WHAT IS MAILCENTURION? ====================== MailCenturion is an e-mail filter. MailCenturion inspects new e-mails and can automatically remove Spam and viruses. If a message cannot be positively identified using the built-in rules or those learned then MailCenturion asks the user to accept or reject the message. MailCenturion then learns from your choices and automatically accepts or rejects similar messages in the future. MailCenturion filters messages based upon the e-mail's header (envelope). This avoids downloading large numbers of junk mails or those carrying viruses. MailCenturion is ideal for people with slow dial-up Internet connections that are charged per minute. MailCenturion can remove large messages or those with unwanted attachments before downloading. MailCenturion is compatible with Windows XP (Home, Professional and Server), Windows 2000 (Professional and Server), Windows NT 4 (Service Pack 6 required), Windows Me or Windows 98 (Second Edition) and all e-mail clients supporting POP3 mail. The MailCenturion demo is freeware; that is, it may be freely used by any individual for personal or private use or for their business without any restriction or charge. Companies, organisations or governments may not use it without a license. In no case may MailCenturion be used to deprive anyone of life, liberty, property or livelihood. Copyright (C)2005 Software Systems Consultants. Web: www.softsystem.co.uk Tel: +33 5 49 72 79 63 e-mail: sales@softsystem.co.uk REQUIREMENTS ============ - An Intel Pentium compatible PC running Windows XP (Home, Professional or Server), Windows 2000 (Professional or Server), Windows NT 4 (Service Pack 6), Windows Me or Windows 98 (Second Edition). - 1 MB of free disk space. - A Windows supported TCP/IP network e.g. dial-up line, ADSL, cable or Ethernet LAN. - A POP3 e-mail client program such as Outlook Express, Mozilla Thunderbird etc. INSTALLATION ============ If you have a self-extracting archive file (.exe) then double click it to expand the files into an empty folder. If you have a ZIP archive then use WinZip or similar to extract the files into an empty folder. Installation on Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Windows NT ------------------------------------------------------- Either: Logon to an account with administrative privilege and double click the file 'setup.exe'. Or: Right click 'setup.exe' while holding the shift key down. A popup menu containing a "Run as..." item will appear. Click "Run as.." and enter the user name 'Administrator' followed by the correct password for this account, then press OK. This will install the MailCenturion application and create the default rules file. The MailCenturion setup application will then be started automatically to import settings from any existing e-mail clients and enable further customisation of the filtering rules and other options. Installation on Windows Me and 98 --------------------------------- Double click the file 'setup.exe' to install the MailCenturion application and create the default rules file. The MailCenturion setup application will then be started automatically to import settings from any existing e-mail clients and enable further customisation of the filtering rules and other options. REMOVAL ======= Click on the Windows Start Menu; select 'Settings' followed by 'Control Panel' and open 'Add/Remove Programs'. Select 'MailCenturion (remove only)' from the list box and press Add/Remove. Note that some files may not be deleted until after the system is re-booted. CONFIGURATION ============= The MailCenturion setup application is accessed from the Windows 'Start' button. Navigate to Programs / MailCenturion and finally select the 'MailCenturion setup' icon. The program consists of a set of tabbed dialogs that allow the user to control the mail filter service, enter account details and customise the built-in filter rules. Importing settings from an existing e-mail client ------------------------------------------------- Start MailCenturion setup and select the Accounts tab. Press the Import... button to start the import wizard. The wizard can import account settings from Outlook Express and Mozilla Thunderbird. Imported accounts are automatically modified to work with MailCenturion. Manually configuring an e-mail client to use MailCenturion ---------------------------------------------------------- 1. Using MailCenturion setup (in Start / Programs / MailCenturion) create a new account (see Accounts tab) naming it for instance 'mailcenturion'. Enter your existing mail server's hostname and your account name on that server. 