Welcome to Live@BMCC

What is Live@BMCC?
When you enroll, a Live@BMCC e-mail account will be automatically generated for you.  Although Microsoft hosts the e-mail, CUNY maintains control.  This student e-mail system is based on Windows Live Hotmail, the most-used Webmail service in the world, although it is customized and co-branded by each CUNY College.  Live@BMCC  provides current stdents and alumni with a set of communications and collaboration services, such as e-mail, shared calendar, and address book.

Why use Live@BMCC ?
Live@BMCC offers significant advantages over the current e-mail services provided to students throughout CUNY, such as:

• 5GB of storage space – Now you can e-mail that long thesis to your professor.


• It's never down!  Live@BMCC is hosted on servers managed by Microsoft to provide the highest levels of reliability and performance.


• Send them all at once!  You can send 14 MB message size, including up to 10 MB attachments and up to 50 attachments together.


• It's all about the look!  Your e-mail is hosted on a new Web 2.0 e-mail system with an intuitive and customizable desktop look and feel.


• Connect to your classmates more efficiently!  Many of your classmates will be using Live@BMCC, so use the Web-based shared calendar, post files on SkyDrive, send meeting requests, and use other cool collaboration tools to coordinate both academic and non-academic activities.


• Control spam and viruses through filtering.


• Offline access, POP access, and more access to your personal accounts – all in one place!  You can access your e-mail offline from Windows PCs using the beta version of Live Mail Desktop. Live Mail Desktop also allows access to multiple e-mail accounts -- including Gmail and AOL -- and can include RSS feeds to your favorite blogs and news sources together with your e-mail.  Students will also be able to use POP to access their Live@BMCC mail using other e-mail clients.


• Multi-task!  You can use your Live@BMCC account to access an extended set of tools offered by Microsoft including Windows Live Messenger, Spaces, and Windows Live for Mobile.


• Link all your e-mail IDs and check only one account: If you have more than one Windows Live ID, you can link them.  With linked IDs, you sign in only once for all accounts, so you can quickly switch between accounts.


• Keep your account even after you graduate. Your e-mail account will not be deleted after you graduate - only its look and feel will change.  However, to ensure that your messages and files are kept intact, you must login to your account at least once every 365 days, otherwise your content will be cleared, while your e-mail account remains.


• We're not done yet!  CUNY will work with Microsoft to continue enhancing the Live@BMCC platform. See http://ideas.live.com for some of the products Microsoft is working on as part of its live initiative.
  

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Getting Started with Live@BMCC

I'm already a student. Will my current e-mail address change?
Students from all over CUNY will have a standard e-mail account, such as: firstname.lastname@stu.bmcc.cuny.edu. Provided that there are no name conflicts, your e-mail ID should remain the same.  For example, if there is more than one “John Smith” on your campus, one person’s ID will be “John.Smith” and the second “John.Smith1”.

I’m a new student. What’s my e-mail address?
The convention for generating e-mail accounts is firstname.lastname@stu.bmcc.cuny.edu. Your default password is your date of birth, in this format: YYMMDD + last four digits of your social security number.

How do I check my e-mail?
Simple:

1. Go to www.bmcc.cuny.edu
2. Click on E-mail then Students
3. Click on login. You will be directed to the Microsoft Windows Live login page.
4. At the Windows Live page, enter your full student e-mail address -- e.g. firstname.lastname@stu.bmcc.cuny.edu  and your password.

