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1. All repeating events MUST have an END DATE. NEVER create a repeating event without an end date.  Doing so could result in a really unhappy calendar that is slow, hangs, and pinwheels.
2. If you get an error while creating or modifying an event, ALWAYS REVERT TO SERVER if that option is presented. This is the only right answer. If you click on anything but REVERT TO SERVER, your Calendar will go offline permanently and any events you create will never get added to the Exchange calendar. You will need to create or re-edit the event again but at least you will stay online and the changes will go through the second time. There is an unusual bug with the Exchange server especially with iCal where the user can try to create or modify an event before the Exchange server has had a chance to write to the Exchange calendar. This bug was widely reported in Apple OS 10.7 and 10.8. In 10.9 the issue still occurs but considerably less frequently in our experience.
3. When running your calendar, always check to make sure the calendar is online. In iCal as long as you don't see the triangle alert symbol to the right of the calendar name, your calendar is online.  Offline calendars pose 2 critical issues:
   1. There is no network connectivity in the area which means your calendar won't actually get updated.
   2. There is already a bad calendar event in place which is forcing your calendar offline.  In this situation, you will need to delete the bad event before your calendar can be taken back online. In our experience, bad events are usually repeating events that have no end date or are the most recent event you created that returned an error from the Exchange server but didn't click REVERT TO SERVER for.
4. NEVER ever use BOTH Outlook 2011 and Apple Mail on the same machine checking the same email account. Doing so can cause both mail apps to fight and can cause slow behavior, hangs, and pinwheeling on the Mac.
5. If you are an Outlook 2011 user, NEVER use sync services.  Make sure Sync Services stays off.  This module in conjunction with 4 has caused more than a few problems on user machines causing massive slow downs and pinwheeling.

Spam filtering

We do not recommend users activate the local client spam filtering.  These filters will only work onthe specific machine you're on and do not stop spam on any other computer or device you check email on or on MIT's OWA webmail.  Instead, users should manage spam with Spam Quarantine.  Spam Quarantine stops spam mail before it gets to your Exchange email account. We have set up a page describing how to use this service here.