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Frequently Asked Questions

Basics

Your Account Information

Using the Account

Spam Management

Advertising and Marketing Policies

Windows Live Support

Support options for Windows Live.

Basics

Why would students want to use my.stlcc.edu Windows Live E-mail?
my.stlcc.edu Windows Live offers students the features they need in order to use it as their primary account, and keep it after they graduate or complete their educational goals with St. Louis Community College.

Hotmail is the most used webmail service in the world, so it’s already familiar to many students. 5GB of storage space, 14 MB message size, including up to 10 MB 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.
The program is hosted on servers managed by Microsoft to provide the highest levels of reliability, spam-filtering and performance.
In addition to mail, the Windows Live communication services include more than just email, such as instant messaging, blogging and ways to store and share files using password-protected spaces
Many of your classmates will be using the set of Windows Live services, so it will be efficient to use calendar and other collaboration tools to coordinate both academic and non-academic activities.

St. Louis Community College is providing this new e-mail account to ensure that you have an e-mail account through which faculty may reliably contact you. And, through which you can contact faculty and friends. This new e-mail account is for your personal use. It will become the official e-mail address to communicate with students starting with the Fall 2008 semester.

What is included with the @my.stlcc.edu e-mail account?
The account is very similar to a Microsoft Hotmail account and includes a calendar, contact management etc. And, 5GB between e-mail, contacts and calendar.

Does the program include calendar and contact management?
Yes, a calendar, an address book, and calendar-sharing are included. Windows Live Hotmail 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 services are included in Windows Live?
Besides STLCC branded e-mail, a student/alumni has an active ID which can access a whole set of Windows Live services. For example, when Joe Student is issued the e-mail address jstudent@my.stlcc.edu, Joe can use that e-mail address to authenticate on a number of Windows Live services, all of which are opt-in and free unless noted otherwise. Here are just a few:

Office Live Workspace: English language for now, additional languages in mid 2008. 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, please visit http://get.live.com/messenger/overview.
Windows Live Spaces: So many ways to use this within a higher education environment. For example, students 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, please visit http://home.services.spaces.live.com/.
Windows Live for Mobile access to IM and e-mail: Students can access their .edu e-mail on virtually any web-enabled phone. For more information, please visit http://mobile.live.com/GoLive. Carriers may charge for wireless data service.
Windows Live SkyDrive: 5 GB of password-protected online file storage http://skydrive.live.com/
More new stuff coming all the time: http://get.live.com/betas/home

Can students and alumni access Windows Live Hotmail via the Mac? How about Safari and Firefox?
Yes, Macs are welcome to access Windows Live Hotmail via either Firefox or Safari. For Safari users, a lighter version of Windows Live Hotmail 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.

Microsoft tests a variety of web browsers and supports the major browsers across a variety of operating system platforms. Internet Explorer from 7.0 down to 5.5 versions, the leading versions of Firefox (cross platform) and Safari (cross platform) are supported as well as Opera. Basically any browser supported by MSN or Windows Live in general is supported for Windows Live. Microsoft also does browser detection to tune the experience the end user receives based on the browser’s capabilities.

Your Account Information

How can I find out the name of the new e-mail account?
Your new my.stlcc.edu Windows Live e-mail account name has been loaded into Banner. And, it can be viewed using Banner Self-Service. More information is on the Getting Started page.

What is my password?
Your initial password is your student ID ("A" number). The first time you login 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.

How do I get to the my.stlcc.edu Windows Live account?
Go to http://mail.live.com/ or click on the "LOGIN!" button at the top right on this web page.

When does a @my.stlcc.edu e-mail account get deleted?
Your my.stlcc.edu Windows Live 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.

If a student account becomes dormant, do new email messages to that account "bounce" or does the account continue to receive email even though dormant?
When an account goes dormant, it does indeed bounce mails back.

What happens when I graduate or stop taking courses at the College?
One advantage of your my.stlcc.edu Windows Live account is that you won't have to abandon or export your email, contacts, or calendar items when you graduate or stop taking courses. You can continue to use Windows Live 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. If you log in after a 180-day lapse, you can resume using e-mail services but all your old messages will be gone.

Is the @my.stlcc.edu address required in Blackboard?
The @my.stlcc.edu e-mail account will not automatically be used in Blackboard at this time. If you currently have a personal e-mail account in Banner, it will continue to be used in Blackboard. The @my.stlcc.edu e-mail address will only appear in Blackboard if you update it in Banner to be your primary e-mail address. It will become the official e-mail address for student communications starting with the Fall 2008 semester.

