Using Netscape v6 for E-mail with IMAP

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Background

The use of Netscape for reading mail is not supported. You should be using Outlook, Outlook Web Access or Apple Mail to access Cornell's Exchange server, not Thunderbird, Eudora or other mail client.

The information below is OBSOLETE. It has been left for informational purposes only.

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Netscape v6 is one of several utilities that can be used to read your e-mail. Some of the others are Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Outlook Express, Qualcomm's Eudora, Netscape Messenger, and Pine. This describes how to configure Netscape v6 to read your e-mail.

Mail is transferred among mail servers using the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). Configuring a mail server is beyond the scope of this document.

POP and IMAP

Desktop systems usually use one of two different protocols to fetch mail from a mail server: POP or IMAP. POP (PostOffice Protocol) assumes that all mail messages will be downloaded to your desktop system for management there. By default messages are deleted from the mail server. POP clients can be configured to leave messages on the server, but they don't provide any way to manage messages there. POP works best when only one PC is used to access your e-mail.

In contrast, IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) is designed to manage messages in folders that are kept on the mail server. Copies of the folders are generated on whatever PCs are used to access the server. Mail is available from whatever PC you need to use, whether at home or at work.

Servers

Cornell's central mail servers (postoffice.mail.cornell.edu) use only the POP protocol. They don't have enough disk space to store mail for everyone on campus. They also do no virus filtering because of the large amount of traffic.

Wilson Lab has several mail servers, all of which support POP, IMAP and very simple virus scanning. These are the VMS systems LNS61 & LNS62 and CESR10 as well as the Unix system MAIL.LNS.CORNELL.EDU.

Netscape v6 Instructions

The descriptions below assume you're configuring Netscape v6 to read mail on a PC running Windows. Netscape v6 is also available for Unix, Linux and MacOS.

Overview

1. Install SSH If you're reading mail from home, seriously consider installing SSH on your home system. SSH will encrypt the traffic between your home system and your mail server.
2. Install Netscape v6.2 or later
3. Configure Netscape message display
4. Invoke Netscape's Mail reader
5. Configure Netscape's Mail reader
6. Subscribe to mail folders
7. Read your mail

