PC World 2001 May/PCWorld_2001-05_cd.bin/Software/Vyzkuste/xray/readme_e.txt

Text File | 2000-01-06 | 12KB | 281 lines

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Introduction:

X-Ray is a mail-filtering program. Major objectives of X-Ray are:

1. To provide privacy by removing unwanted mail headers;
2. To make it convenient to switch between several different
   incoming and outgoing mail servers without reconfiguring your
   mail software;
3. To operate stably and unobtrusively.

X-Ray is primarily intended to work with Rit Labs' email client "The Bat!," but
will work with any email program that sends mail via SMTP and receives it via
POP 3. If you are comfortable changing the server and port settings in your
email client, this program won't scare you; on the other hand, if you don't know
what port settings are, you should probably get help from your local expert.

Major features of X-Ray are:

1. Filtering Kludges (Headers) in incoming/outgoing mail.
2. Fast change of SMTP/POP server.
3. Work with 'News by Mail' servers.
4. Cyclic change of POP server.
5. Saving  of  program  settings  to  "Schemes"  and fast changing of
   current "Schema".
6. Works as service under WinNT.

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Controls:

After starting the program you will see it as an icon in the system tray.
The program can be controlled both via its tray icon and via the icon's
context menu. Left-clicking on the tray icon switches the program between
enabled, indicated by a blue "X" in the tray, and disabled, indicated by a
red "X." Right clicking on the icon in the system tray will bring up the context
menu. Double-clicking on the tray icon brings up the "Options" dialog.

The delay between clicking and the program's reaction is conditioned by
the Windows double-click timing and can be changed in Control Panel -> Mouse.

After you open the "Options" dialog in the program (context menu item "Options"
or double-click on the program icon in the tray), you will be able to configure
the program.

There are 4 tabs: "Servers," "Kludges," "Special," and "General Settings."

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Servers:

Choose  "Servers" tab when you want to add/remove/edit data about your POP/SMTP
servers.  Each server is defined by its name, local port number, and remote port
number. The local port number can be unique for every server or can be set
manually to the same value you enter in "General Settings" as the default.

All servers which have a local port which is set to the same port as the default
value will be accessible from the "POP/SMTP Servers" submenus available by right
clicking on the tray icon. This feature enables you to easily switch servers
without adjusting your e-mail software; the port number is required to be the
default value so that you won't have to adjust the port value in your mail
reader with every server change. For a detailed explanation of port numbers,
read through:

http://members.home.net/mendina/troubleshooting.html#first

The standard port number for an outgoing mail server is 25, but numbers like
4724 may be used if you like--just be sure to know which number you're using.

For  POP3-servers  it is possible to enter your Username and Password into
X-Ray. This data  will be substituted for the name and password sent by your
mail client (e.g. the Bat!, Eudoara, Outlook, etc.) to the POP server. Again,
this feature allows easy changes between mail servers without having to adjust
your mail software.

Why would this be useful? It allows the collection of email from different mail
accounts on different servers in ONE place in ONE mail program. The server
change can be done automatically for your--have a look at the item "Cyclic
change" in the submenu "POP servers".

ATTENTION: Do not forget to set the address of your outgoing (SMTP) mail server
to the value "localhost" (or 127.0.0.1, the generic number that means "this
computer", or to the IP address of your computer if it's static) in your mail
program. X-Ray can't work on your email if it's not relayed through X-Ray.

ATTENTION:  Please make sure that you aren't already running software (e.g.
UUCP<->SMTP gate, or another POP3/SMTP server) which  uses the local ports that
you want to use with X-Ray. Only one server can use each port! Adjust X-Ray to
avoid conflict with any other servers on your computer.

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Kludges:

"Kludges" is another word for "Headers," the text strings at the top of a
message that tell servers where the message has been, what it is, and where it's
going. For example:
From: [e-mail]
Received: (qmail 2998 invoked by uid 1100); 26 Dec 1999 08:15:10 -0000
X-Mailer: The Bat! 1.31 S/N 2E288 (Personal)
are all kludges.

The "Kludges" tab contains list of kludges which will be changed and/or deleted
during the transfer of messages to and from server. Every kludge operates on one
of the two mail transfer services: outgoing SMTP (Marked by a large "S") or
incoming POP (Marked, as you would expect, by a large "P"). POP-type kludges
will be filtered only when receiving mail and SMTP-type kludges only when
sending mail.

Kludges may be changed in several different ways:

1. "Change to text" - replacement of a kludge's value (the part after the
    colon) with predefined text you enter here.
2. "Just delete" - remove the kludge; no one will know it was there.
3. "Take from file"  - exchange of the Kludge's value with a random line from
    a file.
4. The "Special" type of kludge filter is explained below.

The "Take from file" option will insert a single line from a file as the value
of a kludge; it cant insert a quote into the body of a message.

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Special:

The "Special" tab allows you to actively add new kludges by analyzing the values
of those already in your email. Let's discuss an example that's already set up
in X-Ray.

