John Rodgers on fri 12 mar 04
I hate my browser and e-mail software.
I just had a complete mail dump. I lost everything .......addresses,
saved e-mails, bookmarks, everything. I am so frustrated.
Now that the damage is done, I have decided to give up on my
browser/e-mail program. I have used Netscape for years, and currently
have been using Netscape 7.1. I have liked it. I have few problems with
viruses etc, with this software, but this is the second time it has done
this to me. Our relationship is over. AOL really provides no real
support for it, so I quit. Last straw.
Can any recommend some good alternative software for browser and e-mail.
Don't want MS Explorer....to prone to virus attack. Don't want Netscape
anymore.
The replacement needs to have an easy, convenient way to back up the
data --- saved bookmarks, e-mails and address book. Click of the button
saves all. Most that I have seen so far have no clean way of doing this.
Hell, I can't even FIND the folder where e-mail is stored on the
computer in Netscape!!! How in blazes can I back it up.
Anyhow, any recommendations would be appreciated.
Thanks,
John Rodgers
Chelsea, AL
Lee Love on sat 13 mar 04
John,
Netscape is sort of "dead" software. What rose out of its
ashes is Mozilla. Check out Thunderbird and then get the Mozilla
backup tool. The backup will automate backing up your email. It
is a great "Open Source" project and shows how sometimes, people working
together for free can create something better than the big boys raking
in all the cash.
This is the link to the Thunderbird installer. You should use this
installer for the first installation of the software. Download here:
http://texturizer.net/thunderbird/download.html Choose Installer.
--Lee in Mashiko, Japan http://mashiko.us "It seems to me what you
lose in mystery you gain in awe" -- Francis Crick
Linda Ferzoco on sat 13 mar 04
I have favored web-based email because it's accessible from any connected computer and, at least with some, offers some protection from viruses.
Yahoo does the virus protection well and has credible spam software but one has to put up with lots of advertisements. I use it because I expect it will be around for a while. You can download emails to your own computer too, so you don't have to keep them all on Yahoo's server.
There is another web-based email that is a no-advertiser, no graphics and simple-to-use interface called oddpost.com. It's an xml-based system you can check out at www.oddpost.com. They have spam filtering but no virus checking. Of course, we should all have automaticaly-updated virus software on our computers anyway. In addition, the guys who run the system are typical San Francisco non-conformists - my kinda people.
Linda in California
John Rodgers wrote:
I hate my browser and e-mail software.
I just had a complete mail dump. I lost everything .......addresses,
saved e-mails, bookmarks, everything. I am so frustrated.
Now that the damage is done, I have decided to give up on my
browser/e-mail program. I have used Netscape for years, and currently
have been using Netscape 7.1. I have liked it. I have few problems with
viruses etc, with this software, but this is the second time it has done
this to me. Our relationship is over. AOL really provides no real
support for it, so I quit. Last straw.
Can any recommend some good alternative software for browser and e-mail.
Don't want MS Explorer....to prone to virus attack. Don't want Netscape
anymore.
The replacement needs to have an easy, convenient way to back up the
data --- saved bookmarks, e-mails and address book. Click of the button
saves all. Most that I have seen so far have no clean way of doing this.
Hell, I can't even FIND the folder where e-mail is stored on the
computer in Netscape!!! How in blazes can I back it up.
Anyhow, any recommendations would be appreciated.
Thanks,
John Rodgers
Chelsea, AL
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Stephani Stephenson on sat 13 mar 04
HI John
I was also a faithful and friendly user of Netscape for the last
,what, eight years?
Was finally driven away from them by their new bug filled ,unsupported
version 7 ($9.95 per email question,$39.95 per telephone call for tech
support)
Talk about taking something good and ruining it! the bookmark feature
is buggy, etc. etc.
I still use it to write some webpage stuff, but even their web
publishing feature no longer works.
