Netscape Messenger questions

I use Netscape Messenger for all my email and Usenet messages. Recently I've been deluged by spam, and I've got a couple of questions relating to message filters. First, is it possible to create a filter that will automatically delete any message that isn't in English? Second, is there a way to make Netscape automatically empty the trash when exiting? And finally, is there a way to apply filters to newsgroups - to create a "killfile ", in other words?

Thanks in advance...

 

Hi acelightning,

First, is it possible to create a filter that will automatically delete any message that isn't in English?

Negative...

Second, is there a way to make Netscape automatically empty the trash when exiting?

Negative... the only auto-feature on close, is clean folders, which compresses but doesn't delete.

And finally, is there a way to apply filters to newsgroups - to create a "killfile ", in other words?

That's a negative also. There are some third-party programs though, that may work for you. FixNews is the only one I know about, but I'm sure a Google Search will have many offerings.

http://www.desisoft.com/fixnews/

FixNews works in conjunction with the newsreader, and provides the ability to "killfile ", i.e. to filter articles based upon the subject and/or author. Wildcard support is included.

Ramona

 

Okay, I'll just go with what I've got - mainly setting up mail filters that divert all messages with "This really worked for me ", "Viagra ", or "Make money fast" directly to the trash. Thanks anyway.

 

acelightning,

You can go here to http://mail2web.com/ and see and delete your email.

And here to http://www.mailwasher.net and download mailwasher that does a lot more.

 

I already read my mail from what amounts to a secondary site (accessing another provider via my DSL account); therefore, I can't set it up to be sent to a secondary site for spam-blocking, nor for virus-checking as with Norton.

I downloaded MailWasher and installed it, but when I tried to run it, it told me that it couldn't find a .dll file it needed. That's a pity, because it looked like the solution to my problem.

 

I'm still running good old NS4.76 on my Macs since it's been so stable and reliable... so I don't know if this applies to other newer versions, but I don't see why not... but in Messenger under edit>message filters in the drop down filter action>then I can select "delete "...

I know it works here because of email server problems I had awhile back where one message got "caught" in the system and kept on coming in... I set a filter to delete it as it came in... and it did...

Oooppss...

I see the question is specifically about other than English messages... I'm thinking it should still work if the filter is set by an email address, but don't know otherwise...

 

Setting a message filter to "delete" sends the message to the trash and marks it read. Setting the filter to "Send to: Trash" sends it to the trash, but leaves it marked unread. That way, it calls my attention to the fact that it's placed something in the trash, and I can check to see if it's really something I want to get rid of, or (as happens once in a while) a message from a friend that happens to have met one of my filter parameters by accident. But I'd still like to have it empty the trash on exit - what can I say? I'm just lazy, I guess.

I've tried setting a filter to catch a couple of the weird letters that show up as the equivalent to Chinese or Japanese characters, but not every message has the same characters in it, and I'd need six or seven filters just to check for all the strange characters. (And a lot of the people who send me email are strange characters, but that's another story...)

 

I'm Ace... because when I set that filter to delete... I could literally watch this email come in over and over and just "disappear "... it didn't go to the trash at all... I swear...

But then it was a simple filter to set up, not the weird type of emails... it was only an ISP glitch but I got sick of my inbox filling with this same one in short order.

I can understand if you get a good number of these things why you'd like the trash to empty automatically... I just don't know of a way to do it.

Maybe a hack to the prefs.js file? If one can come up with the right wording etc.

I don't know if it might be worth having a look through this:

http://developer.netscape.com/docs/manuals/deploymt/jsprefs.htm#Preferences_Advanced_Main

I'm curious myself now...

 

Hi, Dreambird!

I've been getting an awful lot of different kinds of spam lately. I've already got two email filters (with five examples each) set to deep-six messages that have to do with Viagra, money=making schemes, "free" airline tickets, or weekly humor lists, and I could easily set up at least two more. I'd REALLY like to just send anything that isn't in English directly to the trash - the last thing I need is Japanese ****!

I also have a lot of filters to sort my email so that all my mailing lists go into one folder, sll business-related mail in another, etc. But the more filters I have, the more time it takes Netscape to process any given incoming message through all the filters. Do you know if there's any practical limit on how many filters you can put on Netscape before something breaks down?

And I really wish I could get MailWasher to work. I actually have the .dll, but it's not doing something MailWasher wants it to. It's a pity, because the program looks as if it would do exactly what I want.

