Student E-Mail

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Frequently Asked Questions

Basics

Why use the my.stlcc.edu student e-mail?
My.stlcc.edu student e-mail was created to provide students and faculty a reliable method of communication. It is the official channel for college communications to keep you posted on Blackboard, course work, assignments, financial aid, registration deadlines, library holds and overdue notices, and other important information.

But it is also for your personal use. It has many great features so you can make it your primary e-mail account and keep it after you graduate or complete your education goals with St. Louis Community College.

What is included with the my.stlcc.edu student e-mail account?
The my.stlcc.edu student e-mail account is very similar to Windows Live Hotmail - the most widely used Webmail service in the world. So it's already familiar and includes the following features:

E-mail with 5GB of storage space, 14MB message size including up to 10MB attachments and up to 50 attachments, spam- and virus-filtering, a familiar Web-based interface with folders and preview pane, access via POP, and forwarding capability.
Windows Live services also include instant messaging, blogging and ways to store and share files using password-protected spaces.
Personal calendar that can be shared with friends and classmates.

Does the program include contact management and calendar?
Yes, an address book, a calendar and calendar-sharing are included. My.stlcc.edu student e-mail also supports iCal, so students can send meeting requests to e-mail systems supporting iCal. For example, students can send calendar invites to Microsoft Exchange Server users (the College's faculty and staff e-mail system) and vice versa.

What other Windows Live services are included in the my.stlcc.edu student e-mail?
The following services are available with a my.stlcc.edu student e-mail account and all are opt-in and free unless otherwise noted.

Office Live Workspace: A document workspace for sharing any type of Office content - documents, spreadsheets, presentations, meeting invitations and schedules. Other students can view and edit those documents, even if they don't have Microsoft Office installed on their computers - even Mac users! For more info, visit http://workspace.officelive.com.
Windows Live Messenger: Great for audio and video conversations with friends, family, and colleagues; multi-user IM functionality for study groups; and so much more. For more info, visit http://get.live.com/messenger/overview.
Windows Live Spaces: So many ways to use this within a higher education environment. For example, you can create e-profiles for prospective employers. Students, alumni, faculty, clubs and departments can use spaces to share information, photos, blogs and more. For more info, visit http://home.services.spaces.live.com.
Windows Live for Mobile access to IM and e-mail: You can access my.stlcc.edu student e-mail on virtually any Web-enabled phone. For more information, visit http://mobile.live.com/GoLive. Note: Carriers may charge for wireless data service.
Windows Live SkyDrive: 5GB of password-protected online file storage. For more info, visit http://skydrive.live.com.
Calendar: With Windows Live, you have you own individual calendar. This allows you to manage your schedule. You may share your personal calendar with friends and classmates, or whomever you choose. Simply decide which appointment details you wish to share - location, subject, attendees. Windows Live works with other calendar systems, including Exchange (used by faculty and staff) and iCal. For more info, visit http://windowslive.com/Online/Calendar.
Windows Live Writer: Use this free blog publishing tool to create blogs in your Windows Live Spaces. The "how to" videos show how to add photos and video, preview your layout, and publish your content. For more infor, visit http://download.live.com/writer.

Can students and alumni access my.stlcc.edu student e-mail accounts via the Mac? How about Safari and Firefox?

Yes, Macs can access my.stlcc.edu student e-mail accounts via either Firefox or Safari. For Safari users, a lighter version with minimal reliance on JavaScript is used, but with the same 5GB of storage that everyone else gets. Firefox 1.5 users on the Mac will experience heavy use of JavaScript, as will users of Internet Explorer.

Your Account Information

How can I find out the address for my individual my.stlcc.edu student e-mail account?
Your new my.stlcc.edu student e-mail account name has been loaded into Banner. It can be viewed by clicking on the "What is my Student E-mail Address? Find Out!" button on the right-hand column of this page. More information is available on the "Getting Started" page.

What if I experience problems logging into Banner Self Service?
Access to Banner Self-Service is initially gained by typing your student ID "A" number as your user name and your birthday in <mmddyy> format as your PIN. If you do not remember your "A" number or PIN, please contact the Admissions/Registration office. PIN changes require photo ID and in-person request.

How do I get to my individual my.stlcc.edu student e-mail account?
Go to http://mail.live.com or click on the "LOGIN!" button at the top right on this Web page. Be sure to log off any other Windows Live accounts, i.e. Hotmail, before logging into your my.stlcc.edu student e-mail account.

What is my password for my.stlcc.edu student e-mail?
Your initial password is your student ID "A" number. The first time you log in to your account you will be required to change your password. The step-by-step process to do this is on the Getting Started page.

What if I receive an error message while logging into my individual my.stlcc.edu student e-mail account?
The initial activation requires you to correctly enter your my.stlcc.edu e-mail address and your student ID "A" number as the initial password.

If you receive the following error message, "The e-mail address or password is incorrect. Please try again," here are some simple troubleshooting solutions for common mistakes.

