Windows Small Business Server 2008 Client Computer Help
Updated: August 21, 2008
Applies To: Windows SBS 2008
This document explains how the Windows® Small Business Server 2008 server software (Windows SBS 2008) provides a foundation for your organization's computer network. It also presents information about the networking tools that are available through Windows SBS 2008 that can help users in an organization work more productively and communicate more effectively with coworkers, customers, and partners.
Your computer network
A server is a computer that stores and manages information. You can use a server to connect to other computers and devices within a network. The other computers and devices are called "clients." Your organization’s network is a group of computers that are connected through the server. By connecting the computers in a network, you can more easily share information and resources between computers.
With a server, you can share files and resources in a secure manner. A server provides data backup and storage and e-mail and Internet access. For example, with a server, multiple employees can access the organization’s e-mail system and the Internet at the same time, and they can share the same printer and other office equipment.
Features in Windows Small Business Server 2008
Windows SBS 2008 provides a foundation for your organization’s computer network. It contains features and tools to help the people in your organization with the following:
Maximize personal and team productivity.
Collaborate on projects, share documents, coordinate schedules, and share printers.
Access the network remotely while away from the office.
Communicate easily with customers and coworkers.
Manage e-mail, contacts, and calendars.
Send faxes directly from a personal computer.
Use devices that are based on the Windows Mobile® software to stay connected.
Help keep data secure.
Help prevent unauthorized access to information.
Reduce spam.
Back up and restore files automatically.
Access some of the Windows SBS 2008 features by using a desktop gadget.
Logging on and using passwords
To prevent unauthorized people from accessing the data and information that is stored on your organization’s server, you are required to log in with a unique user name and password. These credentials are provided by your network administrator. You should change your password the first time you use these credentials to log on to the network.
Note
Do not write down your password, post it near your desk, or share it with a coworker. If people know your password, they can use it to access private company information. It is your responsibility to protect your network password.
For more information about passwords, see the Windows Small Business Server 2008 Information Worker's Guide at the Microsoft Web site (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=117486).
E-mail messages
Windows SBS 2008 includes an e-mail system that you can use to send e-mail inside and outside of your organization. Your e-mail is stored on the server, which means that you do not have to be connected to the Internet to send and receive e-mail. When you send e-mail to someone in your organization, you can use the person’s name (for example, Jane Dow) as the e-mail address instead of a standard Internet e-mail address (for example, janedow@contoso.com).
The e-mail system is a Web-based version of Microsoft® Office Outlook® called Outlook Web Access (OWA). When you open it from an Internet browser (such as Windows Internet Explorer), you can:
Send and receive e-mail messages with clients and coworkers.
Access your mailbox in the office, from home, or while traveling.
Note
To access your e-mail from a computer on the network by using Internet Explorer: Open Internet Explorer, and then under Favorites, click Check E-mail.
Mailboxes
Your mailbox on Windows SBS 2008 is a set of folders that can store several thousand e-mail messages. However, it also stores calendar information, task lists, and e-mail attachments. Large e-mail attachments (such as lengthy documents, photographs, songs, movie clips, and picture files) can quickly use up the mailbox space that has been allocated to you. If you receive large attachments, consider saving the attached file to your hard disk drive, and then delete the e-mail message. When your mailbox approaches its maximum capacity, you receive a warning e-mail message.
Be aware that many e-mail systems place restrictions on the size of incoming e-mail messages. Sometimes e-mail messages must be as small as 1 MB.
Computer viruses
Computer viruses are often sent as attachments in e-mail messages. Usually these attachments come as programs (such as .exe files) or scripts (such as .vbs or .js files). When you open e-mail attachments, you risk your computer being infected by and spreading harmful viruses. To protect the data on your computer and on your organization's server, follow these precautions:
Never open e-mail attachments from people who you do not know.
Be cautious about opening e-mail attachments that you receive unexpectedly from people who you do know, especially if they contain program or script attachments. Viruses can send themselves in e-mail, so it is possible to receive viruses from people who do not know that they have a computer virus.
Checking your work e-mail remotely
To check your work e-mail remotely, you can access your e-mail through the Windows SBS 2008 Remote Web Workplace or directly over the Internet. This enables you to access your mailbox from a hotel, airport kiosk, or other remote location. The connection that is established with the computer running Windows SBS 2008 is secure, which helps prevent your user name or password from being compromised.
Through OWA, you can perform many of the same tasks that you can perform when you are working in Outlook. For example, you can:
Check your e-mail, calendar, contacts, and other Outlook folders.
Send e-mail and meeting requests.
Move e-mail messages from your Inbox to other folders.
