Nisus Email, Free Email, Spam Sentinels, Password Problems, Internet Explorer, WaMCom, and RAM Disks

• Free Email Services and Nisus Email
• Re: Spam Sentinels
• Password Protection and Mac OS X
• Internet Explorer for Macintosh
• A WaMCom Tip and More Versions of Mozilla 1.3.1 for OS 9
• Re: WaMCom Tips
• RAM Disk

Free Email Services and Nisus Email

From Richard Vardaro

The username was screwed up, it works now.

Thanks a lot.

I love free POP email, I scour the net all the time for it.

I use Eudora and Opera POP. I never even heard of Nisus, what is that?

The email accounts that I have are GMX (2), Firemail, SoftHome, and HOTPOP. Those are the four best I think, do you know any other good ones?

Rich

Hi Rich,

Yes; there are quite a few more good email services, although in my experience GMX and Firemail are among the best. SpyMac's new mail service also runs on a German server in Dusseldorf, I hear. You can find my recent roundup of free email services on Applelinks.:

Nisus Email 1.6.1 has some features distinctly different from any other email program. Among these, the most unique are Nisus Email's ability to integrate its functions with virtually any text-crunching program, and to send chunks of dragged and dropped text or attached files with just a couple of mouse clicks. Just drag and drop text from any word processor or text editor to Nisus Email's contact icon and swoosh! Away it goes!

Nisus Email also has several ways in which you can send emails from within other applications. In fact, any application that supports either Drag and Drop or file saving can be used to email a file or message. All this is done quickly and without leaving the application you are currently working in.

My full review of Nisus Email (version 1.09) is also available at Applelinks.

Charles

Re: Free Email Services and Nisus Email

From: Richard Vardaro

How is your SMTP server configured in Eudora?

Rich

Hi Rich,

Username: xxxxxx@firemail.de
Mail Server: pop.firemail.de
SMTP Server: smtp.firemail.de

Allow Authorization is on

Charles

Re: Spam Sentinels

From R. Friede

Hi Charles,

I've been using POPmonitor seemingly forever but now use a different scheme most of the time. Two of my accounts are used strictly for online purchases and the like, so naturally they get all the spam. I simply go online and head for each corresponding webmail account (no extra charge here) via my browser. Any nasty stuff can be deleted (or even saved) right then and there, while each spam source ends up on the ISP's blocked list. I haven't seen a repeat offender yet. Earthlink even has a spam-reporting feature where apparently they do all the work. Then I fire up Mail.app, and it downloads whatever is left to deal with in those online in-boxes. I moved to this system when one inbox was getting over 250 spams a day and it seemed to take too long using POPmonitor to weed through them. So far, so good.

Rgds,
Bob Friede

Sounds like a plan. My Low End Mac account recently got 160 spam messages in 24 hours.

Charles

Password Protection and Mac OS X

From Joseph Dufe

Hi Moore

Greetings. Could you help me please. I left my iBook laptop, and a friend fumbled with it putting a password that he himself could not remember. I tried in vain to get my laptop started, but it keeps asking for the password, which I don't know. Neither does my friend. Finally I have bought a new Mac OS X pack, and now I want to reinstall it in the laptop. What must I do in order to start the new installation?

Thanks for the help.
Joseph Dufe

Hello Joseph,

First, strangle your friend (just kidding).

I hope you had your file backed up, because unless you can come up with that forgotten password, you may have to reinitialize the hard drive, in which case you will lose everything stored on it.

But try this first:

Boot from the OS X install CD.

On the first installer screen, choose Installer > Reset Password. When the Reset Password screen appears, click on the volume that contains OS X, and from the popup menu, choose the name of your account, make up a new password, and type it into both boxes. Click Save, close the window, and reboot.

If that doesn't work, you will have to use Disk Utility to reinitialize the hard drive and reinstall everything from scratch.

Charles

Internet Explorer for Macintosh

From Franz

I read two articles on IE for Mac at Low End Mac recently [probably Why Are Mac Users Still Surfing with Internet Explorer? and Kissing Internet Explorer for OS X Good-bye. ed], I would like to offer a comment.

