Setup your IITK email account on your Android/iOS device in less than a minute

To setup your IITK mail account on your Android/iOS phone/tablet, you need to mention the incoming and outgoing servers. Many users are not familiar with the settings and find it difficult to configure due to lack of "auto-configure" feature. Moreover, you need some extra setting to make your "Sent Items" or Sent folder synced with the server. I am NOT discussing these settings here. Rather, I am sharing information about an App that does it all for you. Please leave your comments at the end of this article.

You need to do the following (common to Android/iOS):

It is presumed that you understand how to search and install an App on your Android/Apple phone

1. In Play Store search for myMail and install it. Alternatively, go to http://mymail.my.com/ and use one of the buttons, depending upon your platform - "Download on the App Store" or "Download on Google Play"
2. Next start the myMail application. You will find a screen as below. Choose "OTHER MAIL"

Type your iitk.ac.in email address and password. Please ensure that you are connected to internet either via GPRS or authentication free WiFi

In a few seconds it is complete (see screenshots below)

As a bonus this application offers you to signup for a "my.com" email address which is a mobile only, password less email service offering 150 GB of storage. It is worth having one.

VPN for IITK users on android mobiles

Although the text in this blog article is generally true for making an ssl vpn connection to any corporate/campus network which uses fortinet gateway, the settings shown here are specific for IIT Kanpur network

This blog article explains step by step how to establish a VPN connection to IITK network from outside campus on an android smartphone/Tablet. For other phones/tablets (Windows/iOS) the procedure would be quite similar.

Why do you need VPN connection?

When you are outside the campus, you need to connect your phone through VPN, if you want to browse some intranet site,  like Office Automation, OARS etc. Or you might want to connect to your office desktop through remote desktop client -  in this case also you need a VPN connection.

Prerequisites

You need to have the following:

1. An Android smartphone/Tablet (I have tested on version 4.2.1)
2. A 2G data network. Wifi or 3G recommended for Remote Desktop Connection
3. A preliminary knowledge about how to install an application on your Android Mobile/Tablet using Google Play Store

Step-by-Step procedure

1. Open "Play Store" and search for  "Fortinet"
2. Look for "FortiClient VPN" (The icon is a shield with a lock). OR directly open this link on your PC (log in with your google account first):Link for FortiClient VPN
3. Install this app with all default settings.
4. Now follow the screenshots below to configure it

Touch on "New VPN"

Type VPN Name as "iitk", choose "SSL VPN" and touch "Create"

Touch "Server"

in the "Server" field, type "gateway.iitk.ac.in" and touch OK

Now touch "Username"

Type your Computer Centre (IITK) username and touch OK. Next, fill up you password:

Touch the back icon on your android device. You will get the screen below

Touch "Connect" and on the upcoming screen touch "Login"

If you get successful connection, your screen will resemble the above screenshot. You can now check that you can browse to the Office Automation portal from outside campus.

You will be able to able to browse all intranet sites, do a telnet/ssh to CC servers, or even connect to a desktop using "Remote Desktop Client". Please mail/comment in case you want to have an article on the same.

MS Office prompts for proxy login and password

Problem description: You use a proxy server in your browser settings. MS office 2013 repeatedly prompts you for your proxy login and password as shown in the two snapshots below.

Even if you tick on "Remember my credentials" the prompts keep on coming thus distracting you from your work.

Resolution: Create a file on your desktop and name it as "noprompt.reg" and put the following content in the file:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Common\Internet]

"UseOnlineContent"=dword:00000000

Now double click this file and say OK to the warning so as to merge this into your registry. Restart MS Office.