Attach files or audio and video clips to a message.
Receive notification when new e-mail arrives.
Receive meeting reminders.
For more information about Remote Web Workplace, see Remote Web Workplace later in this document.
For detailed information and step-by-step instructions about using OWA, see the Windows Small Business Server 2008 Information Worker's Guide at the Microsoft Web site (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=117487).
Using Outlook Anywhere
You can access your e-mail messages from the server running Windows SBS 2008 through the Internet by using the feature called Outlook Anywhere (also known as RPC over HTTP), if you are using Microsoft® Office Outlook® 2003 or Outlook 2007. This means that you can remotely access your server e-mail account from the Internet when you are working outside your organization's firewall. You do not need security-related hardware or software (such as smart cards or security tokens), and you do not have to establish a virtual private network (VPN) connection to the server.
If you are using Outlook 2007 to access your e-mail messages, Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 and Outlook 2007 should automatically configure all settings after you enter your e-mail address when you are creating your e-mail profile. (Outlook uses e-mail profiles to remember which e-mail accounts you use and where the data for each account is stored.)
If you are using Outlook 2003 to access your e-mail messages, you should manually configure the Outlook settings. For step-by-step instructions for configuring Outlook Anywhere, in Remote Web Workplace, click “How do I use Outlook Anywhere?”
For more information about checking e-mail remotely, see the Windows Small Business Server 2008 Information Worker's Guide at the Microsoft Web site (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=117487).
Access and share files and folders
On a Windows SBS 2008 network, you can access and share files from folders on your computer, your organization's Internal Web site, or shared folders on the server.
Note
You can share folders on your computer, but be careful in determining who can access the information in these folders. If you want to share a file or folder, it is best to use your organization's Internal Web site or a shared folder on the server.
Accessing files and folders on your computer
Files on your computer are for your use, and they typically are not shared with coworkers. Folder Redirection is a feature that is available in Windows SBS 2008, which enables the files and folders on your local computer (such as Documents, Pictures, Videos, and Music) to be stored on the server. Files stored in the redirected folder are not accessible by coworkers. Storing your files and folders on the server allows you to access them from any computer on the network for which you have permissions to log on. Contact your network administrator to determine if files and folders from your local computer are being redirected to the server.
Accessing files and folders that are shared on the Internal Web site
Your organization's internal Web site on Windows SBS 2008 is called “Internal Web site” by default. Your network administrator can choose to change this default name. The Internal Web site provides document libraries where you can share files and folders with coworkers. By default, all network users can access the files and folders on this site, so be sure that the information you store in these document libraries is information that you want coworkers to view. If you have the proper user account permissions, you can create document libraries on the Internal Web site and optionally restrict access to a select number of coworkers.
Accessing files and folders that are shared on the server
You can share your folders on the server with coworkers, and you can read their shared folders. Shared folders are useful when you do not want to use the Internal Web site or you need to share file types that cannot be stored in a document library, such as executable files. By default, every user in the Windows SBS 2008 domain has a shared folder located at \\<server>\UserShares\<username>. Initially, only the user has access to this shared folder, but you can set the folder permissions so that you can share important documents with your coworkers.
For detailed information and step-by-step instructions about accessing and sharing files and folders on the server, see the Windows Small Business Server 2008 Information Worker's Guide available at the Microsoft Web site (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=117488).
Remote Web Workplace
Remote Web Workplace is the secure Web site entrance for local and remote access to the resources that are stored on the Windows SBS 2008 network. You can access Remote Web Workplace from within the office and from any remote location with an Internet-enabled computer.
To access your organization’s Remote Web Workplace by using Internet Explorer from a computer that is connected to your network: From the computer, open Internet Explorer, click Favorites, and then click Remote Web Workplace. To access Remote Web Workplace from a remote computer, contact your network administrator to obtain its Internet address.
After you log on to Remote Web Workplace, you can access resources that are stored on the Windows SBS 2008 network, such as your Internal Web site, e-mail, applications, and files.
If you do not have a trusted certificate installed on the computer that you are using to access Remote Web Workplace, you will receive an error message that says "There is a problem with this website’s security certificate." To resolve this error, you can install a self-issued certificate on the computer. Copy the self-issued Certificate Installation Package from the server to a removable storage device (such as a USB drive), and then run this application on the remote computer and opt to install the self-signed certificate on it.
For detailed information about installing the self-signed certificate on a computer, open your organization’s Internal Web site, and then under Announcements, click Install the server’s security certificate on your remote computer.
Table 1 lists the tasks that are available to you after you log on to Remote Web Workplace with your network user name and password.
