From the Benign menu, select Tools > Summary and the Message log tab. If you have set up Benign correctly, then every email processed by Benign is in this log.
If the Message log is empty, then Benign is not set up correctly and has not processed any of your mail.
Check the following to ensure Benign is installed properly:
1. From the Benign menu, select Tools > Options then the Accounts tab. Ensure that all of your different POP3 server settings are listed.
2. Check the Account Properties in your email program, make sure .b9 has been added to the end of the POP3 server setting.
3. In your firewall, make sure it allows Benign access to the Internet. Also, in order to download messages, Benign has to be running, otherwise you will get error messages due to the changed POP3 server settings in your email program.
The error message is returned by a third party library that we use called Indy, that handles Benign's connections to the POP server.
This error only occurs with certain incorrectly formatted email (which is most likely to be spam) on some servers that do not automatically handle and correct the problem themselves.
The particular emails have been sent via some process (like a badly written bulk-mailer) that does not conform to RFC standards of line termination and length. Instead of the correct line terminators of a "CR" followed by a "LF" character, these emails had only the "CR" - which does not constitute a legitimate line break. Because the line terminators are incorrect, the mail server returns the entire email in one line. The maximum line length allowed by Internet Standard Specifications is approximately 1000 characters. Indy and therefore Benign, can handle line lengths of up to 16 000 characters, which is well in excess for correctly formatted email.
The example we found that caused this error had a line length of over 30 000 characters. It was a spam email and it is unlikely that any legitimate email would have been sent in a way that would cause such formatting.
Since we have become aware of the problem, the next version of Benign will split any line over a certain length to prevent this error. It may cause some minor change in the display of the email, but since it is the email message that is breaking standards, there is no "standard" way to deal with it. It is unlikely that anyone will notice though, since only unsolicited email is prone to this sort of problem.
If you find that the mail does not download to your mail program, then download the mail without Benign.
To do this you will have to manually remove .b9 from your mail programs incoming (POP3) server name, then download the mail and then re-add .b9 to the end of your mail programs incoming (POP3) server name.
The RichEdit line insertion error is to do with the internal logging done by Benign becoming overloaded. We are able to add measures to prevent this from happening in the next version of Benign, when that is released.
In the meantime, one thing that should reduce the occurrence of this problem is to decrease the frequency of automatic mail checks in your mail program. This could possibly stop the logging function from overloading and at the very least will mean that the error will occur less often.
This error does not affect Benign in any way, it is just a little annoying. Apologies.
This error message is removed in our next version of Benign.
Sometimes Benign may fail to detect your mail program. This failure can be for a variety of reasons, but the good news is that you can manually configure your mail program and Benign. Benign runs with any POP3 mail program. We have described how to configure the following mail programs and Benign. If your mail program is not listed, then contact us and we will add it to the FAQ.
Note: An uninstall of Benign does not reverse these settings, so should you ever remove the program, you need to change this option back in your mail program to get your messages to download, i.e. remove the .b9 from the end of your mail program incoming mail (POP3) server name.
Becky Mail 2.05.10 manual account setup
In Becky Internet Mail 2.05.10 click Tools > Mailbox Setup > Account > POP3(Mail) Server > add a .b9 to the end of your POP3 server address > also note down this address before the change > click OK > go to Benign > Tools >Options > Accounts > click Add > enter your POP3 mail address noted earlier (without the .b9) and enter what security setting you desire for this account.
Calypso mail manual account setup
In Calypso click Mailbox > Accounts > Properties > Mail Server > add a .b9 to the end of your POP3 server address > also note down this address before the change > click OK > go to Benign > Tools > Options > Accounts > click Add > enter your POP3 mail address noted earlier (without the .b9) and enter what security setting you desire for this account.
Courier mail manual account setup
In Courier click Mailbox > Accounts > Properties > Mail Server > add a .b9 to the end of your POP3 server address > also note down this address before the change > click OK > go to Benign > Tools > Options > Accounts > click Add > enter your POP3 mail address noted earlier (without the .b9) and enter what security setting you desire for this account.
Earthlink TotalAccess Mailbox
In Earthlink TotalAccess Mailbox click Tools > Settings > Accounts > Edit > add a .b9 to the end of your incoming mail POP3 server address > also note down this address before the change > click OK > go to Benign > Tools > Options > Accounts > click Add > enter your POP3 mail address noted earlier (without the .b9) and enter what security setting you desire for this account.