Make sure you've typed the period (.) after the "my" in the domain name - @my.stlcc.edu
Make sure you've typed the "t" in the domain name @my.stlcc.edu
Make sure you've typed a capital "A" in your initial password
Make sure you've waited 1-3 business days after registering for classes before trying to access your my.stlcc.edu student e-mail account.

Still having problems? Contact the Campus Life office for assistance.

When does a my.stlcc.edu student e-mail account get deleted?
Your my.stlcc.edu student e-mail account will never be deleted. However, if it is unused for more than 180 days, the contents of the e-mail inbox are deleted and the account becomes dormant.

Do new e-mail messages sent to a dormant my.stlcc.edu student e-mail account "bounce?"
Yes. When an account goes dormant, it does indeed bounce mails back.

What happens to my individual my.stlcc.edu student e-mail account when I graduate or stop taking courses at the college?
One advantage of your my.stlcc.edu student e-mail account is that you won't have to abandon or export your e-mail, contacts or calendar items when you graduate or stop taking courses. You can continue to use the account and its services after you graduate if you wish. Once you are no longer a current student (not taken a credit course in three semesters), the standard Windows Live Mail advertising will appear in the interfaces for your e-mail, calendar, etc., but your account will otherwise be unchanged. If you don't log in for 180 days, any mail messages stored on the Windows Live server will be deleted, but the account itself will remain.

Is the my.stlcc.edu address required in Blackboard?
Your my.stlcc.edu student e-mail account will automatically be used in Blackboard. It also will be used for all official communication from the college including registration deadlines, assignments, course work, financial aid information, library holds and overdue notices, and other important information. Any prior personal e-mail accounts you may have used with the college or have registered in Banner will no longer be accessed, so be sure to check your my.stlcc.edu student e-mail account frequently.

When is the my.stlcc.edu student-mail account created?
Your my.stlcc.edu student e-mail account information is created in Banner and sent to Microsoft at the end of the day you register for a credit course at the college.

How long before I can use my new individual my.stlcc.edu e-mail account?
Your my.stlcc.edu student e-mail account will be available for use in 1-3 business days following the day you register for a credit course at the college.

What happens if I change my name?
If you wish to change your name on your my.stlcc.edu student e-mail account due to marriage or some other life event, you must visit the Admissions/Registration office to update Banner. When your name is changed, the Banner system will generate a new my.stlcc.edu e-mail address for you. You must activate this new my.stlcc.edu student e-mail address as it will now be your official college e-mail.

Note: Your old my.stlcc.edu student e-mail address will not be eliminated and remains active for life. If you do not use the old account for 180 days, the system will treat it as dormant, and the contents of the old account's inbox will automatically be deleted. It is your responsibility to forward any previously received mail from the old account to the new. For information on how to forward e-mail, please see the e-mail tutorial video 16: E-mail Forwarding.

Using the Account

Can I forward my e-mail out of the my.stlcc.edu student e-mail account into another account?
Yes. But if you forward your my.stlcc.edu student e-mail to another account, faculty/staff e-mails may get caught and eliminated by the spam filters used by the receiving account.

The anti-spam filters only apply to e-mails sent to my.stlcc.edu student e-mail accounts. The addresses of the mail servers associated with faculty and staff e-mail are automatically safe-listed to ensure you receive all e-mail from the College. As a result, e-mails from those servers will always get through to your my.stlcc.edu student e-mail account.

Also note that forwarded e-mail is not stored in sent items, and so you will have no record of it in my.stlcc.edu student e-mail inbox. For information on how to forward e-mail, see the e-mail tutorial video 16: E-mail Forwarding.

Is there any restriction on the maximum number of e-mails I may send per day?
The limit you can send out of my.stlcc.edu student e-mail account is 500 e-mails per day. Each e-mail is essentially an alias in the To…, Cc…, or Bcc… line. That means you can send 100 mails to 5 people or 5 messages to 100 people. You can receive unlimited e-mails per day (up to the remaining storage limit). Note: E-mails sent between users in the my.stlcc.edu domain do not count against the daily maximum.

Will Microsoft provide restoration of e-mail accidentally deleted?
Deleted e-mails are moved to the trash folder where you can retrieve them for up to five days later. After that, the e-mail is deleted from the servers and cannot be restored. You may use client software such as Microsoft's free client (or one of your own choice) or Office Outlook 2003/2007 to keep data backed up for individual archival and data recovery purposes.

Can I search my individual my.stlcc.edu student e-mail account?
Yes. There are a variety of useful and powerful, searching capabilities available to my.stlcc.edu student e-mail users through the Web and rich clients - the Windows Live Mail client can also take advantage of Microsoft's operating system search capabilities for integrated desktop search.

How can I use mail clients such as Thunderbird and Outlook with my.stlcc.edu student e-mail?
Users can use POP or the Outlook Connector to pull their e-mail from my.stlcc.edu student e-mail into Outlook. If you already are familiar with how to configure a mail client, the general settings are:

Incoming Mail Server name: pop3.live.com protocol: POP3, using SSL port: 995
Outgoing Mail Server name: smtp.live.com protocol: SMTP, using SSL port: 25 username: enter your full e-mail address

For more information on Windows Live Mail, visit http://get.live.com/betas/maildesktop_beta.