2. Change your existing e-mail client to pickup POP3 mail from the host named localhost and change the account name to that created in step 1 e.g. mailcentution. FILTER RULES ============ A filter rule is a step in the process of accepting or rejecting an incoming message. MailCenturion provides a range of attributes for each message, each of which can then be tested in a rule. If a rule is matched then the terminal action is taken. - A conditional rule begins with if. - An unconditional rule consists of a terminal action only. Terminal actions · Confirm or ConfirmDel Request user action, default delete · ConfirmAcc Request user action, default accept · Delete or Reject Delete · Accept A message marked as ConfirmDel or ConfirmAcc is added to a list that is presented to the user to confirm. A string that is entered in the log may follow final actions. E.g. if subject in "BlockedSubjects" delete "Blocked subject" Conditional operators = eq Equality > gt Greater than < lt Less than & and Logical and in Member of ! not Logical not The 'in' operator tests if the preceding string attribute is a member of the following named section. For instance given the following section in mailcenturion.ini: [food] ham eggs chips if subject in "food" delete "Subject is food!" This rule will reject any message with a matching subject (case insensitive). The entries in the [food] section may include the wildcards * and ?. Attributes · msg.size Message size in bytes. · msg.relays Number of SMTP relays. · msg.forgery Non zero if message header may be forged. · msg.spam Spam index (0..100). · From From mailbox. · From.Name From name. · Date Composition date. · Date.Tz Compostion timezone (minutes east). · To To mailbox. · To.Name To name. · Cc List of mailboxes for carbon copies. · Subject String. · Reply-To Mailbox. · Message-ID String. · List-ID String. · Content-Type String. · X-Mailer String. · Envelope-to String. · Delivered-to String. · Return-path Mailbox. · Received.From Originating host name. · Received.FromAddr Originating host IP address. · Received.By Receiving SMTP server name. · Received.With SMTP receiving method. · Received.Tz Timezone of receiving SMTP server (minutes east). · ReceivedLast.From Last relaying host name. · ReceivedLast.FromAddr Last relaying host IP address. · ReceivedLast.By Last SMTP server name. · ReceivedLast.With Last SMTP receiving method. · ReceivedLast.Tz Timezone of last SMTP server (minutes east). MailCenturion applies filter rules in turn to every message received so the order of rules can be important. MailCenturion comes with a number of built-in rules. By default each account has just one rule: Include "rules" This statement includes the block of rules defined in the section named [rules]. The reader is recommended to browse the mailcenturion.ini file (in the windows system32 folder) for further examples. OPERATION ========= The MailCenturion filter service normally runs as an invisible background process. However, when a new message cannot be positively classified as wanted or junk then the user will be presented with a dialog listing all messages needing confirmation. MailCenturion then remembers your choices for future similar messages. The dialog will also be displayed whenever new messages are received if 'Show all' is checked. UPGRADES ======== The demo version of MailCenturion is limited to a single account and only implements a subset of the filter rule set. To order the release version mail an international money order (preferred), a personal cheque or cash for the local equivalent of 20 USD (15 Euros, or 11 UKP) made payable to L.V.Rust, together with an e-mail address, to the address below and you will receive the full version of MailCenturion as an e-mail attachment. From recent experience if you use air mail then you should receive MailCenturion in no more than 10 days. Software Systems, www.softsystem.co.uk Les Sables, 79300 Boismé, France. Tel/Fax +33 5 49 72 79 63 Check at www.softsystem.co.uk for new release dates. PROBLEMS ======== MailCenturion is designed to be compatible with all Windows POP3 e-mail clients. NB only one application may use a given TCP port number at a time. If another application is using the TCP port assigned to MailCenturion when it launches then it will terminate after adding a message to the system event log. For all other problems, issues and technical support contact: NetCenturion@softsystem.co.uk WHO ARE SOFTWARE SYSTEMS? ========================= Software Systems provide software development services and consultancy. Our current products include: MailCenturion NetCenturion SoundFX Masm2djg Contacts: Web: www.softsystem.co.uk Tel: +33 5 49 72 79 63 e-mail: sales@softsystem.co.uk WARRANTY ======== MailCenturion is supplied 'as is' with abolutely no warranty given or implied. The use of MailCenturion is entirely at the risk of the end user. Software Systems will not be held responsible for any loss or damage, however arising, resulting from the use of MailCenturion. Release History =============== 1.0.0.7 ??-???-?? Parse List-Id tags split over several lines. Strip surrounding <> from MessageID field Improved source IP address detection. 1.0.0.6 22-Jan-06 Improved source IP address detection. Added auto dismiss timeout for confirmation dialog. Concatenate pop3 command and terminating CRLF before send to workaround bug in vm-pop3d 1.1.7e server. Add 'with' field LMTP for local relays. 1.0.0.5 06-Oct-05 Add List-Id rule. Fix base rules 'no action' bug. 1.0.0.4 04-May-05 Fix creation of custom account rules. Mail header not downloaded if 1st rule is msg.size and action is delete. 1.0.0.3 17-Mar-05 Win98SE download speed improvement. Add readme.txt to program group. mailbox names split at whitespace. 1.0.0.2 04-Mar-05 Add ReceivedLast, X-Mailer, Envelope-to & Delivered-To rules. Improvements to junk filter. Install in Apps directory. 1.0.0.1 22-Feb-05 Fix import of Thunderbird accounts 1.0.0.0 19-Feb-05 Initial release.