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Student Experience with Live@BMCC

What else do I get?
Efficiency and effectiveness. Here are more collaboration tools to turn you into a power student:

1. Office Live Workspace: No time to meet your classmates? Simply invite them to your online workspace where you can store, access, and share documents and files. You decide if they can edit or simply review them. http://office.microsoft.com/enus/officelive/FX102412601033.aspx?ofcresset=1
2. Windows Live Messenger: Great for audio and video conversations with friends, family, and colleagues. It also offers multi-user IM functionality for study groups, and so much more… For more info, please visit http://get.live.com/messenger/overview.
3. Windows Live Spaces: So many ways to use this as part of your student life.  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, please visit http://home.services.spaces.live.com/.
4. Windows Live for Mobile access to IM and e-mail:  Students can access their 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.
5. Windows Live Expo:  Buy and sell stuff within your campus and alumni community. Post an ad for free, and control who can see it. Browse for jobs, housing, and just about anything else. For more info, please go to http://get.live.com/expo/overview  and view the Windows Live Expo demos.
6. Windows Live SkyDrive™:  1 GB of password-protected online file storage.  Please visit: http://skydrive.live.com/
7. Access to Windows Live APIs to build your own custom apps:  http://dev.live.com/
8. More new stuff coming all the time: http://get.live.com/betas/home

Who is eligible for Live@BMCC ?
All registered students and alumni. Faculty and staff are not eligible for Live@BMCC.

Is Live@BMCC required?
Yes. Accounts will be created for you automatically. We highly recommend that you login to your account frequently to review important information sent by your college’s faculty, staff, and administration, some of which might be time sensitive.

How many e-mails can I send per day?
E-mails sent between users in your college do not count against the daily maximum.  You can send OUT from your Live@BMCC  account 500 e-mails per day to addresses outside the CUNY system.  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, etc.

What if I forget my password?
Now, you no longer have to take an extra trip to the Helpdesk to reset your e-mail password.  You can reset your password online on the sign in page.  Click on “Forgot your password?” and follow the instructions on the screen.

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Using Microsoft Live@BMCC: Technical Information, How-To and Support

Do I need to use a Windows PC with Microsoft Internet Explorer?
No. All the Web-based services included in Microsoft Live@edu can be accessed from Windows, Mac, or Linux using Internet Explorer or Firefox. Safari and other browsers are also supported. Microsoft has an Open Standards mentality with this product and will continue to have the philosophy of offering flexibility to users. For Safari users, Microsoft offers a lighter version of Windows Live Hotmail with minimal reliance on JavaScript, but with the same 5 GB of storage that everyone else gets. Firefox 1.5 users that use a Mac will experience heavy use of JavaScript, as will users of Internet Explorer®.

Microsoft tests against 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 Microsoft Live@edu.  We also do browser detection to tune the experience the end user receives based on the browser's capabilities.

How can I configure an e-mail client, such as Thunderbird and Outlook to work with Live@BMCC?

PC Instructions

1. Go to Start, Programs, Microsoft Office and then Microsoft Office Outlook
2. Click “Next” to Configure your e-mail account
3. Click “Yes” to configure Outlook to Internet E-mail.
4. Check the box that indicates “Manually configure server settings”
5. Choose Internet E-mail option.
6. Set the incoming mail (POP3) and Outgoing mail (SMTP) settings to:
• Your name: Firstname.lastname
• E-mail Address: Firstname.lastname@stu.bmcc.cuny.edu
• Account type: Pop3
• Incoming Mail Server: pop3.live.com
• Outgoing Mail Server(SMTP): smtp.live.com: Firstname.Lastname
• Username: Your firstname.lastname@stu.bmcc.cuny.edu
• Password:
• Check the box that indicated Require Login Using Password Authentication (SPA)
• Click on More Settings tab.
  
  On the Advanced Tab:
  
  • Check all the boxes that indicate “Enable this account, Include when automatically checking for new mail and Use SSL Set the port number for Incoming Mail (POP3) to 995
  • Check the box that indicates “Use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).
  • Set the number for Outgoing Mail (SMTP) to 25.
  • Check the box that indicates “Leave a copy of Messages on the server” (SSL).
  • Check the box that indicates “Remove from server when deleted from ‘Deleted Items'" Click Finish to complete your configuration.
    
7) Click Finish to complete your configuration.

