SillyDog701

[mms4741]

I have been using Netscape 7.2 to handle my pop mail since January 2006. The pop server settings were set and working without a hitch. Sometime this week the pop server settings were dynamically reset to 127.0.0.1 (previously they had been set to pop.mail.yahoo.com) and the username was also changed from userid to userid@yahoo.com. This change happened after the computer crashed, but I was able to restart the computer with no other apparent ill effects. Netscape was running at the time of the crash.

I can go in and change the pop server settings to their correct settings - then I must exit Netscape and restart it for the new settings to take effect. Whenever I shut down the computer, the correct server settings are lost and they go back to 127.0.0.1 etc. Does anyone have any ideas on what to do to make the pop server settings persist when the computer is restarted?

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.2) Gecko/20040804 Netscape/7.2 (ax)

[Fulvio]

Did you add any software, like an AntiVirus program? It will do that if you have it scan your mail. Do you mean that you don't get the mail when it is changed.
I believe that the settings are for "localhost", which I use , on purpose, with the assistance of freePOPs, but I use port 2000 to receive the mail.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.12) Gecko/20050915 Firefox/1.0.7

[mms4741]

I have not added any new software. When the server settings are 127.0.0.1 (localhost), port 110, userid@yahoo.com, nothing happens when I click on the "Get Msgs" button. Nothing works at port 2000, either. If the server settings are pop.mail.yahoo.com, port 110, userid, then the connection to the server is made when I click the "Get Msgs" button. The problem is that the server settings that work are reset every time the computer is restarted. I would like to find a way to make the server settings persist even when the computer is restarted.

Until last week, everything was fine - the yahoo server settings were retained and I didn't have to reset anything, ever. I suspect that somehow the default pop server settings were triggered (maybe by the computer crash?) and cannot be overridden permanently. I just don't know how to fix it . . .

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.2) Gecko/20040804 Netscape/7.2 (ax)

[Fulvio]

Remove the account, and then enter it again. If you have any mail that you want to get from the old account, you can get it later.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.0.1) Gecko/20060111 Fireklumpen Firefox/1.5.0.1

[mms4741]

Thanks for your suggestion. I deleted the account and added it again. When I restarted the computer, the settings went back to 127.0.0.1, etc. Do you have any other ideas?

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.2) Gecko/20040804 Netscape/7.2 (ax)

[Fulvio]

No other idea than search at the Yahoo site. Sometimes, they make changes without informing the users, and I rarely, if ever I got anything from Yahoo.
I am assuming that you are paying for the service. Otherwise, it is not possible to get Yahoo mail, in a conventional way in Netscape mail.
But, I am not paying for the service, so I cannot tell you why it would do what you see.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.0.1) Gecko/20060111 Hypnodinosaur Firefox/1.5.0.1

[akbash]

This doesn't sound to me like a problem that could be caused by Yahoo mail servers. It sounds like something's amiss on your machine, mms4741. What did you do exactly when you deleted, then re-added, your account? I ask because your problem sounds like an error in the data stored for your account settings. I would have expected such a problem to clear up though when you deleted and re-established your account, depending on what you did.

I don't have a lot of confidence then, but is the prefs.js file in your profile directory read-only, by any chance? Is there a user.js file in that directory? Either could cause your POP server settings to be reset every time you launch Netscape.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8) Gecko/20060305 Firefox/1.5

[mms4741]

When I deleted and re-established my account, I have to confess to being cautious about the way I did it. First, I added a new account with pop.mail.yahoo.com as the pop server setting. Netscape allowed this because the pop server setting on the existing account was 127.0.0.1. Next, I moved my email folders to the new account. Last, I removed the original account. There are now three subfolders in the Mail folder - pop.mail.yahoo.com (original account), pop.mail.yahoo-1.com (new account) and Local Folders.

I have checked my profile directory and the prefs.js file is there but is not read-only. There is no user.js file in that directory or anywhere else on the hard drive (I did a search, including hidden files.)

I agree that it sounds like an error in the data stored for my account settings, not something that could be caused by Yahoo mail servers. It seems unlikely that the Yahoo mail servers could be changing the settings on my machine, and there is also the suspicious computer crash that occurred just before this problem began. Thank you for giving this some thought - do you have any suggestions of how to get around this?

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.2) Gecko/20040804 Netscape/7.2 (ax)

[akbash]

I believe prefs.js and user.js are the only places your POP server settings are stored. I expected some sort of obvious trouble with one of them.

I don't know why such a thing would start unexpectedly, but my best guess for a culprit at this point would nevertheless be some sort of proxy server on your computer. Something changing your POP server settings to point to your own machine (127.0.0.1) fits the profile of software that wants to insert itself between your mail client and the actual POP server. It could be a dial-up accelerator, or perhaps something that wants to filter your mail, like a third-party spam or virus filter. Does anything in this Netscape 7.2 forgets thread help?

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8) Gecko/20060305 Firefox/1.5

[mms4741]

I have checked everything I can think of and looked at the thread you referenced in your last post. No clues. I have checked my prefs.js file and at startup it points to 127.0.0.1. After I change the server setting to pop.mail.yahoo.com, the change is made to the prefs.js file and the setting persists until I shutdown or restart. Apparently at either startup or shutdown, some unknown process is corrupting the prefs.js file.

I also restored my computer to a date previous to the computer crash to see if that would correct the problem, but it didn't work either. After the restore, I deleted the email account and then added a new account, but the server settings are still being changed at shutdown or startup.