Table 1 Remote Web Workplace Tasks
| Task | Description |
|---|---|
Check E-Mail |
Check e-mail over the Internet. |
Connect to a Computer |
Connect to any computer on the network (for which you have permissions) and access the desktop, applications, files, and other resources as if you were at that computer in your office. |
Internal Web site |
Opens the organization's internal Web site. From this Web site, you can access the same internal Web site resources that are available to you from your office. |
Change Password |
Opens the Change Password page so that you can change your network password. |
Connect to Server (Network administrators only) |
Opens a Terminal Services session with the server running Windows SBS 2008. |
View Help |
Opens this Windows Small Business Server 2008 Client Computer Help document. |
Organization links |
Lists important links (configured by your network administrator) to content or Web sites that can help you accomplish your daily tasks. By default this section includes:
If Office Live Small Business Web sites are set up and you have the required permissions, the following links are also displayed:
|
Administration (network administrators only) |
Lists links that are visible only to network administrators. Administration links by default include:
If Office Live Small Business Web sites are set up to manage your Office Live Small Business subscription, the following links are also displayed:
|
For detailed information and step-by-step instructions about using Remote Web Workplace, see the Windows Small Business Server 2008 Information Worker's Guide at the Microsoft Web site (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=117490).
For more information about Office Live Small Business Web sites, see the Windows Small Business Server 2008 Information Worker's Guide at the Microsoft Web site (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=117793).
Internal Web site
With the internal Web site, you can share information (such as documents, photographs, and upcoming events) from a central location. This site includes the following sections:
Announcements Your network administrator can share important announcements about your organization. By default this section includes a Welcome note and step-by-step instructions for installing a self-issued certificate on your remote computer.
Organization Calendar The team can coordinate meetings, vacation times, and other events related to your organization.
Links Includes a link to this Windows Small Business Server 2008 Client Computer Help document.
Fax Center A place to store incoming and outgoing faxes.
To access your organization’s internal Web site, do the following: From a computer that is connected to the Windows SBS 2008 network, open the Microsoft Internet Explorer® Internet browser, click Favorites, and then click Internal Web site.
For detailed information and step-by-step instructions about using the internal Web site, see the Windows Small Business Server 2008 Information Worker's Guide at the Microsoft Web site (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=117492).
Working remotely
Whether you are telecommuting or away from the office on business, you can use the tools in Windows SBS 2008 to access business resources such as e-mail, contacts, calendars, business applications, internal Web sites, files and folders, and your desktop computer. You can remotely connect to your Windows SBS 2008 network by using Remote Web Workplace or a virtual private network (VPN) from any computer that is connected to the Internet.
Connecting to the network by using Remote Web Workplace
By using Remote Web Workplace, you can connect remotely to your organization’s Windows SBS 2008 network through an Internet browser from any computer that is connected to the Internet. Contact your network administrator to obtain the Internet address for your organization’s Remote Web Workplace. After you log on to Remote Web Workplace, you can access resources on the Windows SBS 2008 network (such as your e-mail, your internal Web site, applications, files, and other resources) as if you were sitting at your computer in your office.
For more information about the features that are available in Remote Web Workplace, see the Remote Web Workplace section earlier in this document.
Connecting to the network by using a virtual private network
By using a VPN, you can connect to the Windows SBS 2008 network from a remote computer to access network resources. However, it is recommended that you use Remote Web Workplace whenever possible. As a best practice, you should use a VPN connection only if your computer is running a line-of-business application that requires it to be connected to the network, and you do not have a computer to connect to inside the network.
For more information about using a VPN to connect to the Windows SBS 2008 network, see the Windows Small Business Server 2008 Information Worker's Guide at the Microsoft Web site (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=117495).
Mobile devices
You can use your Windows Mobile-based devices to access your e-mail, calendar, contacts, and tasks from the server running Windows SBS 2008. When you connect your Windows Mobile-based devices to your computer, you can synchronize data between the devices and the computer.
Connecting your mobile devices
Use the cradle or cable that is included with your Windows Mobile-based device to connect your mobile device to your computer.
For computers that are running the Windows Vista® operating system, follow the on-screen Windows Mobile Device Center instructions.
For computers that are running editions of the Windows XP operating system, follow the on-screen ActiveSync instructions.
Using certificates on your Windows Mobile-based device
To use your Windows Mobile-based device to access resources on the server, you need to have a security certificate installed on your mobile device. Depending on the type of security certificate that is used by the server, do one of the following:
If your company is using a trusted certificate, then no further configuration is necessary after you have configured the mobile device to communicate with Windows SBS 2008.
