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You are now able to access the St Stithians College email system from anywhere in the world, exactly as if you were sitting at one of the local PCs on the Campus. This means you can check your email from home, while you are away on a conference, or even while you are away on tour overseas. This can be done - over the Internet - from your own PC at home, from a PC at another school or at an Internet cafe anywhere in the world.

The first step towards getting Web Mail Access to work is to simply bring up a browser on your PC. The URL, or address, for St Stithians College web mail (for staff) is https://secure.stithian.com/owa

The "https" bit is important, and you'll probably have to type the address in full as above. It means we're using a "secure" web interface, just like the one you use to your bank for online banking. When you are connected to St Stithians College web mail, you'll see the little padlock at the bottom of the screen which indicates a fully secure link.

All things being equal, when you press Enter or click Go on the URL shown above, the main login screen to Web Mail Access will be shown as indicated below.

The first time you use this, the login screen bears some explanation - but it's actually very simple.

Before you fill in your user name and password, there are two choices you can (and should) make. The first is your choice of "Client". You can click on the words "what's this?" to get a reminder of what this option means.

The Premium client is the web mail client everyone is used to using on the St Stithians College campus. It is the new Exchange 2003 interface, with pretty graphics and lots of "drag and drop" logic for filing and deleting items. However, because it is pretty and sophisticated, it can take a few minutes to download the first screens when you log in. That may not be a big issue if you are at home, but is probably not what you want "on the road".

The Basic client is the web mail client we used a few years ago - based on the Exchange 2000 interface. It is not as pretty, but is very much faster. It also has no "drag and drop" logic - relying instead on a "tick and click" methodology.

If you are going to be a regular user of Web Mail Access from home, and you do not often clear your Internet browser cache, it is worth using the Premium client as the delays will not be as long next time you log on to your mail.

You can click on the words "hide explanation" to make the reminder disappear again.

Your second choice is which "Security" option to select. Again, you can click on the words "what's this?" to get a reminder of what this option means.

This option is more obscure, in that it doesn't change the way Web Mail Access appears on your screen, but rather how it behaves. The "Public or shared computer" option is really the "do not trust it" option. No meaningful content is cached on the PC, and you will be logged off without warning after leaving it alone for short period of time. This is great if you are at another school, or visiting an Internet cafe.

The "Private computer" option should be used with care, and only if you really are at your own, private PC at home. Meaningful information will be cached to the PC, to make subsequent visits considerably faster (as I mentioned above). Also, you will be able to have much longer idle sessions before you are logged off.

Again, you can click on the words "hide explanation" to make the reminder disappear again.

Having made selections for those two options, all that remains is to actually log on to the mail system.

As the prompt indicates, you must type your "domain", a backslash "\" and your user name. In the case of the St Stithians College campus, that means you must enter "saints\yourusername" as shown above. The password is simply your network password that you always use to login to the Saints network.

Once you've successfully logged in, you will see the standard web mail interface that you are used to.

One thing worth noting, especially if you are accessing the system from a "public" PC, is the "Log Off" button in the top right. You should remember to end your session by clicking this - just as you log off from your online banking sessions.

Once you have successfully logged off from Web Mail Access, you will see the screen shown below. You can then close your browser, or browse elsewhere on the Internet.