We're OutlookPower, so, of course, when thinking about server-side solutions the answer always has to be Exchange. Except, well, yeah. Not so much.

In response to my single-minded concentration, reader Jason Janes wrote in:

I think you overlooked the easiest solution (and its free). A simple auto-responder would work just fine for your readers situation. They are simple to set up and included with just about any reasonable hosting plan. By far the most common hosting control panels are cPanel and Plesk and this task would literally take about 30 seconds to setup.

Yeah, what Jason said.

Keep those cards and letters coming, and thanks, Jason, for keeping us on track.

Product availability and resources
Read Running rules when Outlook is closed.

David Gewirtz is the author of How To Save Jobs and Where Have All The Emails Gone? For more than 20 years, he has analyzed current, historical, and emerging issues relating to technology, competitiveness, and policy. David is the Editor-in-Chief of the ZATZ magazines, is the Cyberterrorism Advisor for the International Association for Counterterrorism and Security Professionals, and is a member of the instructional faculty at the University of California, Berkeley extension. He can be reached at david@zatz.com and you can follow him at http://www.twitter.com/DavidGewirtz.

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]]> http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047789.html http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047789.html Fri, 05 Feb 2010 05:00:00 GMT Several people at Microsoft have been awarded a patent for a "personal data mining" system. The system would analyze all of your personal data - the books you read, your e-mails, the websites you visit - to "improve" the quality of your life and, apparently, sell you the solution.

Read | Permalink]]> http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047773.html http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047773.html Thu, 04 Feb 2010 05:00:00 GMT SharePoint 2010 is promising a lot of new features, and requiring lots of new hardware and supporting software. If you're looking for something a little more basic, or less costly, this article discusses three alternatives.

Read | Permalink]]> http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047772.html http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047772.html Thu, 04 Feb 2010 05:00:00 GMT Another zero-day vulnerability on Internet Explorer 6. IE7 and 8 are less vulnerable because the user default is to run in "protected mode".

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]]> http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047771.html http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047771.html Thu, 04 Feb 2010 05:00:00 GMT Adobe's Flash Player is known to have a weakness. Microsoft added some code to Internet Explorer 7 and 8 to protect against the flaw. Not researchers have by-passed the protections, leaving Windows machines open to attack.

Read | Permalink]]> http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047770.html http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047770.html Thu, 04 Feb 2010 05:00:00 GMT Windows Server 2008 R2 includes some new Active Directory features. Some of these you may find very useful, others will be less so. This site may require registration to read the full article.

Read | Permalink]]> http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047755.html http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047755.html Wed, 03 Feb 2010 05:00:00 GMT If you get an e-mail from Microsoft Support asking you to upgrade Outlook using the attached patch, don't do it. Microsoft does not send out patches in e-mails.

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]]> http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047756.html http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047756.html Wed, 03 Feb 2010 05:00:00 GMT Users have reported extremely shortened battery life on their laptops and notebooks after upgrading to Windows 7. Downgrading to the old operating system doesn't fix the problem. Now Microsoft is looking into the problem.

Read | Permalink]]> http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047757.html http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047757.html Wed, 03 Feb 2010 05:00:00 GMT Some software is sent out to thousands of testers, Office 2010 isn't one of them. At least officially, Office 2010 RC1 has been sent to a small group of testers. Unofficially, the software has been posted on BitTorrent sites.

Read | Permalink]]> http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047754.html http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047754.html Wed, 03 Feb 2010 05:00:00 GMT The U.K. government has confirmed its faith in Internet Explorer 6 and, so far, has declined to upgrade from the nine-year-old browser. Dan Frydman, a managing director of web publishing contractor Inigo, has begun an online appeal to convince the government to upgrade.

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]]> http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047733.html http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047733.html Tue, 02 Feb 2010 05:00:00 GMT For those still running the release candidate of Windows 7, your systems will start shutting down soon. Beginning February 15 the operating system will start to nag you with expiration notices. By June 1, your system will start rebooting itself every couple of hours.

Read | Permalink]]> http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047732.html http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047732.html Tue, 02 Feb 2010 05:00:00 GMT Win7 seems to be convincing people to finally upgrade from WinXP. At current adoption rates, by June the number of Windows 7 installations may move ahead of Vista.

Read | Permalink]]> http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047731.html http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047731.html Tue, 02 Feb 2010 05:00:00 GMT The iPad, like the iPhone, doesn't support multi-tasking. Windows 7 does. So. Citrix is planning to have a XenDesktop, or XenApp, ready for the iPad when it ships in March.

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]]> http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047713.html http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047713.html Mon, 01 Feb 2010 05:00:00 GMT This slide show looks a lot like Microsoft's standard advertising points, but provides links to additional information on the various features. This site may require registration.

Read | Permalink]]> http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047715.html http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047715.html Mon, 01 Feb 2010 05:00:00 GMT Microsoft will start charging for Azure February 2. If you currently use the Azure platform, and decide not to pay for it, your data will become read-only.

Read | Permalink]]> http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047716.html http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047716.html Mon, 01 Feb 2010 05:00:00 GMT Beginning March 1, if you still use Internet Explorer 6, Safari 2.0, or Firefox 2.0, Google will no longer support your old browser. If you connect to Google Docs or Google Sites after March 1, you may find things don't work as they used to.