When is the my.stlcc.edu Windows Live account created?
Your my.stlcc.edu Windows Live 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 @my.stlcc.edu e-mail account?
Your my.stlcc.edu Windows Live account will be available for use on the day following you register for a credit course at the College.

What happens if I change my name?
If you wish to change your name, the change must be made in Banner first. Then, if you request it, the College will request that a new my.stlcc.edu Windows Live account be set up for you with a new name. It will then be your responsibility to move any e-mail in your old e-mail account to your new e-mail account. 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.

Using the Account

Can students forward their e-mail out of Windows Live into another account?
Yes. But if you forward mail to another account, faculty/staff e-mails may get caught and eliminated by the spam filters used by the other e-mail account into which you are forwarding your mail. With no forwarding, only Windows Live anti-spam filters apply, and 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 Windows Live account. Also note that forwarded e-mail is not stored in sent items, and so the student will have no record of it in their Windows Live inbox. For information on how to forward e-mail, please see the e-mail tutorial video 16: E-mail Forwarding.

Is there any restriction on the maximum number of emails a user may send per day?
Their only limit is users can only send out of Windows Live 500 mails per day. Each mail is essentially an alias in the to, cc or bcc line. That means they can send 100 mails to 5 people or 5 messages to 100 people. The individual Hotmail account can only send to 500 per day, and can receive unlimited email per day (up to the remaining storage limit). Note that 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 that students accidentally delete?
Deleted emails are moved to the trash folder and the student can retrieve it up to five days later. After that, the e-mail is deleted from the servers and cannot be restored. The user may use client software such as Microsft's free client (or one of their own choice) or Office Outlook 2003/2007 to keep data backed up for individual archival and data recovery purposes.

Can users search their email?
Yes. There are a variety of useful and powerful, searching capabilities available to Windows Live users through the web and also rich clients - the Windows Live Mail client also takes advantage of Microsoft’s operating system search capabilities for integrated desktop search.

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

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

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

Can I check my mail using my mobile phone?
Yes. There are a two ways to check your Windows Live Hotmail 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 your Windows Live Hotmail 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 Windows Live ID 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 synchronize through ActiveSync or the Windows Mobile Device Center in Windows Vista. In addition 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 Window Live calendar on a wide variety of available mobile devices.

Describe how users share calendars? Does your calendar have "free/busy" look up?
Users can access published calendars through iCalendar and also publish their calendars for other users to see as well (and control the amount of detail visible). All local Outlook calendar capabilities are also 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 that recipients may be a charged a fee by their mobile provider to receive messages.

Spam Management

How does Microsoft my.stlcc.edu Windows Live 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 their 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 users have the ability to control anti-spam options, for example, training the system what is ham and spam?
Yes, users can 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, users 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 Windows Live service and we safelist the College's e-mail server addresses so that email sent from those servers are not blocked by spam filters. We also allow mail sent from one @my.stlcc.edu student account to another to bypass filters as well.

Advertising and Marketing Policies

Will I receive advertising on my @my.stlcc.edu e-mail account?
While you are a currently registered credit student, banner ads for third-party products and services will not appear on the web user interface for your Windows Live account.

Microsoft reserves the right to display information about Microsoft products and services, but of course recognize 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 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 emails.
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, restaurants. You can check the creative acceptance policy at this location: 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 Windows Live?
No. There is no signature transmitted or attached to e-mails sent by students to other email 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 their inbox. Also, in Windows Live Mail beta, the student can turn on a window that would scan their e-mail content and show relevant search results, but this window can be turned off.

Windows Live Support

Front line support to students and alumni will be available through job aids and demonstrations available from this web site. Users may also use Microsoft's web-based support located at http://support.live.com.

Windows Live Services

Windows Live E-mail

Windows Live SkyDrive

Office Live Workspace

Windows Live Spaces

Windows Live Writer

Windows Live Mobile

WL Photo Gallery

Windows Live Messenger

Frequently Asked Questions

Basics

Your Account Information

Using the Account

Spam Management

Advertising and Marketing Policies

Windows Live Support

Basics

Your Account Information

Using the Account

Spam Management

Advertising and Marketing Policies

Windows Live Support