Can I check my e-mail using my mobile phone?
Yes. There are a two ways to check my.stlcc.edu student e-mail using an Internet-enabled mobile phone:

Using a mail client on your phone - if your mobile phone has a mail client installed, you can configure it to check my.stlcc.edu student e-mail via a POP connection using the settings above. Note: We recommend using the "Leave Messages On Server" option if your client supports it. If you do not use this setting, your messages will download on your phone and be removed from the server.
Using your phone's Web browser - if your mobile phone has a Web browser, point it to http://mobile.live.com/portal/. This portal includes a Webmail interface optimized for mobile devices. You can sign in with your my.stlcc.edu student e-mail address and password.

How does the calendar system synchronize with mobile devices?
Calendar synch to mobile devices is supported in a variety of ways. First, if the mobile device uses Windows Mobile, Microsoft provides a client that provides access to Windows Live data over the air and also synchronizes through ActiveSync or the Windows Mobile Device Center in Windows Vista. There are a number of additional synchronization products available to synch data to mobile devices on Windows (and for different calendar applications) and also on other operating systems. Users are able to sync their Windows Live calendar on a variety of available mobile devices.

Describe how users share calendars? Does your calendar have "free/busy" look up?
You can access published calendars through iCalendar and also publish your calendars for other users to see as well (and control the amount of detail visible). All local Outlook calendar capabilities also are available through the use of the Outlook Connector provided free to Windows Live users.

How do I get alerts on my cell phone?
You can sign up for text alerts from the Windows Live Alerts service. Note: Recipients may be charged a fee by their mobile provider to receive messages.

Spam Management

How does my.stlcc.edu student e-mail handle spam?
Microsoft provides and manages advanced spam and virus filtering using proprietary technologies, including SmartScreen technology that learns to detect spam through user input, and SenderID Framework which matches the sender's IP address against theirs from e-mail, which is designed to defeat "spoofing." If using the Web interface, all e-mail undergoes a virus check/scan. However, since the anti-virus tools are server side, this does not apply if using POP. See http://postmaster.hotmail.com/ for more details.

Do I have the ability to control anti-spam options, for example, training the system what is ham and spam?
Yes. You have the opportunity to identify certain e-mails as safe versus unsafe, and Windows Live also "learns" based on user actions to mark spam and ham. Furthermore, you can set individual junk mail folder rules, block lists and safe lists.

Is there a method provided for bypassing the spam system in order to ensure delivery of official STLCC notifications?
Yes. This is a core capability of the my.stlcc.edu student e-mail service. We have safe listed the college's e-mail server addresses so that e-mail sent from those servers are not blocked by spam filters. E-mails sent from one my.stlcc.edu student account to another bypass filters as well.

Advertising and Marketing Policies

Will my.stlcc.edu student e-mail accounts receive advertising?
While you are a currently registered credit student, banner ads for third-party products and services will not appear on the Web interface for my.stlcc.edu student e-mail account.

Microsoft reserves the right to display information about Microsoft products and services, but, of course, recognizes the need to do so in a manner that is tasteful and not overbearing. For example, Microsoft may opt to show "tips and tricks" to enhance usage of Windows Live services or occasionally display information about special Microsoft offers for students.

If you are not a currently registered credit student (have graduated or not taken a class in the last three semesters, or are an alumni, parent, applicant or college employee), you will see family-safe banner advertisements for third-party products.

What are key advertising and marketing points for Windows Live?
No sharing or sales of users' personal information with neither third parties, nor internally within Microsoft unless student explicitly opts in

No scanning of e-mail content for ads
No behavioral targeting of ads
No commercial tagline attached to the bottom of e-mails
Family-safe banner ads in alumni/employee Windows Live e-mail Web interface
Current credit students do not see third party advertising in the e-mail interface

What is Microsoft's creative acceptance policy for banner ads?
In general, advertisements are family-safe and promote common consumer products like cars, movies and restaurants. You can check the creative acceptance policy at http://advertising.microsoft.com/creative-acceptance-policy.

Does Microsoft share or sell student/alumni contact information with third parties?
No. Microsoft doesn't share or sell any contact information unless the user opts in. This is covered in Microsoft's comprehensive privacy and disclosure policies which are available not only to Microsoft Windows Live participants, but to all users of Microsoft's online services. See http://microsoft.com/privacy.

Is there a marketing signature attached to e-mails sent from my.stlcc.edu student e-mail?
No. There is no signature transmitted or attached to e-mails sent by students to other e-mail recipients.

Does Microsoft scan e-mail content to deliver ads?
No. E-mail content is not scanned for the purposes of delivering advertisements. E-mail can be scanned if the student initiates a search of his/her inbox. Also, in Windows Live Mail beta, you can turn on a window that can scan your e-mail content and show relevant search results.