I don't think I have a dial-up accelerator (my internet connection is cable modem) and I am using McAfee for firewall and virus protection. McAfee has a spamkiller service but I have not configured any email accounts on it. I haven't seen the need to use it as Yahoo segregates suspected spam into a Bulk Mail account that does not get downloaded to my computer. Is it possible that McAfee is changing my server settings anyhow? Are there any other third-party products that come to mind as possible suspects?

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.2) Gecko/20040804 Netscape/7.2 (ax)

[Fulvio]

Are you making the changes in the prefs.js file with Netscape closed or open. They should persist if you had Netscape closed, but will just last for the time that Netscape is on, if you made changed with Netscape open.
I don't know how you had the change, in first place, but the behavior I describe is normal. You rewrite the file, but the changes are not permanent.
Otherwise, I am not even going to try to make any suggestion. I have such an odd problem that the tech support people are at a loss.
If you made proper changes, then, I don't know.

UserAgent: Opera/9.00 (Windows NT 5.1; U; en)

[mms4741]

I have made changes to the prefs.js file two ways.

First: I changed the settings through Netscape Mail & Newsgroups Account Settings - Server Settings. The changes were made to the prefs.js file. The changes persisted when I exited Netscape and restarted Netscape. The changes did not persist when I shut down the computer and restarted the computer.

Second: I tried changing the prefs.js file directly through Notepad when Netscape was not running. The changes were there when I started Netscape. The changes did not persist when I shut down the computer and restarted the computer.

When I added the new account, I changed the Check For Messages interval from 10 minutes to 5 minutes. This setting persists. The only things that get changed are the realhostname and realuserName in the prefs.js file.

Here's a question: the server1.hostname is "127.0.0.1" regardless of the values in realhostname and realuserName. Is this normal?

I still suspect that some unidentified process is changing the settings at shutdown or startup. I just can't figure out why this behavior started - it didn't always do this!

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.2) Gecko/20040804 Netscape/7.2 (ax)

[Fulvio]

You are talking about only one account. I have 12 of them listed in my prefs.js, and three of them have been dropped one year ago. But none of them have the server which you mention.
The closest is my Yahoo, which I connect in an unusual way, as I said before giving: username@yahoo.com@localhost (no numbers), as it should be.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.13) Gecko/20050914 K-Meleon/0.9

[mms4741]

Here's another thought: Could I create a user.js file with lines specifying realhostname and realuserName, with the correct Yahoo settings? Would they override whatever settings are in prefs.js?

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.2) Gecko/20040804 Netscape/7.2 (ax)

[akbash]

mms4741: Your prefs-modifying technique is good. It seems there is some task on your machine that adjusts your POP server settings, probably every time you boot up. I'm not acquainted with such a problem, so I can't give you any specific pointers. It looks like you've stumped Fulvio as well. You may get more traction on a Windows support forum, since this misbehaviour affects Netscape, but doesn't seem to be caused by Netscape. Me, I know Mozilla browsers, but I'm only a third class Windows wizard.

Here's a question: the server1.hostname is "127.0.0.1" regardless of the values in realhostname and realuserName. Is this normal?

127.0.0.1 is a special, reserved IP address that stands for the machine itself. With Netscape configured to look to this address for mail, Netscape will try to connect to a POP server on your machine.

This is a common way for third party software to insert itself between the Netscape mail client and your actual mail server. The third party software configures itself as a POP server, and sets Netscape to talk to it, rather than talking directly to your real mail server, Yahoo. Normally, that local server will transparently forward all traffic to your Yahoo POP server, and you wouldn't necessarily notice its interposition. The point of this exercise is to give this third party software a chance to have its way with your mail before you ever see it, before your mail client ever sees it. Hopefully it's doing something benign.

That's why I said earlier that this is a hallmark of spam filtering software. Clumsy filtering software that is a little too insistent about itself. I'm still suspicious of your security software McAfee. You say you haven't configured McAfee to filter your email, but it's possible that one component of McAfee continues to force Netscape server settings to refer to another McAfee component, a local McAfee spam filtering POP server, unaware that this POP server is inactive. You said this problem began suddenly without installing any new software. Is it possible that Netscape has been using 127.0.0.1 for a long time, and only recently has some local spam filter been inactivated?

I'd be inclined to check your Windows System Events Log for something suspicious at startup. Some application that sounds like a spam filter unable to get itself started, perhaps. Then I'd try making the prefs.js file read-only, and check that Events Log to see if that visibly upset whatever is modifying it. I'd try configuring McAfee to do nothing without asking, and see if that clears up the problem. (And that's the way I'd leave it, because I know people whose machines have been hosed by automated McAfee security, more than once.) Heck I'm just thrashing, here.

The possibility of malware can't be ignored. I know there are spyware applications that modify Explorer settings so that it uses their services when you browse. Adware that pointed to your own machine would be kind of dumb, but not all malware is written by geniuses. I recommend visiting a Windows support forum, a spyware removal forum, and McAfee technical support. I'm afraid I can't be any more specific.

Could I create a user.js file with lines specifying realhostname and realuserName, with the correct Yahoo settings? Would they override whatever settings are in prefs.js?

Exit Netscape, and make a copy of prefs.js named user.js. In user.js, delete everything but the troublesome line(s) (POP hostname and username, wasn't it?). Settings in user.js will override settings in prefs.js, so that will effectively freeze your server settings (and nothing else), and should override a gremlin that modifies only prefs.js. You could also make user.js read-only, if necessary. Obviously though, that doesn't solve the root of the problem.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8) Gecko/20060305 Firefox/1.5