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]]> http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047721.html http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047721.html Mon, 01 Feb 2010 05:00:00 GMT It shouldn't be a surprise that Win7 helped boost Microsoft's earnings. It's been a number of years since some people bought new software. Still, a 60 percent increase is impressive.

Read | Permalink]]> http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047702.html http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047702.html Fri, 29 Jan 2010 05:00:00 GMT Now that Win7 is out, and successful, Microsoft is making plans to release Windows 8, as early as next July. This would bring the product cycle to about 18 months.

Read | Permalink]]> http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047701.html http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047701.html Fri, 29 Jan 2010 05:00:00 GMT If your laptop came with WinXP or Vista and you upgrade it to Win7, prepare to recharge more frequently. Some users have reported a 75 percent drop in battery life after upgrading.

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]]> http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047700.html http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047700.html Fri, 29 Jan 2010 05:00:00 GMT This article is the last in a series introducing you to some of the enhancements in Windows 7. Improvements in Internet Explorer, firewalls, and system restores are mentioned here.

Read | Permalink]]> http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047699.html http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047699.html Fri, 29 Jan 2010 05:00:00 GMT David Gewirtz

Reader Sergio Iacobucci writes:

First of all thank you for this service it great to find somewhere where they offer tailored answers!

Ok, I have a rule set up in a mailbox that we do not want to monitor. This rule sends an automatic reply to all the emails that get sent to it and tells them that if their question isn't answered to email another inbox that we are monitoring.

However the issue I have here is that, as far as I am aware, rules do not run in Outlook unless you sign in and open the inbox.

Do you know of another way so that we do not have to keep signing in and so that the rule can run in the background without us having to worry about it?

First, I probably should clarify to Sergio that we're not really offering a service. We get hundreds of letters a week and we typically only choose one to answer. If you are having a serious Outlook problem, you should turn to the topics and troubleshooting sections of OutlookPower or call Microsoft support.

We've had people call and cry and whine because we wouldn't solve their technical issues in seconds. OK, so those were our relatives, but you know what I mean. We're just editors and writers here. If you want real technical support in a responsive manner, call your relatives and cry and whine at them.

Anyway, back to Sergio's question.

So, here's the deal. When Outlook is closed, it's not running and won't process rules. There is, however, a pretty elegant solution, but it involves your email server, not your email client.

Email servers are always running. They have to be, because they're responsible for recieving, storing, and forwarding your email. Many email servers have server-side rules, where you can log into your server account, and set up rules to run on that server.

Sergio's problem is actually pretty easy, regardless of what server he normally runs. In his case, I recommend using a hosted Exchange service, where some other company runs an Exchange server and his account on the Exchange server can run rules.

Most people think hosted Exchange is expensive, but it can be surprisingly affordable. One of our favorite hosted Exchange providers is IT Solutions Now at http://www.exchangemailhosting.com. They're not an advertiser; we just like them. Their hosted Exchange accounts are $10 a month. That's a pretty cheap answer for Sergio's problem.

Now, the last part of Sergio's question requires further consideration. Recall he states "... without us having to worry about it". He's talking about rules in Outlook. You always have to worry about them!

Product availability and resources
Get hosted Exchange at IT Solutions Now.

David Gewirtz is the author of How To Save Jobs and Where Have All The Emails Gone? For more than 20 years, he has analyzed current, historical, and emerging issues relating to technology, competitiveness, and policy. David is the Editor-in-Chief of the ZATZ magazines, is the Cyberterrorism Advisor for the International Association for Counterterrorism and Security Professionals, and is a member of the instructional faculty at the University of California, Berkeley extension. He can be reached at david@zatz.com and you can follow him at http://www.twitter.com/DavidGewirtz.

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]]> http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047662.html http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047662.html Wed, 27 Jan 2010 05:00:00 GMT If you want to run Office 2010, be prepared to upgrade your hardware. It seems the CPU and RAM requirements, which doubled between Office 2003 and 2007, are increasing again for 2010.

Read | Permalink]]> http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047641.html http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047641.html Tue, 26 Jan 2010 05:00:00 GMT Microsoft and "free" don't often go together. This article discusses some free applications, generally not included in the operating systems, to help you out.

Read | Permalink]]> http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047642.html http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047642.html Tue, 26 Jan 2010 05:00:00 GMT OFFICE Password Recovery, from AccentSoft, allows you to recover passwords from Microsoft Office files. Version 3.0 supports file formats from Office 95 to Office 2010 as well as the Microsoft PowerPoint file format.

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]]> http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047643.html http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047643.html Tue, 26 Jan 2010 05:00:00 GMT Laplink Software has released PCsync 6, now updated for Windows 7 and including synchronization capabilities between Windows and Apple computers.

Read | Permalink]]> http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047644.html http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047644.html Tue, 26 Jan 2010 05:00:00 GMT NetInfo is a personal diagnostic product for Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, and Windows 7.

Read | Permalink]]> http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047633.html http://www.outlookpower.com/newsitems/00047633.html Mon, 25 Jan 2010 05:00:00 GMT