the evolution of our services. Please take a moment to check out our blog, forums and ideas pages. Share your thoughts about the new look of mail2web.com, our services, your concerns, questions and ideas. We are listening and you can rest assured that every single opinion counts.

Thanks in advance for your continued support, and for spreading the word about the new mail2web.com!

Celal Ulgen
CMO
SoftCom Inc.

http://mail2web.com
http://myhosting.com
http://softcom.com

UPDATE: For questions about mail2web usibility and accessing your email from our free webmail service, please refer to our Wiki’s Webmail Section.

mail2web LIVE & Personal Exchange on Exchange 2007!

Tim Attwood — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 20:52:36 +0000

Many of our users and customers have been asking us about upgrading our mail2web LIVE and Personal Exchange services to Exchange 2007 over the last couple years. Well, now it is here! But there are some important changes to make note of.

We have done our best to keep mail2web LIVE a Free service, but along with Exchange 2007 come some changes which we weren’t able to work around. As a result, the free version of mail2web LIVE under Exchange 2007 will not include the popular ActiveSync service. For our Personal Exchange users, nothing will be changing, with the exception of the name. And we will also be introducing a third option for users who need even more. Here’s a brief outline of our new Exchange 2007 based mail2web LIVE lineup:

mail2web LIVE Basic – FREE!
You will get an ad-free Outlook Web Access interface. But mobile access via ActiveSync, BlackBerry or RoadSync is not supported.
mail2web LIVE – $4.95/month with a 60-Day Free Trial
This service will be the equivalent of our old Personal Exchange service. You get Outlook Web Access 2007, ActiveSync and POP3, IMAP4 and SMTP service. The BlackBerry and RoadSync add-ons are also supported.
mail2web LIVE Pro – $9.95/month with a 60-Day Free Trial
This service will get all the features of the new mail2web LIVE plan, and also includes a free license for Outlook 2007 or Entourage 2008, along with the full MAPI access needed to configure your account in Outlook.

We have launched our new mail2web LIVE platform today on Exchange 2007! New users can sign up for either a free trial of our mail2web LIVE service, or a free trial of our mail2web LIVE Pro service.

Please note that we are no longer accepting new signups on our Exchange 2003 platform for our old mail2web LIVE or Personal Exchange services. However we are also extending our Free Trial period to all of our existing mail2web LIVE customers, giving you the opportunity to receive a 60-day free trial of the new mail2web LIVE 2007 service. I would like to point out that during the free trial period POP3, IMAP4 and SMTP access will not be enabled. For those of you who want to continue the free trial and make use of these services, you can upgrade to the mail2web LIVE Pro free trial instead.

If you don’t want to keep the service at the end of the free trial, make sure you downgrade your account to mail2web LIVE Basic. Alternately, if you haven’t provided contact or billing information by the time the free trial is over, we’ll automatically downgrade you to mail2web LIVE Basic automatically.

Further, I would like to point out that there the new Outlook Web Access interface will be available from:

https://ex7.mail2web.com/live/

You can update your bookmarks and favorites now, and start using it in advance of your migration. Further, users who have configured ActiveSync in their Windows Mobile or other Mobile Device, Exchange Accounts in their iPhone, or RoadSync on their Mobile Device, please note that you will need to update your settings. Additionally, users who have configured their Personal Exchange account for POP3, IMAP4 or SMTP will need to make updates as well. Simply change the ActiveSync, Exchange Server or mail server name to ex7.mail2web.com. For even more detailed instructions you can log in to your Control Panel, navigate to your mail2web LIVE or Personal Exchange management page and click on “Migration Instructions”.

For all the mail2web LIVE users that want to get started right away, you can request migration from your Control Panel by clicking on the Click here to migrate your account link. Please note that you will be queued for immediate migration, so make sure you update your settings first!

And for our Personal Exchange users, we will be migrating all accounts at the same time, and will be scheduling your migration automatically for you. We will get in touch with you directly when we are ready to get started. Following your account migration your plan will be renamed mail2web LIVE. Also, if you are interested in a free trial of our mail2web LIVE Pro service, you will be given the option to upgrade once your account migration has been completed. We thank you for your patience!

