Abstract: A method for a user's mobile client computer to update its configuration specification involves receiving an e-mail from an administrator containing location settings encoded in an attachment, openings the attachment to the e-mail, and writing location values corresponding to the location settings encoded in the attachment into the configuration specification of the computer. In the preferred embodiment, the e-mail includes a designation of a location name corresponding to the configuration specification. In the e-mail attachment, the location settings are generically defined so as to apply to a variety of operating systems. The user's mobile client application determines an operating system type for the computer, and generates the location values by interpreting the location settings for the operating system type for the computer.