Deleting an Exchange Mailbox

I was asked today to delete the mailbox for a user who has recently left the company. Having never deleted a mailbox before, I thought it best to at least read up on it first before jumping right in and hitting the delete key.

A quick search brought me to a site I have used in the past to help with Exchange questions that I have had. Armed with instructions and pictures I was able to quickly delete the users mailbox.

We often have to change passwords around here, so I am very familiar with the ADUC (Active Directory Users and Computers) MMC, so that is how I accessed the Exchange delete tool. Please note that what follows is a very quick fly-by for my own record keeping. If you are going to delete anything from your Exchange environment, please do your homework. Read books, check out Microsoft's Exchange Support Pages, and by all means, talk to someone else who has been doing Exchange Administration for a while.

What I did after finding my user in the OU was to right click on the username, from that menu I chose "Exchange Tasks", from the pop-up menu choose Delete Mailbox and follow the prompts. It was that simple.

And, just in case you do this all by mistake, there are instructions on the post above as well as additional links for recovering deleted mailboxes.

Burn an Autorun CD

Most people probably know how to create an autostart CD, but just in case someone doesn't know, or just in case I need to do this away from my work PC, I am putting the basics down with links that I need/use.

I like to create all of my CDs using a great little tool called UltraISO. I didn't get free CD creating software with my laptop, and I know this program already, so it is what I use. You can use whatever software you want to setup your files for burning. I have used Nero in the past with some success, but I like this program a bit better.

Once you have all of your files ready to burn, you will need to add a couple of files, including WinOpen. You can get a copy of these files plus better instructions than I have included here on the Duckware site. There lots of options with this program, so check the website for all you can do with this.

Hamachi Instant VPN

Ever since hearing about this great little tool from Steve Gibson's Security Now! podcasts I have gotten a ton of use out of Hamachi.

I needed to access my desktop from outside our NAT at my last job. I needed to let an Exchange consultant into our server here for a one time fix. I needed to change a setting on my backup job here on a server, but I was at home. I wanted to check my email from an insecure wireless access point in a public location.

There are times when you need a VPN solution that is not over complex or expensive, like the instances mentioned above. I have found that in these times, Hamachi does everything that I need it to do.

If you are new to VPN entirely, I recommend this site to help you get your head around the idea. If you know what a VPN is and you know you need one, give Hamachi a try. It is easy to install, very easy to use, and best of all, it is free for personal use.

Also, I highly recommend a subscription to Steve Gibson's Security Now podcast for anyone new to computer support who needs to get up to speed on all things security related.