Netscape 7.2 mail connection refused

I'm on Windows XP SP2, Netscape 7.2, Linksys router BEFW11S4, ISP Comcast. After successfully obtaining my Comcast email via Netscape 7.1 and 7.2 for months, I suddenly started getting an intermittent "connection refused ", specifically "could not connect to server mail.comcast.net connection refused" and only to my Comcast ISP email server. All other web site access works fine including sending mail through their SMTP server which has never been a problem.

I say intermittent because if I reboot my PC the first time I try to get my email it works. Second and subsequent "get messages" requests after a reboot usually gets the connection refused message. I therefore have to reboot my PC most times I want to check my ISP email via Netscape 7.2. Comcast’s "webmail" option to retrieve your mail directly through an IE browser has always worked fine but it just isn’t nearly as convenient as Netscape email.

To make this more interesting, after a variable number of reboots, usually a day or 2’s worth, the problem mysteriously clears and I can get mail indefinitely via Netscape without the connection refused problem. This works fine, sometimes for a few weeks, so long as I don't have to reboot for other reasons. If I have to reboot my PC (because of a software, anti-virus or other update) I'm back to square one and can't get my email again after the first try without getting connection refused again.

Other facts that may or may not help diagnose my problem for you:

-There are 2 other computers connected to my Linksys router. None have ever had this problem.
-My Edit/Preferences/Advanced/Proxies has always specified Direct Connection to Internet.
-I've read some other postings which mention the Hosts file. My hosts file only contains comment lines and one entry for "localhost" 127.0.0.1 which it has always had.
-I've always run Norton System Works including Anti-Virus.
-I run Ad-aware weekly and Microsoft Anti-Spyware daily/continuously. The problem started well after Ad-aware was installed and well before Microsoft Anti-Spyware was installed.
-I've lived with this problem since late December 2004. I only discovered your site recently and joined today to post this.

Thank you.

 

"localhost" 127.0.0.1 which it has always had.
-I've always run Norton System Works including Anti-Virus.

Just think about this possibility, that something about Norton is the cause of the problem. I know that there are problems with Norton AV, and, I would never use it to scan incoming or outgoing mail. Your mail settings are, most likely, those of Norton, rather than Comcast. This is a strong possibility, and I would disable scanning of mail. Mind you that it is not necessary, because javascript must be on to cause problems, and, javascript is turned off by default in Netscape.
But, of course, downloads should be protected by an up-to-date AV program.
But, on the other hand, yours is one of several reports of problems with Comcast and any Netscape, Mozilla or Thunderbird mail, in the past months. Did they make some changes or is Norton at fault?
By the way, can't you access your Comcast webmail with Netscape?

 

Westside, you may be onto something. I just don't want to mark this solved just yet. I shut off inbound email scanning in Norton (outbound scanning was always off). I rebooted my machine, got through the first "get messages" request with no problem as usual, but then got through 2 more without any problems (for the first time since January 1, 2005)! I then did a warm restart and tried again. Again no problem as usual with the first "get messages ", and then no problem with 2-3 more. This is the first time I have had this much success in 7 months, so I'm certainly optimistic.

To add to the credibility of your suggestion, I checked when my Norton System Works 2005 was installed, i.e. when it replaced my NSW 2004. The date was January 1, 2005. Interesting.

My thanks for your suggestion. I hope it stays this way and I can mark this solved.

Oh and as for accessing Comcast webmail through Netscape. I just tried that and it works too. I can't recall why I thought it only worked through IE. Maybe it was Comcast's early documentation that only mentioned IE. Thanks on clearing that one up too.

 

Netscape 7.2 mail connection refused - solved?

Westside, one more question. Isn't shutting off inbound email scanning adding some virus risk? Will Norton AV detect these baddies now if and when I open them instead of when I receive them from the Comcast mail server?

