Email

How can I empty my POP inbox so I can receive new emails?

  1. Click on your current browser for internet access, on the URL link text bar type in www.mx.eastcoast.co.za.
  2. When the Zimbra page has loaded, log in using your email address and password.
  3. Once logged into your email, you can delete unwanted emails from your Inbox or Sent items.
  4. After deleting them, go to your Trash or Deleted messages and empty your trash to permanently remove those emails from your account.
  5. You should now be able to receive new emails.



How do I set up an Out of Office on my Zimbra email account?

When you would like to let your contacts know that you're away from your email within a specific time frame, you can set up an automatic email that is distributed to whomever emails you within that time.

  1. Open your web browser (Google Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, etc.).
  2. In the address bar, type in mx.eastcoast.co.za.
  3. Type your email address and password and click the “Log In” button. If you need assistance retrieving these details, email support@geekms.co.za.
  4. Once logged in, click on “Preference” tab and “Out of Office”.
  5. Click on “Send auto-reply message” and then compose your Out of office message.
  6. Specify the Start and End date & time that the automatic email will be sent and click “Save”.
  7. You can also set a different message to be received by people who email from within your own domain.



How do I manually archive old emails on Outlook to speed up my application?

Your mailbox has a limited storage size and, when it starts reaching capacity, you may experience slowness when searching for a specific email, or when accessing older emails. To maximise performance, you can move older items to an Archive folder. This will create a separate Data file (.pst file) that you can open anytime you need it. Here's how: 1. In Outlook 2013, click File > Info > Cleanup Tools > Archive.
Or, in Outlook 2016: Click File > Info > Tools > Clean Up Old Items. 2. Click the 'Archive this folder and all Subfolders' option, and choose the folder you want to archive. 3. Under 'Archive items older than', enter a date of your preference. 4. You can create multiple .pst files if you want to archive some folders using different settings. For example, you may want to keep items in your Sent folder longer than items in your Inbox folder. 5. Check the Include items with “Do not AutoArchive” checked box to archive individual items that are excluded from automatic archiving. This option doesn't remove that exclusion from these items, but instead ignores the Do not AutoArchive setting for this archive only. 6. Click OK.



POP vs IMAP - what's the difference?

POP and IMAP are two different methods to access email, and can be an important decision to make. Here's how. Do you use more than one device for email (e.g. desktop & mobile)? Then IMAP is your best choice. IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) is the most modern and widely used protocol, which can download AND upload (synchronise) data with the server whereas the POP protocol is a download–only protocol and thus will not be able to upload data to a server. IMAP can synchronise advanced permissions and other folders and is also able to distinguish between already read/opened mail from device to device. Best uses for IMAP Accounts:

  • When you want to synchronise/mirror-image your account emails and folders with the server and with other devices.
  • When the increased disk usage that this configuration will consume on the hosting server is not as much of a concern.
Pros:
  • All email and folders are synchronised and stored on the server and delivered to each device on which your mailbox is set up.
  • Folder and file directories will appear the same way each time you setup the same account on a different device.
  • You can switch between your email software and the Webmail interface at any time and the same emails should still reflect.
  • If the data stored on your computer is corrupted, formatted of if your computer is stolen your emails will still be available on the mail server.
Cons:
  • Your disk usage on the server builds up quickly depending on the volume of emails received/sent.
  • You will need to continuously remove unwanted emails to control server disk usage.
Do you access your email to only one device e.g. only your computer? Then POP is an option. POP (Post Office Protocol) simply downloads email to your computer and then deletes the email from the server. If you access your email on more than one device (desktop, laptop, tablet or phone), your mailboxes will not synchronise. Best uses for POP Accounts:
  • When disk usage on the server needs to be used sparingly.
  • When emails can be backed up locally on the device(s) and server backups are not as important.
  • When synchronization of folders from the device to the server and with other devices is not a requirement.
Pros:
  • If you want to send and receive your emails through one device, a POP account is suitable.
  • As emails are downloaded and usually removed from the server, you don’t risk disk over-usage charges on your hosting account.
Cons:
  • Data loss is almost guaranteed if your computer is stolen or corrupted, as the mail is removed from the server.
  • Synchronisation of sent emails is not possible. All emails in the sent folder need to be backed up locally.
When in doubt, choose IMAP.



How do I set up my POP or IMAP email account?

