Web Mail w Netscape 7.2

[LAB]

I am trying to get Web Shield to work with Netscape 7.2. I think I am close to solving the problem but am still missing part of the puzzle. I am using WinXp Pro with the latest Home version of Avast.

If I set Netscape to use a proxy and set local host 127.0.0.1 and port 12080, Netscape will not dial out when started. It simply opens Netscape to my home page and displays the message "page contains no data". If I start my internet connection manually and wait till after a connection is present and then start Netscape, then all runs fine and Avast Web Shield works fine. I also made sure Netscape is set not to work offline also.

Does anyone know what the fix is for this?

[Vlk]

What if you simply don't set up the proxy server, doesn't that work as expected? Setting up the proxy server in your browser's settings is optional under Windows NT/2000/XP.

[LAB]

No, if I leave everything as is, Web Shield does not work. I checked the box that allows Web Shield to display on screen what it is scanning and nothing ever shows. I also have Firefox on my pc and that works fine with no settings changed at all. IE6 also works fine with Avast default settings.

[lukor]

Hi,

open avast4.ini in <avast>\DATA\avast4.ini, find the section [WebScanner] and add the line

OptinProcess=netscp.exe

if the OptinProcess option is already there, separate it with comma

e.g.:

OptinProcess=my_proxy.exe,netscp.exe

It will be added to the authorized process list soon.

Regards,
Lukas.

[LAB]

Thanks for the help. I will give it a shot.

[LAB]

Hi,

open avast4.ini in <avast>\DATA\avast4.ini, find the section [WebScanner] and add the line

OptinProcess=netscp.exe

if the OptinProcess option is already there, separate it with comma

e.g.:

OptinProcess=my_proxy.exe,netscp.exe

It will be added to the authorized process list soon.

Regards,
Lukas.

Thanks Lukas, I did what you said and webshield now is working fine with Netscape 7.2.

[Umath]

Many people here seem to recommend adjusting HTTP applications setting to Web Shield proxy setting but I see more cases are solved by adjusting Web Shield setting to HTTP applications.

I have already asked this once but are there demerits for the latter option?

[lukor]

Many people here seem to recommend adjusting HTTP applications setting to Web Shield proxy setting but I see more cases are solved by adjusting Web Shield setting to HTTP applications.

I have already asked this once but are there demerits for the latter option?

Umath, I did not quite get what do you mean? What do you mean by "adjusting HTTP apps to Web Shield proxy" and what is "adjusting Web Shield settings to HTTP apps"  

[Umath]

First, thank you for the reply.

In this case, by "adjusting HTTP apps to Web Shield proxy", I meant setting “Netscape to use a proxy and set local host 127.0.0.1 and port 12080.”  Whereas, by "adjusting Web Shield settings to HTTP apps", I meant your option of adding the line “OptinProcess=netscp.exe” to [WebScanner] section in Avast INI file in order to let WebScanner monitor Netscape.

For me, it seems natural to let Web Shield monitor my favorite (but rather minor) HTTP apps since that's what Web Shield is doing for well-known HTTP apps such as IE, Opera and Firefox.  However, I'm wondering if I am ovelooking something since many posts seem to recommend the former option of letting HTTP apps use 12080 Web Shield Proxy port.

[lukor]

First, thank you for the reply.

In this case, by "adjusting HTTP apps to Web Shield proxy", I meant setting “Netscape to use a proxy and set local host 127.0.0.1 and port 12080.”  Whereas, by "adjusting Web Shield settings to HTTP apps", I meant your option of adding the line “OptinProcess=netscp.exe” to [WebScanner] section in Avast INI file in order to let WebScanner monitor Netscape.

For me, it seems natural to let Web Shield monitor my favorite (but rather minor) HTTP apps since that's what Web Shield is doing for well-known HTTP apps such as IE, Opera and Firefox.  However, I'm wondering if I am ovelooking something since many posts seem to recommend the former option of letting HTTP apps use 12080 Web Shield Proxy port.

Firstly I want to assure you that neither of this is required for Netscape 7.2. We already recognize its process name by default. For some strange reason they renamed the process from netscape.exe to netscp.exe in ver. 7.2, and then back to netscape.exe in future versions.

Both options mostly bring the same results. It is up to you if you prefer to edit avast4.ini or change the proxy setup of your app (I'm ignoring for now the fact, that win98/me have no other option).

However it may be helpfull to setup certain application to use proxy directly (localhost : 12080). Usually this also changes the way how the application handles web connections or might force other running software on the system (ZoneAlarm for example) to handle the connection in a different way, it might switch the app from proprietary data format and force it to use HTTP protocol recognized by webshield. Switching to proxy mode also changes the destination TCP port (from 80 to 12080) which might as a by-product solve some other problems too.

Lukas

[Umath]

Firstly I want to assure you that neither of this is required for Netscape 7.2. We already recognize its process name by default. For some strange reason they renamed the process from netscape.exe to netscp.exe in ver. 7.2, and then back to netscape.exe in future versions.

This explains a lot.  To be honest, I haven't been using Netscape for a while (That's the reason for the generalization such as apps.) but I was wondering why Netscape 7.2 didn't seem to be authorized by default.

Both options mostly bring the same results. It is up to you if you prefer to edit avast4.ini or change the proxy setup of your app (I'm ignoring for now the fact, that win98/me have no other option).

However it may be helpfull to setup certain application to use proxy directly (localhost : 12080). Usually this also changes the way how the application handles web connections or might force other running software on the system (ZoneAlarm for example) to handle the connection in a different way, it might switch the app from proprietary data format and force it to use HTTP protocol recognized by webshield. Switching to proxy mode also changes the destination TCP port (from 80 to 12080) which might as a by-product solve some other problems too.

By "certain application," do you mean core Win app such as IE?  Are you saying that, for example, setting IE's HTTP connection to Web Shield proxy may help system (and other apps which automatically adjust themselves according to the configuration of IE) to recognize Web Shield proxy for HTTP traffic without trouble?  I'm not a specialist but I prefer to keep not-in-use apps in darkness since they may well be exploited by malicious attempts.  In fact, with my PC, IE is not allowed to go online.

However, directly (for my preference) configuring apps which deal with proprietary data format to use HTTP protocol will do, as you point out.

Ultimately, it seems, as you said, the alternatives seem to largely depend on individual preferences.  In any case, thank you again for helping me to understand how it works.