Topics Directory

• General e-mail information for students
• What is Outlook Web Access (OWA)?
• How can the password be changed via OWA?
• Criteria for a secure password

Outlook Web Access is a web application that allows you to access your mailbox via your Internet browser (Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, Chrome) without having to configure a mail program. This application is only available to owners of a mailbox in the VMUDOMAIN and can be accessed at https://owa.vetmeduni.ac.at.

To Webmail

This opens a login window in which you must authenticate yourself with your user name and password.

The connection to the mailbox is encrypted with TLS. Under the heading Settings (gear wheel) - Options you will find various setting options, including the option to change your password under General - My account.

Notes:

• Cookies:
  It is necessary to allow session cookies or first-party cookies or to use automatic cookie handling.
• Pop-ups:
  Pop-ups may be prevented by any pop-up blocker.
  To remedy this, you can add the URL owa.vetmeduni.ac.at or *.vetmeduni.ac.at to the pop-up blocker exceptions.
  It is not necessary to deactivate the pop-up blocker.
• Error messages:
  In the event of error messages, add the URL owa.vetmeduni.ac.at or https://owa.vetmeduni.ac.at
  to your trusted pages under Extras-Internet Options-Security .

Change password via OWA:

1. Open the website https://owa.vetmeduni.ac.at and log in with your login data.
2. Under "Options" (top right) you will find the entry "Change password ... ".
3. Then first enter the old (previous) password, then enter the new password twice (for confirmation) in accordance with our password guidelines.
4. After saving, the successful change or any errors will be confirmed again in a separate window.

How to change your password

Passwords (PW) must meet the following criteria:

• Must not consist of any parts or the full user account name
• Minimum length eight characters, consisting of:
  • Capital letters (A to Z)
  • Lower case letters (a to z)
  • Numbers in base 10 (0 to 9)
  • Non-alphabetic characters (for example !, $, #, %)

Three simple methods to create a secure password:

1. String together the first letters of the words in a sentence. It is best to choose a sentence that also contains a number. The resulting password generally makes no sense and you only need to remember the sentence.
   Example: 'We two are going away with the dog' results in: 'W2gmdHw!
2. Take any word and insert numbers or special characters
3. String together syllables that don't make sense but sound good and are therefore easy to remember