If you have a POP or IMAP email account with us, these details are essential; Username: Your complete email address Password: Your email password Contact us if you need to retrieve this confidential information. Account settings for IMAP Incoming mail server

  • Server address: mx.eastcoast.co.za
  • Ensure SSL is selected for Incoming Server only
  • Port: 993
Outgoing mail server
  • Server address: mx.eastcoast.co.za
  • Ensure Outgoing Authentication is selected
  • Port: 587
Account settings for POP Incoming mail server
  • Setting: Value
  • Server address: mx.eastcoast.co.za
  • Ensure SSL is selected for Incoming Server only
  • Port: 995
Outgoing mail server
  • Setting: Value
  • Server address: mx.eastcoast.co.za
  • Ensure Outgoing Authentication is selected
  • Port: 587



How do I set up my email addresses on Outlook?

To add your hosted email address to your Outlook account, please follow these steps:

  1. Open your Outlook account and click File, then click Add Account.
  2. Toggle the option to do a Manual Setup or Additional Server Types, then click Next.
  3. Select IMAP (recommended) or POP, then click Next.
  4. Enter your name, email address and password. See more info about the details below.
    Please ensure the box next to SPA (Secure Password Authentication) is not checked.
  5. Click on the More Settings button, then select the Outgoing Server tab.
    Ensure the box next to My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication is checked, as well as the option to Use same settings as my incoming mail server.
  6. Click the Advanced tab.
    The incoming mail server port number should be 995 for POP encrypted connections type SSL requires.
    The outgoing server (SMTP) is 587.
    The encrypted connections type should be None.
    Click OK to proceed.
  7. Click Next. Outlook will test your current settings and determine if there is a connection to the server.
Settings:
  • Incoming Mail Server: mx.eastcoast.co.za
  • Outgoing Mail server (SMTP): mx.eastcoast.co.za
  • Incoming Port (POP): 995 SSL
  • Outgoing Port (SMTP): 587
  • Username: Your full email address
  • Password: Your password



How do I set up my Exchange mailbox as POP or IMAP on Outlook?

To add your hosted email address to your Outlook account, please follow these steps:

  1. Open your Outlook account and click File, then click Add Account.
  2. Toggle the option to do a Manual Setup or Additional Server Types, then click Next.
  3. Select IMAP (recommended) or POP, then click Next.
  4. Enter your name, email address and password. See more info about the details below.
    Please ensure the box next to SPA (Secure Password Authentication) is not checked.
  5. Click on the More Settings button, then select the Outgoing Server tab.
    Ensure the box next to My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication is checked, as well as the option to Use same settings as my incoming mail server.
  6. Click the Advanced tab.
    The incoming mail server port number should be 995/993 for POP/IMAP, encrypted connections type SSL requires.
    The outgoing server (SMTP) is encrypted connections type should be STARTLS.
    Click OK to proceed.
  7. Click Next.
    Outlook will test your current settings and determine if there is a connection to the server.
Settings:
  • Incoming Mail Server: outlook.office365.com
  • Outgoing Mail server (SMTP): smtp.office365.com
  • Incoming Port (POP): 995
  • Incoming Port (IMAP): 993
  • Enable SSL
  • Enable STARTLS
  • Outgoing Port (SMTP): 587
  • Username: Your full email address
  • Password: Your password



What to do when not receiving email?

1. First verify if you have internet connection on the computer or device that you use for your mail. 2. Check Junk and SPAM folders as emails sometimes gets delivered to these folders. 3. Perform a send/receive check if you are using Outlook by clicking on “update folder” once your inbox folder has been selected to manually check for new email. 4. Verify that the email settings you are using are correct on the mail client of your choice as provided by your email service provider or contact your provider for assistance. 5. If you are one of our Zimbra clients, check if you are able to browse to the email website mx.eastcoast.co.za on your web browser as you should be directed to the Zimbra login page which will require you to enter your email address and password. If you are unable to reach the website this indicates that this issue is related to your connectivity. 6. If all the above checks are completed, get in touch with the sender as they may have well received a bounce back email indicating as to why the email failed to send due to a plethora of reasons and further action will need to be taken.



Unable to send out mail to a recipient?

1. First verify if the email to the intended recipient has left the outbox folder and is in the sent items folder in your mailbox. 2. Check if you have received a bounce back email after you have sent out the email as most emails that fail to send are usually followed by a bounce back mail which is essentially is an automated message from an email system, informing the sender of a previous message that message had not been delivered. 3. If you have indeed received a bounce back, quickly read through it as bounce backs will provide useful information as to why the email failed to send and will help point you in the right direction on how to go about resolving it. Bounce backs can provide the following information as to why an email failed to send out: The recipient's mailbox is full, the email was too large, the email address no longer exists, the email address is invalid (typo, etc). The bounceback can also be forwarded to us at support@geekms.co.za if you are still unsure what the issue may be after reading through it. 4. If a bounce back mail was not received further troubleshooting steps will need to be taken to determine if the issue lies with your email service provider or with the email service provider of the recipient and either party will need to be contacted for assistance.



