Incoming mail overwrites old mail Ns 7.02

Looking for help as to whether this might be a virus or a corruption of some netscape files.
I am running Netscape 7.02 on Windows 98. Right after I upgraded from Netscape 4.73 to Netscape 7.02, I began to experience problems with mail left in my inbox being overwritten by a message that arrives later and not being able to retrieve the overwritten mail. This is an intermittent but frequently occuring problem (at least once a day and usually more often).
What happens is that when I open my Netscape mailbox for the day, I read the messages in the order received. On occasion, when I get a new message, read it and either delete it (which then highlights the previous message) or return to a previous message without deleting the new message, the newest message overwrites the subject, attachments and message area of the previous message, causing it to disappear.
Is this charateristic of a known virus or a know problem with Netscape 7.02? Any help would be appreciated.

 

Welcome to the Forum, jjmkor!

Hi jjmkor,

Have you run a virus scan? Which antivirus program do you run. On older versions of NAV 2000 the Kakworm virus would do pretty much what you describe, but a program update solved the issue:
Contents of Netscape email messages are removed after detecting Wscript.KakWorm

This may not be your problem, as I would think that your antivirus program would alert you, especially if you're using email screening.

This is very suspicious behavior, and I can see why you might think it a virus. It is not a problem that I have seen posted before....

Let us know about your virus scanning, and give us as much information as possible.

Ramona

 

Hi Ramona,

Thanks for your quick response. I'm running AVG free edition from Grisoft ( cheapskate that I am). Since I'm posted to Korea and am on a network where Korean language is the norm, I occasionally find viruses that escape the normal U.S. virus program scans. For instance, in cleaning up the Nimda virus, I had to go into DOS to erase the .eml byproducts of that virus as the scanner did not recognize the Korean characters.
For this problem, I've tried emptying the trash and compacting the files on Communicator and also tried deleting the .snm files thru Windows Expolrer. No luck with these efforts so far. I don't know if this is characteristic but occasionally in place of the real mail, I get a file with no subject except RE:, no sender and a date of 1970 (can't remember the day and month off hand).
I'll do some research on the virus that you mentioned in your response and will update you if I find something that works. If you happen to think of some other fix, I appreciate the assistance.

 

jjmkor,

Do an online virus scan at Housecall.

As we now know, AVG doesn't have an email screener for Netscape, and the strangeness of the email, as you describe it, does sound suspicious.

Let us know the results...

Ramona

 

Hi Ramona,

I'll run the check and let you know the results. I am having diffuculty loading the Housecall program on my computer. I think it is having difficulty locating my plugins for Ns 7.02 as I also have Ns 4.73 still on my C drive. I'll have to try again tomorrow. Thanks.

 

Housecall does not work with Netscape, it requires IE.

http://www.trendmicro.com/en/products/desktop/housecall/more/faqs.htm#What are the system requirements?

tranquilo

 

I finally cleaned out most of the inbox and got up the nerve to start downloading mail and I had a similar problem with about 8 of 200 downloaded messages.

Except what would mostly happen is a message would "adopt" the subject line of another message in the top listing window, but then show it's own subject line in the bottom window. Some of the messages seemed to be a combination of a couple different messages; some were totally blank.

Thanks. Carol

PS. I read somewhere - here or else where can't remember - that Netscape 7 more squirrelly if you use Classic than Modern settings. So I'm afraid to use Classic, though would prefer to; but whatever causes least problems!!!

 

Hi jjmkor,

Hopefully this might be a fix for your Mail problem, as it worked for another user. Even though the user runs Mozilla 1.2.1, I would still try it, as it can't hurt and it certainly might help:

From: Jay Garcia (Mozilla@Netscape.JayGarcia.com)
Subject: Re: Mysterious blank email
Newsgroups: netscape.public.mozilla.mail-news
Date: 2003-01-28 10:41:29 PST

On 28/01/03 10:57, Tom Cumming Replied As Follows:

--- Original Message ---

I'm running Mozilla 1.2.1 under WinXP home, and I am finding a strange blank email keeps appearing in one of my mail folders. It has no subject line, no sender, no contents, and is dated midnight 1st January 1970! I can delete it but every time I return to the folder, it has reappeared. Anyone know what is going on? Thanks.
--

File -> Compact Folders

If that doesn't work then exit Mozilla and delete INBOX.MSF in your
profile /mail/ directory.

--
Jay Garcia - Netscape Champion

From: Tom Cumming (tom@ncumming.eurobell.co.uk)
Subject: Re: Mysterious blank email
Newsgroups: netscape.public.mozilla.mail-news
Date: 2003-01-29 02:23:13 PST

Thanks. The compact folders option worked.
---

Maybe this will take me off the hook for the Housecall Blunder!

Let us know if this doesn't work, and you continue to have problems.

Ramona

 

Hi Ramona,

No joy yet. I fired up my Internet Explorer browser and ran Housecall, unfortunately (or fortunately) all checled out okay. I did the compacting once again and now will wait to see if that worked. However, it did not on two previous tries.
The post that Carollindc made looks like one of the manifestations I'm having, although she didn't report any blank or overwritten mail. I wonder if she found a solution. I couldn't find where to ask her directly.
Thanks for your help to date. I'll let you know if I find a solution.

 

Hi jjmkor,

Did you also try deleting your Inbox.msf file?

Are you using a Theme other than the default Modern? If so, revert back to the Modern Theme. This could help... I had tunnel vision on this one, and really thought you had a virus. I guess your AVG scan turns up clean?

Ramona

 

Hi Ramona,

No luck. I deleted the inbox.msf file and have been using the modern theme although I prefer the classic. AVG scan continues negative. I guess I should try reinstalling Ns 7.02. I remember that there was some caution about uninstalling one version of Netscape as it might affect another. Since I also have Ns 4.73 on my system, is there anything I should be aware of? Thanks.

 

Hi jjmkor,

Your Mail is part of your Profile. I really don't think uninstalling will do anything for you. Of course it's your call. Have you tried creating a new Profile? I would try that first: Create a New Profile

You've certainly covered all the other bases, compacting the folders several times, renaming the Inbox.msf, virus scan, etc. Let us know if the new Profile works for you...

Ramona

 

Considering I'm having same problem with a brand new 7.02 install on a brand new hardrive, it may be some weird internal netscape thing.

So re-install may not help. (THough I might consider it myself anyway after the disk comes since always worry about some gremlin in downloads.)

I'll try deleting that .msf file and then deleting deleting that profile and starting a new one to see if that helps before something important gets eaten :-(

Can't wait to see what happens when I use compose which I use a lot on dozens of web pages...sigh...

 

Carol,

No need to delete your current profile, just make a new one. If it happens that a new profile is not the solution to your troubles, then nothing is lost. If a new profile is the answer, it's simple to copy your personal files to the new profile...


tranquilo

 

Hi Ramona,

I was out of the office for a week and didn't have a chance to implement your last suggestions. However in the meantime, I upgraded to Ns7.1 and so far this appears to have fixed the problem. If the problem recurs, I'll let you know. Thanks for everyone's help on this.