Finally, we are expecting a lot of feedback, and we know that you will have a lot of questions about these changes. Here are a few FAQs which we ask that you review first before you get in touch with us.

Why are you discontinuing FREE ActiveSync?

Our free mail2web LIVE service with ActiveSync based on Microsoft Exchange 2003 was a very popular service, and we’re glad that we were able to provide this for so many years. We have done our best to maintain the service and the platform for as long as possible. However we remain committed to offering the latest and greatest services to our customers, and in order to do that the best way is to upgrade our platform to Microsoft Exchange 2007. And unfortunately due to some licensing changes that come along with Microsoft Exchange 2007, we’re no longer able to provide ActiveSync for free.

Will there still be a free service?

We are still committed to providing a free version of mail2web LIVE, and as such will be launching our new mail2web LIVE Basic service which includes a vastly improved Outlook Web Access. Also, the mail2web LIVE Basic service will be completely ad-free!

Can I synchronize my mobile device with mail2web LIVE Basic?

No. Unfortunately the ActiveSync Service, BlackBerry Add-On and RoadSync Add-On are not supported with the mail2web LIVE Basic service, and therefore you will be unable to synchronize your mobile device. We recommend that users who require this try our free 60-Day Trial of the new mail2web LIVE service.

Why should I stay with mail2web.com if you aren’t keeping FREE ActiveSync?

We certainly hope you will! We appreciate that you’ve found the service useful for as long as we’ve offered it. One of our primary commitments is to serve our paying customers to the best of our ability, and we feel that the free mail2web LIVE Basic service still offers value for those users that need it. And for users who need ActiveSync, our hope is that you find the monthly fee to be satisfactory along with all the service improvements that come with Exchange 2007.

Why do I have to upgrade if I’m happy with my current service?

Unfortunately, due to a number of changes we are unable to maintain any existing users on our Exchange 2003 platform. We apologize for any inconvenience and hope that you will find value in our new Exchange 2007 based services.

I’m ready to go! What can I do to get started?

If you are choosing to migrate to our new mail2web LIVE services, you will need to log into your control panel and confirm your upgrade. You can do this by visiting this web address and log in with your email address and password. Then click on the Click here to migrate your account link to get started. Please note that your account be queued for immediate migration, so make sure you update your settings first!

If you still have any questions or concerns, we invite you to get in touch with us by email at live@mail2web.com. Our mail2web LIVE Support Team has all the information and details to help you with a smooth transition to the new platform.

Thanks!

Tim Attwood
Product Manager
SoftCom Technology Consulting Inc.

mail2web.com Now Supports Windows Live Hotmail!

Tim Attwood — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 19:22:11 +0000

In case you haven’t already heard, Microsoft has officially rolled out support for POP3 on all Windows Live Hotmail accounts. This means anyone with an @hotmail.com or @live.com email address can now use mail2web.com to check their account. We’ve had a lot of users and visitors ask us about hotmail support over the years, and now we can finally say “It Works!”

And for those of you who have a mail2web LIVE, Personal Email or Business Email account with mail2web.com, it means that you can now use our Email Aggregator feature to download your hotmail directly into your Exchange account. Then when you use ActiveSync on your Windows Mobile, iPhone or other device, you’ll get your hotmail directly on your phone.

And if you use any other email client on your computer or want to check your email from the built-in client on your mobile phone, you can do that too.

Have a great weekend,

Tim Attwood
Product Manager
SoftCom Technology Consulting Inc.

Phishing scam directed at mail2web Live and Personal Exchange Users

Modestos Gikizas — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 20:09:02 +0000

It came to our attention today that fraudulent e-mails are being sent to mail2web LIVE and Personal Exchange users falsely claiming that you need to verify your e-mail account and/or your password. We want to remind our customers and users that we will NEVER ask for your username and password.

If you ever receive an email requesting such details, please delete the message. If you believe you might have revealed sensitive information regarding your mail2web account, please change your password immediately and notify us at support@mail2web.com. To change your password, please visit https://support.mail2web.com and click on the ‘My Account’ tab. If you are unable to change your password because you no longer have the password or the password you have does not work, please contact us at support@mail2web.com immediately!

Thank you,

Modestos Gikizas
Customer Support Manager
SoftCom Technology Consulting, Inc.