Eudora manual account setup
In Eudora click Tools > Options > Getting Started > Mail Server(Incoming) > add a .b9 to the end of your POP3 server address > also note down this address before the change > click OK > go to Benign > Tools > Options > Accounts > click Add > enter your POP3 mail address noted earlier (without the .b9) and enter what security setting you desire for this account. If you need to change the Mail Server(Incoming) port due to conflicts then refer to Eudora support.
Forte Agent manual account setup
In Forte Agent click Options > Inbound Mail > add a .b9 to the end of your POP3 server address > also note down this address before the change > click OK > go to Benign > Tools > Options > Accounts > click Add > enter your POP3 mail address noted earlier (without the .b9) and enter what security setting you desire for this account.
Foxmail 5.0 manual account setup.
In Foxmail 5.0 click Accounts > Properties > Mail Server > add a .b9 to the end of your POP3 server > also note down this address before the change > click OK > go to Benign > Tools > Options > Accounts > click Add > enter your POP3 mail address noted earlier (without the .b9) and enter what security setting you desire for this account.
Express Plus v1.0.5.2 manual account setup.
In Express Plus click > Accounts > Manage accounts > Properties > Incoming Mail (POP3) > add a .b9 to the end of your POP3 server address > also note down this address before the change > click OK > go to Benign > Tools > Options > Accounts > click Add > enter your POP3 mail address noted earlier (without the .b9) and enter what security setting you desire for this account.
IncrediMail manual account setup
In IncrediMail click Tools > Accounts > Properties > select Servers at the top > add a .b9 to the end of your Incoming mail server > also note down this address before the change > click OK > go to Benign > Tools > Options > Accounts > click Add > enter your POP3 mail address noted earlier (without the .b9) and enter what security setting you desire for this account.
Mozilla Thunderbird manual account setup
In Mozilla Thunderbird click Tools > Account Settings > select Server Settings > add a .b9 to the end of your Server name > also note down this address before the change > click OK > go to Benign > Tools > Options > Accounts > click Add > enter your POP3 mail address noted earlier (without the .b9) and enter what security setting you desire for this account.
Netscape Mail 4.x manual account setup
In Netscape click Edit > Preferences > on the left select Mail & Newsgroups > Mail Servers>> for each account click Edit and add a .b9 to the end of your POP3 server address > also note down this address before the change > click OK > go to Benign > Tools > Options > Accounts > click Add > enter your POP3 mail address noted earlier (without the .b9) and enter what security setting you desire for this account.
Netscape Mail 7.0 manual account setup
In Netscape click Edit > Mail & Newsgroup Account Settings > select Server Settings on the left > for each account add a .b9 to the end of your POP3 server address > also note down this address before the change > click OK > go to Benign® > Tools > Options > Accounts > click Add > enter your POP3 mail address noted earlier (without the .b9) and enter what security setting you desire for this account.
No known program manual account set up
In your email program go to the account setup > add a .b9 to the end of your POP3 server address > also note down this address before the change > click OK > go to Benign > Tools > Options > Accounts > click Add > enter your POP3 mail address noted earlier (without the .b9) and enter what security setting you desire for this account.
Opera manual account set up
In Opera click Mail >> Manage Accounts > highlight you account and click Edit > select Servers at the top > add a .b9 to the end of your POP3 server address > also note down this address before the change > click OK > go to Benign > Tools > Options > Accounts > click Add > enter your POP3 mail address noted earlier (without the .b9) and enter what security setting you desire for this account.
Outlook 2000 manual account set up
In Outlook 2000 click Tools > Accounts > select Mail at the top > Properties > select Servers at the top > add a .b9 to the end of your POP3 server address > also note down this address before the change > click OK > go to Benign > Tools > Options > Accounts > click Add > enter your POP3 mail address noted earlier (without the .b9) and enter what security setting you desire for this account.
Outlook 2003 manual account set up
In Outlook 2003 click Tools > Email Accounts > select View or Change existing email accounts > click Next > Change > add a .b9 to the end of your incoming mail server (POP3)name > also note down this address before the change > click Next > Finish > go to Benign® > Tools > Options > Accounts > click Add > enter your POP3 mail address noted earlier (without the .b9) and enter what security setting you desire for this account.
Outlook 2007 manual account set up
In Outlook 2007 click Tools > Account Settings > click Change or double click on the (account) Name > add a .b9 to the end of your Incoming mail server (POP3) name > also note down this address before the change > Click More Settings... > Click Advanced and ensure Incoming server (POP3) is 110 and 'This server requires an encrypted connection (SSL)' is not checked (as Benign does not support SSL) > click OK > click Next > Finish > go to Benign® > Tools > Options > Accounts > click Add > enter your POP3 mail address noted earlier (without the .b9) and enter what security setting you desire for this account.