If your company is using a self-issued certificate, when you connect the mobile device to the computer, you must run the Certificate Installation Package to install the certificate on the device running Windows Mobile software. For instructions on how to run the Certificate Installation Package to add the self-issued certificate, see the Windows Small Business Server 2008 Information Worker's Guide at the Microsoft Web site (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=117497).
Ask your network administrator which type of certificate your server uses.
For detailed information about using mobile devices on the network, see the Windows Small Business Server 2008 Information Worker's Guide at the Microsoft Web site (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=117494).
Synchronizing your mobile devices
Personal information (such as e-mail, contacts, calendar appointments, and tasks), can be stored on the server, your desktop computer, and your mobile device. Mobile device synchronization is the process of comparing the data on your mobile device with the data that is stored on a server to keep the information up-to-date. When you use the Windows Mobile Device Center to synchronize your data, the mobile device compares the calendar, contacts, Inbox, and tasks information that is currently on the device with the information on the computer running Windows SBS 2008, and then it updates the information in both locations.
Note
Windows SBS 2008 can sync only with devices that are powered by Windows Mobile software. Other mobile devices are not supported without additional software installation.
Fax
With Windows SBS 2008, you can send a fax to one recipient or many from your computer running Windows Vista or Windows XP.
To send a fax from Windows Vista Use the Windows Fax and Scan application (available in Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Ultimate) to perform all faxing tasks and manage your faxes from one location.
To send a fax from Windows XP Use the Send a Fax Wizard to guide you through the process of faxing from your desktop. You can preview the fax before it is sent, and it shows you how to perform advanced fax tasks such as scheduling, using cover pages, and receiving receipt notifications.
For detailed information and step-by-step instructions about sending and receiving faxes within a Windows SBS 2008 network, see the Windows Small Business Server 2008 Information Worker's Guide at the Microsoft Web site (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=117493).
Desktop Links gadget
When you join your computer running Windows Vista to the network, the Desktop Links gadget is installed on your computer. The Desktop Links gadget contains buttons for Product links, Organization links, and Administration links. To display this gadget on your desktop, you must manually add it to the Windows Sidebar and have the Windows Sidebar open.
Note
To manually add the Desktop Links gadget, right-click the Windows Sidebar, click Add Gadgets, and then double-click Windows Small Business Server Links.
Product links
The following links are listed as Product links on the Desktop Links gadget:
**Check E-Mail **Opens OWA, which enables you to perform tasks such as sending and receiving e-mail, accessing your calendar, and managing e-mail folders.
**Internal Web site **Opens the organization's internal Web site, which enables you to share information (such as documents, photographs, and upcoming events) from a central location.
**Remote Web Workplace **Opens the Remote Web Workplace, which enables you to access some of the network resources from within the office or from any remote location with an Internet-enabled computer.
Organization links
The Organization links that are listed on the Desktop Links gadget are links to important content or Web sites that can help you accomplish your daily tasks. These links are configured by your network administrator.
Using Remote Web Workplace Opens this Windows Small Business Server 2008 Client Computer Help document.
How do I use Outlook Anywhere? Opens a Help document that includes step-by-step instructions for configuring your remote computer that is running Outlook 2003 to access your server e-mail account over the Internet.
If Office Live Small Business Web sites are set up and you have the required permissions, the following links are also displayed:
Browse your Business Web site Launches the Internet browser and takes you to your organization’s business Web site on the Internet.
Browse your Business Applications Web site Launches the Internet browser and takes you to your organization’s extranet site.
Administration links
The Administration links that are listed on the Desktop Links gadget are visible only to network administrators.
- Windows Small Business Server Community site Opens the Windows SBS 2008 Community Web site, which is at the Microsoft Web site.
If Office Live Small Business Web sites are set up to manage your Office Live Small Business subscription, the following links are also displayed:
Manage your Office Live Small Business account Launches a browser and takes you to the Office Live Small Business Web site for managing your Office Live Small Business subscription.
Promote your business Launches a browser and after signing in with the Office Live Small Business account, takes you to the Office Live Small Business Web site for creating and managing your online ads and monitoring your e-mail campaigns.
View Web site reports for Office Live Small Business Web sites Launches a browser and, after signing in with the Office Live Small Business account, takes you to the Office Live Small Business Web site for viewing the site performance and visitor statistics.
Manage your Business Web site Launches a browser and, after signing in with the Office Live Small Business account, takes you to your organization’s business Web site for managing the site.
For detailed information and step-by-step instructions about using the Desktop Links gadget, see the Windows Small Business Server 2008 Information Worker's Guide available at the Microsoft Web site (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=117496).
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