Why can't I receive any email attachments?

If your mailbox is full of other email messages, and/or your storage space is only a few megabytes, it's possible that you won't be able to receive emails with an attachment.

Often if this problem is occurring, the person sending the email should get a response back from your mail server indicating that your mailbox is full and/or has exceeded its allocated size.

The best way to solve this is to delete a few existing emails from the mail server.

Visit this website to log in to the mail server: mx.eastcoast.co.za

Alternatively, if you would prefer not to delete any emails, you might want to consider moving your mail provider over to Microsoft Office 365 which will give you more mailbox space. The Standard option comes with 50GB Mail Storage.

Even better, your email can be accessed online via any browser and also from any device.

If you’re still considering moving to Office 365, take advantage of a free trial: www.geekms.co.za/office-365



Internet

My internet isn't working!

Follow our easy guidelines to quickly check your internet status, request assistance, and get back to business. You might have noticed the following:

  • a yellow triangle on the internet icon of your Windows machine;
  • your devices are no longer connecting to your Wi-Fi network, or your Wi-Fi network is no longer visible to your device;
  • you might still be connected, but you are presented with an error when trying to access web pages or apps.
Here's what you can do: Step 1: Check the Network Status channel in the Geek Managed Services app.
  1. Check the Network Status channel in our app. If there is a known issue that affects most or all of our connectivity customers, we'll post an update here.
  2. If a status update has not been posted in the channel above, DM us in the Contact Us conversation to find out whether there's a specific issue with your connectivity.
  3. If there has been no message posted, the problem may be isolated to you.
Step 2: If you are on a Windows machine
  1. Click on your desktop and press the Windows key + R.
  2. A dialog box will appear on the screen.
  3. Type in "cmd" and press the Enter key.
  4. A black box will appear.
  5. Type in "ipconfig/renew" and press the Enter key.
  6. After 60 seconds, check if the triangle is still there.
  7. This will renew your ipconfig.
Final step: Escalate



How can I use my internet browser more effectively?

There are dozens of different shortcut keys that can be used with Internet browsers. Below are a few of our top suggested Internet browser shortcuts.

  • Press Alt+D or Ctrl+L to move the cursor into the address bar.
  • Hold down the Ctrl key & press the + or - to increase & decrease the size of text.
  • Ctrl+0 will reset the text.
  • Press the backspace key or press Alt key + left arrow to go back a page.
  • Press F5 or Ctrl+R to refresh or reload a web page.
  • Press F11 to make the Internet browser screen full screen.
  • Press F11 again to return to the normal view.
  • Press Ctrl+B to open your Internet bookmarks.
  • Press Ctrl+F to open the find box to search for text in the web page you are reading.



Do I have Fibre in my area?

Fibre is the latest and greatest in internet connectivity. It uses fibre optic cables which means it's fast,- VERY fast - and more stable which makes it super reliable. Because it doesnʼt use traditional copper cables; it's also theft and weather resistant. While the major cities have Fibre in specific areas, South Africa does not yet 100% Fibre coverage. Fibre providers such as Vumatel & Openserve are regularly installing the infrastructure in new areas throughout the country. Send us your details here, and we will check whether any of the Fibre providers have installed this infrastructure in your area. In instances where Fibre is not yet available in your area, we can offer you other high-speed alternatives, such as mobile connectivity, fixed-line ADSL or even Wireless point-to-point internet.



How can I check my Wi-Fi speed?

Here's how to check your internet connection speed. The speed of a Wi-Fi network is dependent on two factors:

  1. the number of users connected to the Wi-Fi network,
  2. and the speed of the connection from the Wi-Fi network to the internet.
If your usually fast connection speed seems to now be slow, it might be that there large number of users in the same location or a limited connection to the internet which directly affects the performance of your Wi-Fi connection.



Why is the ADSL light flashing on my router?

This might be a problem on the ADSL line and should be reported. For rapid assistance, send us a direct message on the app or call us on 08 6000 GEEK. You can also email us at support@geekms.co.za for assistance via email.



How do I delete Internet cookies?

Sometimes you might find that you aren’t able to access a website which utilises more memory. A quick solution would be to clear your cookies or cache data.