I am a mac user and so I have gone to the email program on my emac,
called 'mail'
and the included browser 'Safari'. Safari seemed very stripped down to
me at first, but it works well and I think they will only improve it.
For FTP I use a nifty program called 'Transmit', which you can get for
$25.
I have heard others say they like another browser,,, is it Omni? or
Opera? something like that....
Right now Safari and Mail are troublefree bliss compared to
Netscape...also they coordinate with address book and calendar, etc.
very well.
Stephani Stephenson
steph@alchemiestudio.com
Kathy Forer on sat 13 mar 04
Great ideas to move to Eudora, Mozilla Firefox/Thunderbird or Opera,
but you may be able to recover your lost addresses, email and bookmarks
and be able to import them to your new program.
Avoid Winboxes much as I try, sometimes they block the way of Mac and
I'm obliged to deal with them. Netscape and most other win programs
save preferences in the specific application folder in your Program
Folder directory. You need to drill down a bit to get there, but unless
your disk is damaged, you can possibly recover your lost netscape
identity, which is what it sounds like happened.
Rather than me struggle to explain it, check out google for "Recover
Netscape Mail." Skip down past the password recovery programs.
looks about
right.
Trying the think of your computer as a filing cabinet helps. Other OSes
make it easier, but the data is all there, though it's sometimes
inaccessible to the program that generated it. That doesn't mean it's
gone though, just means you need to re-establish a program-data tie.
Good luck!
Kathy Forer
http://www.foreverink.com/
Kathy Forer on sat 13 mar 04
On Mar 13, 2004, at 8:06 PM, Stephani Stephenson wrote:
> I have heard others say they like another browser,,, is it Omni? or
> Opera? something like that....
I'm partial to Firefox though OmniWeb spurs some to heights of prosody.
For a simple list of Mac web browsers see:
http://8help.osu.edu/1234.html
Although printing from it leaves much to be desired, Safari is a
terrific browser .
Kathy Forer
http://kforer.com
Janet Kaiser on sun 14 mar 04
You have my condolences, John! Only the people who have
experienced a similar occurrence can ever really understand what
you are saying and all you will have to do to "reconstruct"!
However, not having had a hard-drive catastrophe, I do not
understand how you could loose the data as you seen to have
done... But then I have never used Netscape... Are you sure there
are not back-up mailboxes "hidden" in the Netscape folder under
"programme files" (presuming you are using M$ Windows)? Unless
you have re-installed over that folder, then they will probably
be irretrievable without recourse to some specialist programmes
and/or knowledge...
But if you seriously want to change horses, I can highly
recommend the OPERA package: a fast and efficient browser with
integral e-mail client. I am currently using Opera 6 limited
edition (i.e. free version with the advertisements top right)
which I downloaded following my big hard-drive death last year. I
was using Opera 5X before and would not dream of changing back to
IE. I could pay the requisite $29 or $39 to upgrade and remove
that advert banner, but it honestly has not bothered me since
about week two. Indeed... I have been constantly amused and
informed by what pops up there... All mainstream companies too,
not scams or cruddy stuff.
SOME FEATURES WHICH I PERSONALLY LIKE:
OPERA is downloadable in just about any language you want,
including Welsh!!!??? As only a million max. understand more than
"cheers" or "hello" in Welsh in the whole wide world, that is
quite something for a company to consider, let alone accommodate!
Second great plus for Opera: there is an active and very helpful
*dedicated discussion list* very much like Clayart which you can
subscribe to/join, with lots of great folk who will be able to
help you out including (and this is truly remarkable in this day
and age IMHO) the developers, testers, beta-builders, geeks,
Uncle Tom Cobbly and all who are real people working on upgrades
and improvements right now... A refined bunch too... Sympathetic
of "beginners" and "newbies" so no need to feel shy.
