Wow! Who at Microsoft Teams thought that enabling that by default was a good idea? I was on a large conference call this morning, (about 150 people). Every message to the message feed was spewing onto my screen and making a noise during the meeting!
Thought: Why do ALL developers think it’s a good idea to have pop-up banner massages appear top right of the screen, (where your windows control buttons and things live), why not bottom right?
Anyway, I want them off completely, (if I want to read the messages I’ll open the message feed window!)
Microsoft Teams Notifications
Click your picture/Initials > Settings.
Chat > Edit.
Set as shown > Back to settings.
You may also want to alter, Notifications Section > Custom.
I’ve disabled ‘Banner’ for EVERYTHING and set them to only show in the feed.
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Like most of us I spend my working day based around Outlook calendar meetings and entries, I’ve even got birthdays and anniversaries in there. So recently when the notification pop-ups stopped working, it was a potential problem. Occasionally I could hear the notification ‘sound’, but I had to open outlook and change to the notification window to see them. When you are as absent minded as me, that’s a recipe for disaster.
I don’t know if it was a macOS update or a Microsoft Office update that had broken it, (or if I’d done something stupid myself!).
Solution
I tried a few solutions but this is the only one that worked. Click the ‘Apple Icon’ (top left) > System Preferences > Notifications > Scroll down and select Outlook > On your keyboard press the ‘Delete/Backspace’ key, to remove Outlook > Close system preferences.
If Outlook is open close it > Open Outlook > At the notification prompt > Click ‘Allow’.
The problem ceased.
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Outlook will (by default), display a notification on your screen when you receive an email. Generally this is a good thing, but if (like me) your Outlook collects your personal mail as well, then you might not want these notifications flashing up on your screen.
Solution
1. From within Outlook > File > Options.
2. Mail > Untick ‘Display a Desktop Alert’.
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Back in the early days of email, just about all mail servers let you relay mail though them. That was fine until someone worked out you could then get someone else to send out your “spam”, and they would look like the guilty party. Even today people misconfigure their Exchange servers and make them an open relay.
But what happens if you have a particular server or machine that you want to let use your Exchange server as a relay? e.g. a Linux server that sends mail, or a SQL server running SQLMail? Then you need to allow relaying from either that IP address, or the network it’s on.
Allow Relay from an IP with Exchange 2010 and 2007
1.From the Exchange Management Console > Server Configuration > Hub Transport > New Receive Connector.
2. Give the connector a name and select Custom > Next.
3. Next.
4. Add > Add in the IP address(s) or network you want to allow relay from > OK.
5. Select the 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.255 entry and click DELETE.
Warning: Leaving this entry in will make your Exchange Server an Open Relay. (Note: This does NOT mean that your default connector is an “Open Relay” as this uses “authentication”
6. Next.
7. New.
8. Finish.
9. Select your new connector then right click > Properties.
10. On the Permission Groups tab ensure “Exchange Servers” is selected.
11. On the Authentication Tab > Tick “Externally Secured (for example with IPSEC).” > Apply > OK.
Allow Relay from an IP with Exchange 2003 and 2000
1. Launch Exchange System Manager > Administrative Groups > Administrative group Name > Servers > Servername > SMTP > Right click Default SMTP Virtual Server > Properties.
Note: If you can’t see administrative groups right click the top level (in this case “First Organization (Exchange)) and tick the box to show administrative groups.
The Cisco CSC module provides ‘in line’ scanning of POP3, SMTP, HTTP and FTP traffic, to protect against viruses but also for anti spam and anti phish (with the correct licensing).
If you are familiar with Trend products, you will like it, (because that’s what it runs), and the interface is much the same as Trend IWSS.
It is a hardware device that plugs into the back of the ASA, and comes in two flavours.
1. CSC-SSM-10 (50 to 500 users, depending on licenses) for ASA 5510 and 5520.
2. CSC-SSM-20 (500 to 100 users, depending on licenses) for ASA 5510, 5520, and 5540.
In addition to licensing the amount of users, you can also buy a Plus License, this enables anti-spam, anti-phish, URL filtering, and blocking control. Note: This license expires and must be renewed annually).
Solution
Some licenses on the CSC are time specific, I would consider setting the ASA’s internal clock before you start.
1. Connect to the ASA via command line, go to enable mode and issue the following command;
From the output you should be able to get the serial number of the CSC module (write it down).
2. In the box with the CSC/ASA should be an envelope containing the PAK for the CSC module, write that number down as well.
3. Go to the Cisco license portal here, Note: If you do not have a Cisco CCO account you may need to create one. Enter your PAK code > Fulfill Single PAK.
Note: If you have multiple PAK codes, you can do them at once with the ‘Load more PAK’s’ button, this may be the case if you also have a ‘plus’ license to add.
4. Enter the serial number of your CSC module and the person/company from whom you bought it > Next.
5. It should display your valid email address (from your CCO account). Tick the box to accept the terms and conditions > Get License.
6. Scroll down and accept, then select DOWNLOAD, (that way you wont have to wait for it to be emailed to you).
7. Open the license file (will have a .lic extension) with notepad and you should see two keys.
Step 2: Setup the CSC Module
Note: Here I’m going to simply set up inspection of everything on all interfaces, this might not be what you want, i.e. if theres no mail server in the DMZ why would you want to inspect all DMZ traffic for SMTP.
9. Enter the base and plus license codes. Note: The plus license code that comes with the CSC is just an evaluation one, if you have purchased a plus license separately, then paste THAT code in instead.
10. Enter the network settings you require for the CSC (it requires its own network connection). it has a single RJ45 network socket on the CSC modules back plane, connect that to your LAN > Next.
11. Supply a name for the CSC module and details of your email server (if you require email notification) > Next > enter the IP addresses that will be allowed access to the CSC web console > Next > Change the password Note: The original password will be cisco > Next.
12. Select what traffic you want to inspect, here I’ve selected all traffic all interfaces > Ive set the CSC to fail open (if theres a problem it simply passes traffic, if you have it on fail close and the CSC encounters a problem all http, smtp, ftp, and pop traffic will be blocked until the problem is resolved) > OK > Next.
13. Review the settings > Finish.
Note: You may get a warning if you set ‘fail open’ above that’s OK.
Connecting to and Managing the Cisco CSC Module
Although you can access the CSC settings via the ASDM, the easiest way is via its web interface, you set the IP address in step 2 number 10 above, navigate to
https://{ip-address}:8443
Note: You should now set the CSC module so that is DOES NOT scan its own update traffic, see the following article.
If you add the plus license later, you will obtain the code in the same manner as you did above (put the PAK and the CSC Serial number into the licensing portal and have it sent to you.
1. Once you have the code, open a web session to the CSC management interface https://{ip-address}:8443 > Administration > Licensing > Enter a new code.
2. Paste in the new code > Activate.
3. It may look like it has hung, wait a minuter or so, and check the licensing tab again.
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My Galaxy Note 3 prompted me for an upgrade last week, it took me a while to notice (because I manually sync my Email) that I could no longer collect my email, every time I tried it said Email sync is disabled (account name). No amount of tweaking with my email or phone setings seemed to get it working.
Solution
1. Open the notification screen (Swipe down from the top of the screen) > Select the icon shown (top right).
2. Now you can see where sync has been disabled (well hidden Samsung!) simply enable it and your email will start working agian.
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