 

In theory, it is a good idea to scan incoming mail, but incoming mail is scanned, primarilily, because of so called HTML viruses. These viruses are activated by simply opening the e-mail, without even having to download an attachment.
I am not sure how and if Outlook Express handles the problem, but it was never a problem with Netscape, because with HTML viruses you need to activate javascript in e-mail. Javascript is turned off, by default.
Norton has gone through periods when it was disaster to scan incoming mail, in Netscape. It happened to me in 1999, and the next day, I had lost the entire Inbox. Since all mail is in a single file back to back, even one virus is enough to cause the Inbox to be quarantined. Needless to say, I returned Norton, and exchanged it for McAfee, which for several years did not scan incoming mail.
I guess that the people at Norton had no idea about Netscape mail. Over the year, the problem was fixed, at least in part, but my recommendation is switch off incoming mail scanning with Netscape, and related programs.
Norton is, otherwise, one of the best programs, but I have stayed away from it, because of its quirks. So, if you have an attachment containing a virus, you may lose the Inbox, and HTML viruses should not be a concern. But, honestly, I don't know what the most recent Norton is likely to do. I would check with them, or at least with a newsgroup, which I am sure they have.

 

I checked Symantec's support knowledge base and there's nothing matching this problem. I therefore submitted a problem report to them via their web site and am now waiting for a response.

 

Please let us know if you get any answer. I know that there had been a problem off and on for at least six years. In fact, you can see for yourself doing a search (I googled Norton AntiVirus & Netscape mail.Just checked the first 10 items).
It seems that they fix the problem in one version, and bring it back in the next.

 

Welcome to the Forum, msilvers50!

msilvers,

Norton AntiVirus Auto-Protect protects your computer from viruses and other malicious code by automatically scanning any email attachment file that is opened, moved, or copied on your hard drive. For more information see:
How Norton AntiVirus Auto-Protect protects your computer. Personally, I've don't use the email scanner for this reason, and I have been perfectly safe. I've used the free AV programs too, but always go back to NAV.

Also note, that with any Gecko browser, including Netscape, Mail & Newsgroup will not allow a virus or worm to execute automatically. You can see what attachments have been sent to you without a virus being able to execute, and you would have to save a file to your system and deliberately run it before it could cause any harm.

As Westside explained, JavaScript is switched off by default for mail and news, so an e-mail cannot run script code just by being opened.

How to exclude your email box from being scanned by Norton AntiVirus

Even though the problem of NAV placing the Inbox into quarantine when a Virus was found is not apparent in NAV 2005, you might add the following to the exclusions list:
C:\Documents & Settings\username\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\profilename\*.slt\Mail\pop.isp.net\Inbox

I did it just to be on the safe side.

 

Symantec has provided the following response to my report of a bug in NAV 2005:

>Title: 'Cannot download email with Norton AntiVirus email scanning enabled'
> Web URL: http://service1.symantec.com/Support/nav.nsf/docid/2003060310162506?Open&src=con_ols_nam
>Please note that the symptoms you are experiencing may appear different than those described in the above document, however the resolution will still be the same.

I reported to them that despite reading their document carefully and clearing my Windows Temp folder, their suggestion has not resolved the problem and I can recreate it at will.

I found their response weak to date and obviously I continued to leave NAV email scanning OFF!

 

I received a second poor and apparently final response from Symantec. (And by the way, notice the grammar in the first sentence. Besides the name of the tech I've been corresponding with and the overnight time they have been responding, the grammar is further proof to me that Symantec has outsourced this support to India or Asia. If the support was good I wouldn't care, but since it is poor I wish there was somewhere at U.S. Symantec headquarters where I could complain. Anyway,) their second response was:

>I understand from your message that you are still facing issue
>with incoming email scanning on your computer.
>
>Michael, we do not have any reported cases as such.
>I suggest that you disable the incoming email scanning.

So friends we can close this thread now. To repeat the solution: if you have problems with accessing your email via the Netscape/Mozilla email software and you are running NAV, disable NAV email scanning!

 

Mike,
you would be surprised how little you get from websites which do not outsource their support. But, outsourcing is the view to go, these days.
Regardless, I have been saying for years not to enable mail scanning with NAV, and, if seems that after several years of sanity, McAfee has caught up with NAV.
I am using AVG, which is a Czech Republic-made piece of software, and I get it for free. Support? Who cares?
I don't recall if I gave you this item from Symantec FAQs . I did a quick searches and got it.