Another plus... Default in Opera does not allow the automatic
opening of attachments in e-mails or opening other programmes
(such as excel, word, etc.) from files when browsing on-line. It
first asks you whether you want to open a file or save it
somewhere. I always "save" so I can run a virus check before
opening. Oh, yes, Opera also tells you when you are
sending/receiving stuff like cookies and it is quite amazing how
often it says things like, "You may like to inform this web site
/ the site manager to set legal cookies" (actually only words to
that effect, as I cannot remember the exact wording". It all
helps to prevent self-executing files opening and doing nasty
things unbeknownst to you. But it does need a modicum of sense
and participation.
In other words, this is not suitable for dummies or people not
prepared to spend time and energy learning, because like any
programme, OPERA needs time to understand and explore beyond the
"defaults", especially coming from a different system...
What else...? Oh, beyond setting up browser, navigation,
bookmarks and all that (all similar to others such as Netscape
Navigator and Internet Explorer as far as I can see), there
apparently things called "skins" you can change (something I have
never tried) and "gestures"... They are to give the mouse "extra"
functions (I think!!). All this just indicates the different
"levels" you can work at... I am very much still at the
newbie/beginner level because I am just not interested in
becoming a professor! YMMV and all that...
I do not know if it is a feature in other browsers, but the
right-click and "save source" is great for saving images, files,
executables and anything without opening the link to them. This
lets me save to floppy or CD and check for viruses.
What else is there? Oh, yes, some great features hidden in the
navigation bar:
1. choose what size window, so 20% through to 1000% is
possible... Great for those bad sites that have fonts size or
resolution issues which end up with you squinting to see what is
written. (M$ help files being No. One in that area... Even
printed they need a magnifier to read!!)
2. The "Search" feature in the address bar includes: Google
search, AllTheWeb search, Super search, Lycos Search /// Amazon
Search, E-bay search, News Search, Download.com Search, Domain
search /// Image search, Video Search, MP3/Audio search ///
Google groups search, Price Comparison Search, Opera Support
Search / Find a page Search
3. With Google as a built-in feature, you can set some other
website as your home-page.
A feature which I now use constantly as a "website developer"
although it is actually only a common courtesy for other users...
The "print preview" function. This shows how a page will look
when printed out and helps me to build pages which fit neatly
onto sheets of paper without that irritating single line printing
onto a page which is a terrible waste of paper. Imagine how many
trees per day have to be felled because of this sloppy
construction!
That is all to do with the browsing... Now to the e-mail function
of OPERA which I should tell you I do not use constantly but it
is pretty good. I only use it when browsing myself (not as my
main e-mail client). This is not due to any strengths or
weaknesses where OPERA is concerned, but is just a peculiarity of
mine, because I do not waste a second on-line and I like to keep
the two functions quite separate! Calypso is my e-mail client
(now called Courier and under new ownership), but I have set
OPERA 5X, 6X and 7X up for others (friends and family) too and
there are filters, mailboxes, etc. etc. just like any other
"normal" e-mail client. They are all quite happy with it,
although I admit no one is a professional user... By
"professional" I simply mean sending/receiving a large volume of
mail on a daily basis and having to organise a filing/saving
system of mail. Most importantly Norton, McAffee, Bulldog and AVG
all seem to be compatible.
From what I see of the "save" function, the mails are saved in a
single file similar to OE... Just a different file extension. I
believe .dbx is the extension for a mail folder in OE and here in
OPERA it would appear to be .mbx That surely is abbreviation for
"mailbox"? You can open each mailbox separately via File > Open
dropdown menu and then go to the Mail folder in OPERA as well as
"the usual way". That is simply opening the folder in the e-mail
"part" of OPERA. Gosh... does that make any sense?? More to the
point... You can SAVE these .mbx files in their entirety. Just
copy them and rename elsewhere if you want to archive unused mail
such as the sent folder... I have not checked if you can set it
up to save the answers you have given in reply to e-mails you
have been sent together, but all that sort of fancy stuff is
probably hidden in there somewhere!
