We have come across a couple of instances recently where emailed pictures (.jpg and .jpeg) can not be opened in Outlook and just present the recipient with a white box with a red cross and the message that a preview could not be generated. The same result is given when the attachment is saved to the desktop (or other folder) and attempted to be viewed.  If the email is accessed via webmail (OWA) the email and picture are displayed without a problem.

While there are other suggestions on how to rectify the problem the quickest and easiest that has presented itself so far is to check for the Security Update for Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 (KB945432) and remove it.

1. Close Outlook
   
2. Open Control Panel
3. Select Add/Remove Programs
4. Check the box next to Show updates
5. Scroll down and look for Security Update for Outlook 2003 (KB945432): OUTLOOK
6. Select Remove
   

This will fix the problem but I am unsure as to any other effects this will have at this time, the security update seems to have been released 11th March 2008. Microsoft Release Information

After updates to the Exchange contacts, client reported not being able to see the updated version.  All contacts are shown correctly when accessing webmail but not from within Outlook.

Outlook 2003 was in this instance configured to use the Exchange mailbox in cached mode, the OAB had not replicated to the local machine after 24 hours, so I followed the instructions in the Microsoft KnowledgeBase Article: Administering the offline address book in Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007

To Force Outlook to update it's OAB (Global Address List)

• On the Tools menu, point to Send/Receive, and then click Download Address Book.
• Exit Outlook and then restart it. After Outlook starts, the offline address book download will start one to five minutes later.

Sometime in the last two weeks my father had overnight been unable to access MSN, Hotmail and Windows Updates. The problem also extended to him not being able to connect to me using the NTR remote connection software that we use, however he did still have VNC installed.

Once he connected to me via reverse VNC and I'd confirmed that he had made no changes to system, been hijjacked or infected. We left it overnight to see if it was a transient problem.

It wasn't.  He is with AOL broadband and apparently they have have made some changes. 

The MTU settings in the Netgear router they supplied are the source of the problem. 

This is how to fix it:

1. Locate the control panel for your Netgear router, standard address ** is http://192.168.0.1
2. Open a web browser and log in to the control panel, standard username and password are admin and password
3. Scroll down the left hand side and find the menu option called Advanced Setup and then click on WAN Setup
4. Scroll down that page and find the option MTU and change the value in the box to 1400 (it was set to 1458)
5. Apply the settings - this also reboots the router - and you're all done.

** if it is not at the standard address you can find it out by determining your default gateway.

On a Windows machine:

1. Go to Start, then Run (or use the search box in Vista) and type in cmd then press enter.
2. In the black window that pops up type in ipconfigand press enter.
3. In the results that follow the Default Gateway is clearly listed, make a note of this and return to the steps above.

On a Apple machine see this article: How to find your router on an Apple Mac

Here are a few PDF documents covering simple tasks I created for our Mac users.  They cover:-

• Changing your password
• Configuring Exchange in Entourage
  
• Importing Email

They are a little rough and ready, but available for anyone to use freely. 

How to install:- 

1. RunMacRun Support (Version 1.0)
2. Download the zip file.
3. Open the zip file by double clicking it and then double click the file inside called runmacrun.mpkg
4. This will then install VineVNC and four scripts to help easily connect to us here at the office. (All items will be installed in Applications in a folder called runmacrun)
5. To launch a connection, double click on the 'connect to xxx.app' program icon. 

Setting up your gmail account in Entourage is a two stage process.

1. Enable POP on your Gmail account
2. Set up the account in Entourage

How do I enable POP?

You can retrieve your Gmail messages with a client or device that supports POP, like Microsoft Outlook or Netscape Mail.

To enable POP in your Gmail account:

1. Log in to your Gmail account.
2. Click Settings at the top of any Gmail page.
3. Click Forwarding and POP in the orange Mail Settings box.
4. Select Enable POP for all mail or Enable POP for mail that arrives from now on.
5. Choose the action you'd like your Gmail messages to take after they are accessed with POP.
6. Configure your POP client* and click Save Changes.