Cookies are bits of information that are stored locally in your browser by every website you visit, that simply help the page load faster the next time you visit that website.

If you use Microsoft Internet Explorer, go to 'Tools' (or the little cog icon in the top left), then go to 'Safety' and choose 'Delete browsing history...', you can then choose to delete your Internet cookies.

In Google Chrome, go to 'More Tools' and choose 'Clear browsing data'.

If you use Firefox you can go to 'History', then choose 'Clear recent history'.



Computers

Is it safe to turn off a Windows computer without performing a shut down?

Unless there is an issue that cannot be resolved, one should not simply press the power button or restart the computer while Windows is still running. Microsoft has included the shutdown feature because it enables a computer to go through all the necessary steps that are required before turning off the computer. In fact, many versions of Microsoft Windows will check the computer for any problems if the computer is not shut down properly. Shutting down on Windows 10



Can a virus damage computer hardware?

No. Computer viruses are software code designed to spread to computer files and other computers. They can delete or damage files and cause other problems with the data on the computer.

Therefore, if you're experiencing an issue with a hardware device such as your printer, video card, sound card, etc. it is not due to a virus.

If you're concerned about safeguarding the information stored on your computer, implementing an Antivirus solution will eliminate the chances of data loss and theft.

Feel free to chat to us about our Black Fog solution.



Support

Who do I speak to when I have an IT Support problem?

When you have an IT Support problem, we understand that you need it fixed quickly.


The first thing we do is make it easy for you to contact our support team.

Our mobile app is the quickest way to request support - especially if you are a regular client. Simply send us a direct message and we will get back to you asap.

Our support telephone number is reserved exclusively for our support clients. This allows you to cut through the clutter and get straight through to the engineers on the IT Support Helpdesk. Call us on 08 6000 4335, up until 10pm everyday.

And lastly, when you email us on support@geekms.co.za, your request is automatically logged directly into our support system which is monitored within normal office hours.



How soon can you send an IT Support engineer to my office?

Geek Managed Services provide both remote and onsite IT Support.

Remote IT Support is much faster for our customers. It allows our IT Support engineers to solve your problems quickly without the cost, delay and inconvenience of having a technician arrange to come to your office.

However, when you have an IT emergency that can’t be solved remotely, our engineers will come to your office and solve it for you as quickly as is possible.

To book a call-out, you can contact us via email or telephonically on 08 6000 4335.

Alternatively, consider booking a Geek at a time that suites your availability on our online booking calendar.



How long will it take to restore my network server if it fails?

Any network server can be recovered quickly provided a few simple steps have been proactively taken before the server fails.

Our Disaster Recovery and Backup service takes a special copy of your server called a server image. It copies everything on your server – operating system, configurations, settings, applications, and data. The image is taken every day after hours so that we always have an up-to-date copy.


We will monitor the image every day to ensure that it has run correctly. If there is a problem, we will fix it for you.

We can restore the server image onto your server within a matter of an hour – it just depends on how much data needs to be copied back on – there is no extra setup or rebuild time required.

If you’ve experienced a hardware failure, we will work with Dell or HP to get them onsite to fix it within the agreed SLA period. Thereafter we will proceed with the data restoration.

You can be sure we’ve taken the steps to make your recovery as fast as possible.

Our Premium SLA offering gives you the opportunity to take advantage of this and other useful first class services.



Cloud

What are cloud services?

These are services, software, applications or resources that are accessible via the internet from the cloud and cloud server providers. 



Why should my business use Cloud services?

Reduced maintenance and IT costs, which arise from having servers on premises.  The ability to be easily scalable as your company grows.  Outsourcing your cloud services takes the hassle out of responsibility for server hardware and software by partnering with a reliable service provider.   Business continuity and flexibility with work practices and business operations. 



Are cloud services reliable and secure?

Most service providers maintain an uptime of 99.9% for their servers. Cloud service providers have several safeguards in place that help keep your connectivity reliable. 



Can I use cloud services on my phone?

Yes, you can. Information is stored on cloud servers where this information can be synced across all your devices (laptop, tablet, mobile phones). You will be provided with login details to log into your account in order to sync your information. 



How much do cloud services cost?

The costs for cloud services such as Office 365 can range from R74 to R229 ex VAT a month per user. Fixed costs such as website development could cost R3850 to R9500 ex VAT dependant on your unique business requirements.



KNOWLEDGE BASE

Have you tried switching it off and on again?
Here are some free tips & tricks that may help you with commonly encountered problems.