I have used Macintosh IE for nearly 5 years now. I have used it from System 7.5 to 7.6.1 to 8.6 to OS X. In most areas, such as stability or speed, it is moderate or fair compared to other browsers. It is neither the best nor the worst.

But the main reason I continue to use it although Microsoft has for now discontinued new versions is because I browse the Web for interesting articles, such as the ones you write, and save it as a quick snapshot. The Web archive format Mac IE uses is unfortunately incompatible with any other browser, including IE for Windows. However, a supplementary application, WAC for iCab, can convert this archive into a zip format readable by iCab, which can further be opened into ordinary HTML files. Macintosh IE has one unique feature - it has the ability to save Web pages up to 5 links deeps. After 5 years I have too big a library of IE files to easily switch.

In my normal use, I do almost all my browsing with Mac IE . I disable Java, scripting, and cookies. For websites which require those things, I use Mozilla.

Eventually, the only alternative for me would be to use Firebird or Firefox. I have used the former version. Speaking only for myself, Mozilla is too slow and not less prone to problems than Mac IE. In fact, on OS 8.6, Mozilla was much more likely to crash than IE. (Mozilla has an odd problem for me, on both classic Mac and OS X, sometimes the enter key would not work after typing in a Web address.)

Safari appears fast, but the version I used which came with my 10.3 CD cannot properly save Web pages at all. I have used it exactly 2 times. It is useless for me. Netscape I have not used since 4.7.X after using Mozilla. iCab would have been an alternative to IE but is updated too infrequently, otherwise I would be prepared to pay for it. I have little confidence in their company to use it as a long term browser.

I would be willing to pay for Macintosh IE if Microsoft continues to release new but non-free versions. I still hold some hope for this . This is why I will still use Mac IE until such a time that it becomes completely obsolete for web use.

On OS X, like most applications, Macintosh IE has been more stable than its earlier versions in classic. It has worked reasonably well for what I use it for. Unfortunately, Microsoft has now abandoned the only two things they made that I liked. The other one was their Sidewinder Racing Wheel, but that is another story.

Franz

Hi Franz,

I won't argue with you about the Save function. iCab is nearly as good as IE in this department, but the others are pathetic. Most won't even save the text from a Web page as plain text properly. In that context, I've found that using OS X Services to dump the text into a Services aware text application is the charm. However, for Web archives, it's IE or iCab.

Charles

A WaMCom Tip and More Versions of Mozilla 1.3.1 for OS 9

Re: A WaMCom Tip and More Versions of Mozilla 1.3.1 for OS 9

I was being plagued with the problems mentioned about WaMCom with recent builds of Mozilla under Mac OS X. Here's a link to the bug report. The only way to recover from it was to force Mozilla to quit until I noticed that when I put my iBook to sleep, the symptoms stopped. After doing this a few times, I haven't been bothered by it again. Just wanted to make some connections.

Cedric

Thanks for the tip!

Charles

Re: WaMCom Tips

From R. Friede

Charles,

I tried downloading/installing that .xpi file from <http://uabar.mozdev.org/source.html>, but it won't install. The message I get (OS 9.2.2 at the moment) is that it isn't a "valid installer." The mozdev page says the file is for Mozilla, and I assume they mean versions closer to the current one. Too bad; I could really use this. (Download WaMCom here.)

Bob Friede

:-(

Charles

RAM Disk

From Walt Holmes

Greetings,

Regarding your recent content on RAM Disk Creator 1.0 (4-2-04).

There is another RAM disk solution for OS X "out there" named ramBunctious. I have not tried it, and it has had mixed reviews.*

Help us out though. How exactly does one load a program such as Photoshop onto a RAM disk in order to gain this speed boost? Does simply copying the program onto the RAM disk and then opening it provide the desired effect? What about other support files located elsewhere, temporary cache files, etc.?

Keep up the good work.
Walt Holmes

Hi Walt,

You can find my review of the AppDisk and ramBunctious RAM Disk applications on Applelinks and a general article on working with RAM disks on Mac Opinion.

The more of a program that you put on the RAM disk (caches would be particularly helpful), the more speed advantage you will realize.

Charles

* OS X 10.3 changed the way RAM disks are supported in such a way that ramBunctious doesn't work under 10.3. ed

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