Category : Google Mail

Handy for Google Apps admin: reset cookies on distance

Posted by Philippe Creytens at 15:12

You have probably had this happen to you: you use a browser on another computer to access Google Apps. You use the computer of a co-worker, a client’s computer or a desktop in some internet coffee shop to read mail or access your calendar but afterwards you have doubts if you closed the browser.

When using Google Apps you can now force it to close all open browser sessions from a distance.
Keep Reading…

Studio Brussels’ Eternal Moonwalk not really original

Posted by Philippe Creytens at 13:35

A couple of months ago Studio Brussel made international headlines with their tribute to Michael Jackson: Eternal Moonwalk. Everyone could add a clip with their version of a moonwalk.
Another example of viral marketing. Keep Reading…

Using canned responses in Google Mail.

Posted by Philippe Creytens at 14:00

Not a lot of people know that for Google Apps applications Labs functionalities exist. The purpose of the Labs feature in Google Apps is to allow users to experiment with new functionalities that are not (yet) part of the standard applications.

In many cases you can find a lot of useful features that have been made by Googlers in their “20 percent time“.
Depending on the number of users that activate a Labs feature the likelihood increases that the feature becomes part of the core version of Google Apps. Keep Reading…

New security feature Google Mail

Posted by Philippe Creytens at 14:00

Handling security is important to Google. That was made clear again recently with a new security feature that identifies and indicates suspicious activities in your account. Keep Reading…

Why domain aliases in Google Premier are great.

Posted by Philippe Creytens at 08:04

Many people are creatures of habit. Without thinking they enter email addresses with the extension of the country they live or work in.

Because cloud computing is more easily accepted in The Netherlands, Romneya is rather active there. In anticipation we registered the internet domain ‘romneya’ in a number of European countries, including The Netherlands. Keep Reading…

Things we really HATE in Google Apps!

Posted by Philippe Creytens at 20:38

You might expect from a Google Apps Reseller like us, that we like to glorify all that Google Apps can do. Think again, we don’t!

There are plenty of things that we really HATE in Google Apps. Let me just give you our top negative favorite (does this phrase exist?): Keep Reading…

Collaboration with Google Talk and Mail, a new Tower of Babel

Posted by Philippe Creytens at 10:12

Working on project with co-workers or clients that speak other languages is not a sinecure. Last time I checked, we have come a long way from the situation described in Genesis 11:1-9 “…And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech…”. Yes, I know, English is the preferred business language. Unfortunately not everybody speaks or writes it well (enough).

Google Apps can help you out in different ways. Keep Reading…

Postini MX settings and domain aliases

Posted by Philippe Creytens at 10:15

So you have successfully migrated your existing mail infrastructure over to Google Apps. Like so many companies you might have a number of other internet domains –typically your domain name in other TLDs– and you have added them as domain aliases.

In the (free) Standard Edition of Google Apps all your domains have identical MX records –pointers to where email should be delivered– all referring to Google’s infrastructure. Keep Reading…

Lotus Notes, seen it, done it… move on

Posted by Philippe Creytens at 10:27

About a decade ago I tried to convince my (then) boss that Lotus Notes was a great product with great potential. Large companies used it for different purposes: mail, workflow applications, team sites. You name it, it could be done on with Lotus Notes/Domino. Lots of companies asked us to do Notes projects then. Unfortunately at the time, nobody in the company had any experience with Lotus Notes development.

I placed a bet with my boss that I could get certified in Lotus Notes Administration and Development. Three months later, lots of late night studying and some ‘dummy’ development projects, I took the difficult certification tests and became a qualified Lotus Notes Admin/Developer for Release 4 (and later 5). Keep Reading…

Drastically reduce spam with Google Apps and Postini

Posted by Philippe Creytens at 10:24

All of us are bothered with spam getting into your mailbox. A couple of months ago I decided not to delete emails marked as spam and see how many spam messages I received per month. Four weeks later I ended up with more than 12,000 emails. (Strange that so many people are apparently interested in some of my bodily functions) Multiply that with a number of email users in your domain and it becomes clear that spam can simply choke your run-of-the-mill mail server.

So, time for action.

Google Apps Premier Edition includes Postini’s security and archiving functions. These services alone make up a good reason to upgrade from the free Standard Edition to the paying Premier Edition. But more on Postini, owned by Google, in a later post.

After some configuration –including changing the MX records or pointers where mails should be delivered– the system was all set to go. Emails addressed at my domain are now received by Postini, verified and then delivered to Google Mail.

Now the fun part: the number of emails per month marked as spam visible in Google Mail, was reduced from more than 12,000 to… 5!

Additionally , I regularly receive an overview of what was blocked by the service. To my amazement over that same period Postini also blocked 45 messages that it marked as being potential virus-infected emails. Not that these would be a gigantic threat to me, being a Mac-user, but better be safe than sorry.

So if you would like to know how you can get rid of spam in your organization, get in touch with us.