I need help with...  


Setup & Troubleshoot
Dialup Connections
Mail & News
Web Browsers

General Information
Servers and Settings
Spam & Security
Virus Protection
Tech Tips & Support Links
Virtual Applications


   

Disabling SMTP Authentication in Netscape 4.7x

Netscape 4.7x has a known bug related to SMTP authentication - namely, the password is not saved. To eliminate the need to retype the password each time mail is sent, you can disable SMTP authentication by following the instructions below.

Note: If you disable SMTP Authentication, you will not be able to send mail through Thrift Internet's mail servers when your computer is not connected directly to our network (you dial into a national or non-Thrift Internet POP, use iPass Global Roaming, or you use another ISP for your connection).

  1. Open Netscape.
  2. Select Preferences from the Edit menu.
  3. Expand the Mail & Newsgroups category and select Mail Servers.
  4. Select Never in the section labeled Use Secure Socket Layer (SSL) or TLS for outgoing messages.
  5. Click OK.
  6. Close Netscape.
  7. Locate the "prefs.js" file for your Netscape profile. The prefs.js file is located in the Netscape profile folder. For example, a profile for "jsmith" on a Windows 98 computer will be located at "C:\Program Files\Netscape\Users\jsmith".

    Note: Netscape MUST be closed before editing the "prefs.js" file or your changes will not take effect.

    Caution: Editing the prefs.js file could potentially cause problems. It is therefore important to create a backup copy of the prefs.js file and to back up important information for Netscape before editing this file.
  8. Open the "prefs.js" file with a text editor - notepad for Windows (do not use Wordpad or Word) or simpletext for Macintosh.
  9. Add the following line to the bottom of the existing text:
    user_pref("mail.auth_login", false);
  10. When saving the edited file make sure that the text editor does not save it as a .txt file (prefs.js.txt) but retains the original name of prefs.js. One method of saving the file that will ensure you have the .js extension is to save the file with quotes - i.e., "prefs.js".

To re-enable SMTP Authentication, remove the line added to the prefs.js file.

Top

 


Help us help you! If you contact Thrift Internet support for assistance please write down any error messages you get when trying to connect to the Internet. Include the name and version of your operating system and the exact text of all error messages. If this information is included in an online case submission or provided to a support representative, it will greatly speed up the troubleshooting process.

Please be aware that some troubleshooting may require uninstallation and reinstallation of operating system files. To ensure that this type of troubleshooting can be accomplished if required, please be sure that you have to have original Operating System CD or Operating system source files on disk on hand.