Details

1. Install SSH
   • Peruse Selden's description of how to install TTssh
   • Configure SSH to forward the SMTP, POP and IMAP mail ports of your local system to your remote primary mail server.
   • Of course, you should configure other port forwardings, too.
2. Install Netscape v6.2
   • A recent version of Netscape is usually on PC00 at LEPP
   • The most recent version can be downloaded from Netscape's Browser Central Web page
   • Caveats
     • Older versions of Netscape have serious mail handling bugs and security vulnerabilities.
     • Netscape v6.x has problems, but 6.2 seems relatively stable.
3. Configure Netscape V6
   1. Invoke Netscape v6.2
   2. Select Menu "Edit"
   3. Select item "Preferences..." which opens a new "Preferences" window
   4. In the pane "Category," select the |> in front of "Mail & Newsgroups" (expand its outline)
   5. In the pane "Category," select "Mail & Newsgroups"
      • Clear the check in "When Mail launches, ..."
      • Otherwise, choose your personal preferences among the options.
   6. In the pane "Category," select "Message Display"
      • In the pane "Plain Text Messages"
        • Select options appropriate for your usage habits
      • In the pane "Languages"
        • Select options appropriate for your usage habits
   7. In the pane "Category," select "Message Compos..."
      • In the pane "Forwarding..."
        • "Forward messages:" select "As Attachment" (recommended)
        • Check "Automatically quote..." (recommended)
        • "Then" select "start my reply above..." (recommended)
      • In the pane "Composing Messages"
        • Clear "For messatges that conain..." (recommended)
        • "Wrap plain text...at" 72 (recommended)
        • "Character Coding:" select "Western (ISO-8859-1)" (recommended)
   8. In the pane "Category," select "Send Format"
      Disable HTML! This is very important. Many viruses use HTML to propagate. It also more than doubles message sizes.
      • Select "Convert the message to plain text..."
   9. In the pane "Category," select "Addressing"
      • Select options appropriate for your usage habits
   10. In the pane "Category," select the [V] in front of "Mail & Newsgroups" (shrink its outline)
   11. In the pane "Category," select the |> in front of "Advanced" (expand its outline)
   12. In the pane "Category," select "Advanced"
       It is best to disable scripting: this is often used by Web site viruses. Unfortunately, many sites use scripting so they can look fancy.
       • Uncheck "Enable Java Plugin"
       • Uncheck "Enable JavaScript"
       • Uncheck "Enable JavaScript for Mail & Newsgroups"
   13. Click on "OK"
4. Invoke Netscape's Mail reader
   • Select the Menu "Tools"
   • Select the item "Mail & Newsgroups"
     -or-
   • With Netscape your active window, type <Control-2>
     -or-
   • Click on the "Envelope" icon in the bottom border of Netscape
5. Configure Netscape's Mail reader
   1. At first use, the "Account Wizard, New Account Setup" window opens
   2. Select "ISP or email provider" ("Newsgroup account" should be clear); Click "Next"
   3. In the "Identity" window,
      • Your Name (your own name as it should appear in the "From:" line)
      • Email address (your address on the mail server. e.g. me@lns.cornell.edu )
      • Click "Next"
   4. In the "Server Information" window,
      • In the "Incoming Server" pane, Select "IMAP"
      • Server Name: LNS61.LNS.CORNELL.EDU (or LOCALHOST if using SSH)
      • In the "Outgoing Server (SMTP)" pane,
      • Server Name: LNS61.LNS.CORNELL.EDU (or LOCALHOST if using SSH)
      • Click "Next"
   5. In the "User Name" window
      • User Name: your login username
      • Click "Next"
   6. In the "Account Name" window
      • Account Name: whatever you want (unique on your system)
        This is just a mnemonic so you can recognize this configuration
      • Click "Next"
   7. In the "Congratulations!" window
      • Click "Finish" if everything is OK but you are *NOT* finished:
   8. Select "View settings for this account" in the "Accounts" pane of the right-hand window,
      • "Account Settings" window appears
        Disable HTML! This is very important. Many viruses use HTML to propagate. It also more than doubles message sizes.
        • Uncheck "Compose messages in HTML format"
        • Select other options appropriate for your usage habits
          • Reply-to (optional)
          • Organization (optional)
          • Signature file (optional)
      • Select "Server Settings" in the left pane
        • "Port:" should be 143
        • Server Settings: uncheck "Use secure connection": this is not supported by LNS61.
        • Select other options appropriate for your usage habits
        • Click the button "Advanced..."
          • all fill-in fields should be empty
          • uncheck "Show only subscribed folders"
          • check "Server supports folders..." (default)
          • check "Allow server to override..." (default)
          • Click the "OK" button.
      • Select "Copies and Folders" in the left pane
        • Select options appropriate for your usage habits
      • Ignore "Addressing" in the left pane: we don't use LDAP
      • Select "Offline & Disk Space" in the left pane
        • Select options appropriate for your usage habits
      • Ignore "LocalFolders" in the left pane
      • Select "Outgoing Server (SMTP)" in the left pane
        • Server Name: LNS61.LNS.CORNELL.EDU (or LOCALHOST if using SSH)
        • Check "Use name and password"
        • verify that "User Name" is correct
        • "Use secure connection(SSL):" select "Never" or "When available"
      • Click on "OK": Settings window should close
6. Subscribe to mail folders
   1. Right-click the topmost "localhost" in the leftmost pane
   2. Select item "Subscribe..." which opens a new window "Subscribe"
   3. Select the appropriate "Account" if you have more than one.
   4. A password window will appear: answer it appropriately.
      • Wait patently for a minute or so for Netscape to download a list of folders from the mail server. If they don't appear after a while, click on the button "Refresh"
      • Select (click with left mouse button) the folders that you want to subscribe to: those that you want to access from your local system
      • Click the "OK" button
7. Read your mail
   1. Double-click on the folder you want to examine
   2. Single-click on the message you want to look at (Double-click to open it in a new window)
   3. To see full message headers
      • Select menu "View"
      • Select item "Message Source": a new window will popup
   4. Learn to use the icons at the top of the Mail window.