MAC Instructions

1. Click on Mail icon
2. On the Menu bar, under “Mail”, click on “Preferences”
3. In the dialog box, click on “Accounts” tab and then “Account Information”
4. “Account type”: Pop
5. Then set the incoming mail (POP3) and Outgoing mail (SMTP) settings to:
• Description: BMCC Live
• E-mail Address: Youre-mailaddress@stu.bmcc.cuny.edu
• Full Name: Firstname.Lastname
• Incoming Mail Server: pop3.live.com
• Username:Firstname.lastname@stu.bmcc.cuny.edu
6. Password: <Your password>
7. Outgoing Mail Server(SMTP): smtp.live.com: Firstname.lastname
8. Check the box that indicates “Use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).
9. Set the Outgoing port number for Outgoing Mail (SMTP) to 25.
   
   On the Advanced Tab:
10. Check the box that indicate Use SSL
11. Set the port number for Incoming Mail (POP3) to 995.
12. Finish

Disadvantages of POP3:

1. If you will POP, you will not get a virus check/scan because anti-virus tools are on the server side.
2. All messages are stored on your hard drive eating up what is sometimes very valuable space.
3. Since all attachments are stored on your computer, there is a potential danger of virus attack, if they are not properly scanned.
4. Since all messages are stored on your hard drive, it is accessible by anyone who uses your computer.  Even if your e-mail client is password protected, it is often possible for someone to read your messages by using another application to open them.
5. When configuring your mail client, make sure you check mark the box stating "Leave a copy of messages on server".  Otherwise, all messages will be stored on your hard drive and subject to loss if e-mail folders or hard drives become corrupted. Recovering is often a painful exercise. 

Can I check my account using my mobile phone?
If your mobile phone has a mail client installed, you can configure it to check your Live@BMCC  account 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.  Click here for information on Windows Mobile phones:  http://mobile.live.com/GoLive/

How does the calendar system synchronize with mobile devices?
Calendar sync 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®.  Additionally, there are a number of other synchronization products available to sync data to mobile devices on Windows (and for different calendar applications) and also on other operating systems.  With our standards support users will be able to sync their Window Live calendar on a wide variety of available mobile devices.

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

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Security, Privacy & Spam Management

How Does Live@BMCC  handle spam?
There are a number of methodologies to combat spam on the Windows Live Hotmail platform. SmartScreen™ Technology learns to detect spam based on you reporting spam in your inbox. SenderID Framework matches the sender’s e-mail address against their IP address to protect against spoofing.  About 95% of all spam and 99% of image-based spam are blocked. While spam traffic has increased 40% across the Internet, Hotmail spam is down 80% over the past year thanks to the work of our spam-fighting team and technologies.
If using the Web interface, all e-mail undergoes a virus check/scan.  However, since the anti-virus tools are on the server side, this does not apply if you use 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 spam?
Yes. You can have the opportunity to identify certain e-mails as safe versus unsafe, and Hotmail also “learns” based on user actions to mark spam.  Furthermore, you can set individual junk mail folder rules, block lists, and safe lists.

How data is physically secured?
Data is stored on Microsoft servers where all the common Microsoft practices for security are followed. Microsoft does thorough security testing; Microsoft has third parties do penetration testing; Microsoft uses best practices to maximize security of the servers and prevention of unauthorized network access; Microsoft only allows select personnel with approved clearance to have access to the Live site.

Will someone from Microsoft be reading my e-mail?
No. Microsoft will not read your e-mail. See Microsoft’s statements on this at http://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx and http://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/fullnotice.aspx While an automated process indexes your e-mail content for fast search retrieval, no humans at Microsoft will be looking at your e-mail.

Does CUNY have access to my account, even though it is provided by Microsoft?
By opening and using your account, you agree and consent that CUNY may access your account for administrative and other purposes such as password resets and compliance with University policies governing this service.This may require Microsoft to access and disclose to CUNY any information stored within the account.

Does Microsoft share or sell my contact information with third parties?
No. We don’t share or sell any contact information unless you opt in.  This is covered in Microsoft’s comprehensive privacy and disclosure policies which are available not only to Microsoft Live@edu participants but to all users of Microsoft’s online services. See www.microsoft.com/privacy.

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