Suppose that you don't have Usenet (Newsgroup) access at work, and so in order
to
post to your favorite discussion group during the day, you need to write, using
The Bat! and a mail-to-news gateway, an email message to be relayed to the
newsgroup. It is necessary to add a "Newsgroups:" kludge with the name of
newsgroup (or several newsgroups if you cross-post) as the value of kludge. Most
mail programs do not allow you to edit message headers, and most of those that
do make it inconvenient. With the help of X-Ray this task can be automated in
this way:

1. On "Special" tab create a new element with settings:
   a.  Signal string: "newsgroup"
   b.  Separator: "#"
   c.  New kludge name: "Newsgroups:" (The colon will be added
       automatically if you forget it.)

2. On "Kludges" tab add new element with fields:
   a.  Kludge: 'To:'
   b.  Change to 'Special kludge' and choose the rule 'newsgroup' (created
       on previous step) from combo-box (signal string is a name of rule).

In plain English, you are telling X-Ray to filter the "To:" field using the
"newsgroup" rule."

[Note that X-Ray allows you to have several rules with same signal string.]

That's all.

Now, when you send a message to address like

newsgroup#newsgroup.name# <[e-mail]>

your  message  will be sent to the server "news-by-email.com," and to your
message's headers will be added the string: "Newsgroups: newsgroup.name".

When you cross-post, it is necessary to separate the newsgroup  names  with
commas and put the whole string in quotes, otherwise your mail will be rejected
by the mail server:

 "newsgroup#newsgroup1.name,newsgroup2.name#" <[e-mail]>

(Even if your server doesn't reject it, one of the many servers that you mail
passes through on its path will. Use the quotes!)

Did you notice that the separator character must come after BOTH the signal
string ("newsgroup") and the value string? ("newsgroup1.name,newsgroup2.name")
X-Ray must be able to recognize where your special header ends and the regular
headers resume.


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General Settings:

This tab is the simplest. It is where you set the default local port numbers for
SMTP and POP3 servers, and also where you indicate to X-Ray whether or not to
run as a service (NT only).

The connect timeout is the time, in seconds, that x-ray will wait for the server
to respond to a connection attempt. The send-receive timeout is not implemented
yet, but will probably be used to abort the connection if the server stops
sending or receiving data in the middle of a connection. The timeout values are
not used when set to 0--If you have problems with timeouts, just put a zero in
the blank and X-Ray will not abort connections.

Please  note, that your mail client is ALREADY CONNECTED (to X-Ray, but not to
the server!), so it will wait forever.

Future revisions of X-Ray will be able to filter IMAP email kludges, and the
greyed-out IMAP4 option here will be enabled.

Collections of settings including servers and kludges can be saved and loaded
using the "schemes" button at the bottom of this settings page.


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Service:

Services are a special class of programs on machines that run Windows NT. If you
don't have NT, you may still have programs called "services," but the don't
behave in quite the same way; "service" in Windows 95/8 simply refers to an
invisible program that runs in the background. In NT, it refers to an invisible
program that has special powers and privileges and is managed in a special way.
X-Ray can operate as a system service if you are running Windows NT.

To use the program as an NT service, it is necessary to make sure that xray.srv
is in the same folder (directory) as  Xray.exe.  Then, if  "Use  Service"  is
checked on the "General  Settings" tab, the X-Ray program will not itself
connect to the port(s), but instead will try and start the X-Ray system service
(if it is not started yet). The service can also be stopped and started manually
by right clicking on the tray icon and choosing "Service," then "Stop" or
"Start." If the service is started--and not stopped manually before
shutdown--then it will be started automatically on every system boot.

Configuration of the service can be done with the help of Xray.exe.

ATTENTION: The service can work ONLY under Windows NT 4.0 (or, maybe, Windows
2000). You need Administrator privileges to install it.

Please make sure that you have these libraries:

Name                       size   date    time   version
Mfc42.dll                 995383 27.04.99 00:00  6.00.8447.0
MSVCRT.DLL                266293 02.02.99 00:00  6.00.8397.0

Usually  these libraries are already installed on your system, because
many applications use them. If you don't have them installed in your
/winnt/system directory, you can find them here:

http://xraysoft.cjb.net/

or with the help of FtpSearch:

http://ftpsearch.lycos.com/cgi-bin/search?form=advanced&query=mfc42.dll&hits=50

http://ftpsearch.lycos.com/cgi-bin/search?form=advanced&query=msvcrt.dll&hits=50

There are many different versions of the libraries, so the size and date are
given for reference only.


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Support and Communication:

If you want to receive messages about changes in program, send a mail
to <[e-mail]>

If you have questions about program use, or comments about program
bugs, please write to

<[e-mail]>

<[e-mail]> aliases <[e-mail]>;<[e-mail]>)

You can send your gratitude to:

Alex Sanyukovitch <[e-mail]>  <- author.
Evgeniy Korenkov <[e-mail]>   <- co-author ;-).

Program, libraries and data about new versions are accessible here:

http://xraysoft.cjb.net/

http://xray.newmail.ru/install/x-ray.zip

http://members.tripod.co.uk/xraysoft

This documentation was revised by
"Tony A.T. Mendina" <[e-mail]>
http://members.home.net/mendina
Please send suggestions for changes and updates.