Outlook 98 manual account set up
In Outlook click Tools > Accounts > select Mail at the top > Properties > select Servers at the top > add a .b9 to the end of your POP3 server address > also note down this address before the change > click OK > go to Benign > Tools > Options > Accounts > click Add > enter your POP3 mail address noted earlier (without the .b9) and enter what security setting you desire for this account.
Outlook Express manual account set up
In Outlook Express click Tools > Accounts > select Mail at the top > Properties > select Servers at the top > add a .b9 to the end of your POP3 server address > also note down this address before the change > click OK > go to Benign > Tools > Options > Accounts > click Add > enter your POP3 mail address noted earlier (without the .b9) and enter what security setting you desire for this account.
Outlook XP manual account set up
In Outlook click Tools > Email Accounts > select View or Change existing email account > click Next > Change > add a .b9 to the end of your POP3 server address > also note down this address before the change > click OK > go to Benign > Tools > Options > Accounts > click Add > enter your POP3 mail address noted earlier (without the .b9) and enter what security setting you desire for this account.
Pegasus 4.11 manual account setup
In Pegasus click File > Network Configuration > Receiving (POP3) > Edit > add .b9 to the end of your Server host name (POP3) also note down this address before the change > click OK > go to Benign > Tools > Options > Accounts > click Add > enter your POP3 mail address noted earlier (without the .b9) and enter what security setting you desire for this account.
PocoMail manual account set up
In PocoMail click Tools > Accounts Setup > under the General tab at the top > add a .b9 to the end of your POP3 server address > also note down this address before the change > click OK > go to Benign > Tools > Options > Accounts > click Add > enter your POP3 mail address noted earlier (without the .b9) and enter what security setting you desire for this account.
The Bat! manual account setup
If in The Bat! you click Accounts > Properties > select Transport on the left > add a .b9 to the end of your POP3 server address > also note down this address before the change > click OK > go to Benign > Tools > Options > Accounts > click Add > enter your POP3 mail address noted earlier (without the .b9) and enter what security setting you desire for this account.
Turnpike manual account setup
In Turnpike, click Configure > Email Transfer > Edit > add a .b9 to the end of your POP3 server address > also note down this address before the change > click OK > go to Benign > Tools > Options > Accounts > click Add > enter your POP3 mail address noted earlier (without the .b9) and enter what security setting you desire for this account.
Windows Mail (Vista) account setup
In Windows Mail click Tools > Accounts > select your mail account > Properties > select Servers at the top > add a .b9 to the end of your POP3 server address > also note down this address before the change > click OK > right click on the shortcut that you use to start Benign, and click, "Run as Administrator" and click, > Tools > Options > Accounts > click Add > enter your POP3 mail address noted earlier (without the .b9) and enter what security setting you desire for this account.
Benign will be expecting incoming connections to port 110, so any firewall software that you are running will have to be configured to allow incoming connections on that port. Benign itself will only accept incoming connections from programs on your machine that are configured to use it and will block any other connections originating from outside your machine. There is no possible security risk in leaving this port open in your security configuration, Benign is taking care of that!
Any incoming connections from outside will be greeted with the following message by Benign:
-ERR Connections are allowed only from the local host (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx is not a local address)
(Where xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx is the non-authorized IP address being used.)
Benign will have problems if you are running other applications that are listening for incoming connections to localhost on Port 110.
This will result in the message:
Could not bind socket. Address and port are already in use.
Some examples of this are other mail proxies that do similar jobs to MailWasher and Benign, also anti-virus programs that scan incoming and outgoing email, such as Norton Anti Virus, AVG and PC-Cillin.
If you are running such an anti-virus program, it is probably set to scan incoming and/or outgoing email and this is likely to be causing the conflict (Could not bind socket. Address and port are already in use. message). You will need to disable just the email scanning feature and see if that doesn't fix the conflict.
Benign version 1.36 (1.3.6.1), released April 22 2003, will allow the program to be configured to avoid such conflicts if it is necessary to run more than one POP3 mail proxy and scanning service on one machine. You may already have Benign version 1.36 (1.3.6.1) installed. To check click Help >> About B9.
If conflicts occur you can configure a "listening port" other than 110.
In Benign select Tools > Options then the General tab and enter the number of the port in the Listen for incoming connections on port xxx (where xxx is a free port. i.e. 256) field.