The *individual* e-mails appear savable as .xml files, but whilst
trying all this out just now, I clicked on one e-mail which I
saved previously in Opera, but when I clicked on that single .xml
file in explorer/my documents it opened in DreamWeaver!!??? I
probably need to mess with "file association" here in Windows XP
to solve that... Ach!! The messiness of all these programme and
OS combinations these days!! It is becoming increasingly
difficult to know which part of the system is responsible for
oddities... Or is that just me missing the obvious?
Anyway, you may need to speak to a heavy e-mail user, who
requires a sophisticated e-mail setup with bells and whistles and
has tried out or rather actually uses OPERA, John, but from what
I see here this is perfectly adequate for Mr. Mrs Ms or Miss
Average. And seeing you can download it and try it out at no
charge, what is there to loose? Ugh... Must be
http://www.opera.com or similar?
The only semi-serious caveat: some web sites do not accommodate
Opera (the browser) very well. Note it is the sites, not OPERA at
fault!! It is because they are not using the internationally
agreed conventions and protocols... These non-conventional ones
are sites which have been built using lousy HTML or whatever and
usually in a WYSIWYG programme. Most especially if constructed
using M$ programmes like FrontPage, or even manually constructed
using non-standard formatting. The banks appear to be the main
culprits in this department, but that is only from heresay and
seeing questions on the OPERA forum... For this reason I still
have M$ Internet Explorer accessible from my desktop, so I can
easily click on it and paste the URL of a difficult web page into
the address.... As it is actually impossible to uninstall IE,
this is no big deal and I can then find an e-mail address to send
the web-master a message... To be honest, if a web site is not
Opera-friendly or compatible, I do not use it and would never
return. YMMV especially if your on-line bank or other important
facilities are among the culprits!
Hope this helps! Let us know what you chose and how you get on!
BTW the reason I would probably never change from Calypso as my
e-mail client, is that it automatically backs up the whole
caboodle (I have it set for weekly) and I then save that whole
package once a month under another name (2003-01, 2003-02,
2003-04, etc). It has awesome "bulk mail" facilities which I
could (in theory) set up to work and send out like the Clayart
digest and I can either save or delete attachments from
individual sent and/or received mail. It is set up to never, ever
open an attachment or an executable and there you can see exactly
what an attachment is. It will even warn you about suspicious
types such as .exe, .scr, .pif, etc. and refuse to open them even
if you click on them by mistake!! Calypso has all sorts of neat
features which Eudora and other great e-mail clients have (I said
GREAT, so that excludes OE and AOL :o), but is even more
exclusive, right down to the great waves and the little bobbing
boat icon!!! Of course only nutters like me use it!! Ha! Ha!
Sincerely and dancing off the horizon on an ink-black Cardigan
Bay...
Janet Kaiser -- If anyone is in touch with Veena, please tell her
I still cannot answer her mail, but am delighted to hear all the
recent news! Will keep trying to send what I wrote some weeks
ago! Not more importantly, but certainly most pressing and of
concern... I cannot get a reply from our CoA potter friend in
Madrid... I hope she mails me soon, otherwise I shall have to
phone her... God, what a worry... She has two student daughters
attending university in Madrid too... We have had madmen and
women around for centuries, but it is always of huge concern when
they meet like-minded nutcases and join forces. They are called
"terrorists" nowadays... Just another name for an age-old
phenomena...
*** IN REPLY TO THE FOLLOWING MAIL:
>Now that the damage is done, I have decided to give up on my
>browser/e-mail program. I have used Netscape for years, and
currently
>have been using Netscape 7.1. I have liked it. I have few
problems with
>viruses etc, with this software, but this is the second time it
has done
>this to me. Our relationship is over. AOL really provides no
real
>support for it, so I quit. Last straw.
>
>Can any recommend some good alternative software for browser and
e-mail.
>Don't want MS Explorer....to prone to virus attack. Don't want
Netscape
>anymore.
*** THE MAIL FROM John Rodgers ENDS HERE ***
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