 

Wow, Ace... that sounds nasty...

Which .dll is giving you trouble? Is there a message, and what OS are you running now?

I have a .dll archive site bookmarked that had a lot of them, but it seems to have gone down...

It figures! Always happens to me just when I find something useful...

You might want to check here too:
http://search.tucows.com/search

If that site won't load for you go here:
http://shawcable.tucows.com/index.html and do a search on spam, it should bring up about 35 hits.

There are several Spam related programs, some freeware, some shareware that might meet your needs...

 

The error message is this:

"The MAILWASHER.EXE file is linked to missing export WININET.DLL: InternetGetConnectedStatus. "

I have WININET.DLL in my Windows\System directory. The message seems to indicate, not that the .dll is missing, but that it's not doing something that MAILWASHER.EXE wants it to do. I don't know what the error message actually means.

 

Hi Ace,

Lord knows, I am a Windows illiterate, but I think that the error you received, indicates that you need to update your IE. Updating IE usually updates the wininet.dll and shlwapi.dll.

Doing a Google Search, I found several articles on specific software installation causing the same error you received. Most indicated updating IE. If memory serves me correctly, you don't have IE?

You might want to check your version of the file with the MS DLL Data Base

Ramona

 

Hi Dreambird,

I can understand if you get a good number of these things why you'd like the trash to empty automatically... I just don't know of a way to do it.

Maybe a hack to the prefs.js file? If one can come up with the right wording etc.

I tried a zillion variations of this entry:
user_pref( "mail.empty_trash_folder_on_exit ", true);
user_pref( "mail.cleanup_trash_on_exit ", true);
user_pref( "mail.delete_trash_on_exit ", true);

None of which worked. But I do love the challenge. Finally gave up and posted on the Netscape NG, asking if it could be done. This is what I found out:

(The bad news) There's no switch or line that will accomplish this.
It's hard coded into the 4x series and can't be changed. (The good
news) It is an option in the 6x series.

FWIW

Ramona

 

I'm running Netscape 4.79, under Windows 95B (OEM), and I have very carefully purged my system of any trace of IE.

The MS .dll database doesn't give very much useful information, except that apparently wininet.dll IS intimately related to IE. Yet MailWasher says it will work with Netscape or IE. I don't know whether to try installing a newer version of the .dll, or whether that will just confuse my aging computer.

As for not emptying the trash automagically... well, that's something I can live with, I guess. Ironic that it's part of Netscape 6.x, when (from what everyone here has said) 6.x is less than outstanding in its mail capabilities...

Anyway, thanks again.

 

I thought I remembered you saying before that IE did not reside on your PC.

The MS DLL site only gives you basic info, but at least you can compare Ver., etc. Usually gives the cab file location too.

If you do decide to update your wininet.dll, don't place the updated version in your system folder. Place it in your MailWasher program folder.
This enables the application to "see" the DLLs but hides them from the rest of the system.

Cheers!

Ramona

 

OK Ramona... so much for the prefs.js idea then, but thanks for trying it...

Ace... I would try a newer version of wininet.dll if you can get your hands on it... it is linked to IE, but installing all of IE just to get a .dll file isn't something I'd do... I wish that archive were still around...

Eventhough that's an IE file, so many other programs use it... you might even try extracting a fresh copy from your .cab files in case this one is just corrupted.

 

I did try reinstalling the existing wininet.dll from the .cab file, but it didn't change anything - MailWasher still complained about it.

I've never had a problem with any other program and wininet.dll, but I guess there's a first time for everything. Installing a newer version and putting it in the MailWasher folder sounds like a good idea, and if that works, then I'll try copying it into the Windows\System folder (after renaming the existing one wininet.old, of course).

I'll post back about how it works out. Thanks.

 

Hi Ace,

Sounds like a plan to me. I'm so paranoid that I make a copy of those system files before I rename them.

Good luck!

Ramona

 

Well, Ramona, thanks for the file... but it didn't help. MailWasher still gives me the same error message. (Replacing wininet.dll with the newer version didn't have any other effect on Windows, or any other programs, that I can see.)

I think I'll go browse through WinFiles and Tucows (and C|Net and ZDNet and...) to see if I can find a different mail-filter utility. Thanks for the help, anyway.

 

Ace, you're most welcome!

Good luck, and let us know if you find a good one.

Ramona