Important note - Do not change the individual accounts port number. In Benign select Tools > Options then the Accounts tab (leave the port setting at 110, it is only the Benign "Listening Port" and the mail program that should be changed).
Now, your Mail Program needs to have a matching port xxx (i.e. 256). In your Mail Program manually alter the port from 110 to xxx (i.e. 256)
If you have Outlook Express, select Tools > Accounts > Properties > Advanced > Incoming mail (POP3).
Benign needs to alter the Windows HOSTS file so that the system is able to resolve the "mail.server.name.b9" into a specific IP address for "localhost" so Benign can determine which account to scan the mail from.
Without an appropriate entry in the HOSTS file, the computer would not be able to resolve the "mail.server.name.b9" entry and mail would not be retrieved by the mail client.
Cannot create file C:\Windows\Hosts in Win95/98/ME
The hosts file needs "Read only" removed from the file attributes.
To do this in Windows select Start > Search and look for the file called HOSTS. Right click on the file, select Properties and deselect Read only.
Cannot create file C:\winnt\system32\drivers\etc\HOSTS in NT/2000/XPPro
The User needs to have Administrator privileges to alter this file.
Make sure you install Benign as Administrator User. Installing Benign as Administrator user will automatically give the Benign access to the HOSTS file. If you have installed Benign under Administrator User and you still get the error then try searching for the HOSTS file. Right click on the file and ensure that Read only is not selected.
Cannot create file C:\winnt\system32\drivers\etc\HOSTS in XP Home Edition
Make sure you installed Benign as Computer Administrator.
Computer Administrator is the default setting when creating a user account on Windows XP Home Edition. Installing Benign as a computer Administrator user will automatically give Benign access to the HOSTS file. If you have installed Benign under the default Computer Administrator User and you still get the error then try searching for the HOSTS file. Right click on the file and ensure that Read only is not selected.
From the Benign menu, select Tools > Summary and the Message log tab. If you have set up Benign correctly, then every email processed by Benign is in this log.
If the Message log is empty, then Benign is not set up correctly and has not processed any of your mail - the reason the virus got through.
Check the following to ensure Benign is installed properly:
1. From the Benign menu, select Tools > Options then the Accounts tab. Ensure that all of your different POP3 server settings are listed.
2. Check the Account Properties in your email program, make sure .b9 has been added to the end of the POP3 server setting.
3. In your firewall, make sure it allows Benign access to the Internet. Also, in order to download messages, Benign has to be running, otherwise you will get error messages due to the changed POP3 server settings in your email program.
Microsoft recently released Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) to all Windows XP users, this has unfortunately blocked how Benign interacts with your email program and therefore requires a manual fix.
First confirm that you have Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) installed.
In Windows XP, right-click My Computer > Properties to confirm Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) is installed.
If you have Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) installed, then Microsoft advise they have a fix available. Unfortunately Microsoft will not allow us to distribute the hotfix.
Click Hotfix then click Continue in the Validation Recommended section. This will take you to a page called Genuine Windows Download.
Microsoft give you 2 choices in downloading the file WindowsXP-KB884020-x86-enu.exe
Check either option 1 or 2.
Option 2 works fine and saves you having to validate Windows.
I recommend checking Option 2: No, do not not validate Windows at this time, but take me to the download.
Then click Continue, then a window will appear which gives the option to download the file or open the file.
I recommend clicking Open and wait for the file to download and automatically run. On a dial up Internet connection, this wait for the file to download and automatically run should take no longer than should normally take approximately 5 minutes.
You will then be asked to restart your computer.
To confirm that you have installed the hotfix KB884020:
In Windows XP, click Start > Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs > check the Show Updates box and look for:
Windows XP - Software Updates
Windows XP Hotfix - KB884020 installed on xx/xx/2004
Once you have hotfix KB884020 installed then Benign will function normally.
Troubleshooting
When I clicked hotfix I was taken straight to the "Please click Download to get the download" page and there was no mention of Continue in the Validation Recommended section.
You may have already visited the Microsoft Validation page and Microsoft placed a cookie in your Internet Browser that remembers you have already been to this web page and already made your choice (to validate Windows or not). Remember, there is no need to validate Windows to get the hotfix. This Windows Validation is just something extra that Microsoft now offers.
I applied the fix but I still cannot retrieve email
From the Benign menu, select Tools > Options then the Security profiles tab. Ensure the filenames are set to Allow rather than Rename.
In Outpost 2.5 click Options > System > LAN settings > select IP number (with wildcard) > add 127.98.9.* as a trusted IP.