I have been developing a utility to to automate the process of forwarding emails to an ISP's (PlusNet's) spam training addresses. In theory such a utility could be used for any ISP that utilises a similar process.

Links:
FastForward page
FastForward guide (for version 1.0.5)

Downloads:
Version 1.2.8 - Postini header analysis tweaks, spoof email reporting, progress bar and optional confirmation message
Version 1.2.7 - Postini header analysis
Version 1.2.5 - bugfix for attachments in OE

After a fair amount of testing the software in private (thanks to the RT staff who participated), it's time to open the doors to the public

Please read the readme file fully (especially the disclaimer) before you use the utility. Also, please consult the dependencies file if you run in to problems, before asking in this thread.

All feedback, comments, suggestion etc are welcome Please bear in mind, that it might not be possible to implement every single suggestion

Notes:

This post will be updated on a regular basis during development and links to previous versions will be removed to ensure people are using the latest version.

History:
Version 1.0.14 uses the Redemption Library to send emails for Outlook
Version 1.0.15 uses the CDO.DLL to send emails for Outlook
Version 1.0.16 basic support for Eudora, uses Winsock to send emails for Outlook
Version 1.1.0 - basic support for Incredimail, incorporates many user suggestions
Version 1.1.1 - revamped GUI
Version 1.1.2 - a few bugfixes
Version 1.1.3 - includes illustrated help file, OE image check skip
Version 1.1.4 - includes option to copy email body to the clipboard
Version 1.1.6 - a few bugfixes (wizard working with Eudora)
Version 1.1.7 - improved OE identity handling
Version 1.1.8 - handles signatures in OE and now the "Send as HTML" setting is stored in the INI file
Version 1.1.9 - supports deletion after forwarding and handles multiple email selection in OE and Outlook
Version 1.1.10 - bugfix for multiple selections in OE/Outlook
Version 1.1.11 - bugfix for multiple selections with toolbar in OE
Version 1.2.0 - includes new PlusNet target emails
Version 1.1.9 - supports deletion after forwarding and handles multiple email selection in OE and Outlook
Version 1.2.1 - reverts to DSpam target addresses
Version 1.2.2 - supports sending as attachments and the new Postini target addresses

Future (planned) features:
Support for Eudora (done) and Incredimail (done)
Alternatives to using the Redemption component (done)
Anti-Phishing email features

Can you browse to "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Account Manager" in the registry and see if the accounts are listed there?

Which firewall are you using? FFW uses OE to connect to the Net, so it should be a case of granting the modified OE access. If other FFW components are listed in the firewall (such as the FFW exe itself or the WndSpy.dll) then they should allowed access too.

That is just the way FFW works - it adds and removes them on the fly, but this shouldn't be a problem

See above - the identity and accounts are stored in two different locations within the Registry.

That will be because it can't find an email account to use

No, because it needs an account to send from.

Did version 1.0.5 work OK?

FWIW - I've got 1.0.14 (what is it with the version numbering ? ) installed and operational with OE - no exhaustive testing yet but some comments to follow after further OE testing and testing with Outlook "proper"

Thanks Shoto

Version numbering = Major.Minor.Revision - this means that it looks odd if you were expecting a decimal system of ones.tenths.hundreths or something

LOL - I got that - I did think originaly that it was in binary but the 4 kind of confused me - it was the "hop/skip/jump" convention that I was referring to as I never saw a .13 before it went public - but of course as this thread started at .14 I don't suppose it matters

Back on topic - You're welcome

Hmmm...can you search the registry for them (e.g. search for one of the email addresses used)? Do you know where they are located in the Registry?

When you say other buttons, what buttons are you referring to? Do you mean buttons inserted by other Outlook Express plugins? If so, which plugins?

OK, the email accounts are in the registry in:

HKEY_CURENT_USER/Identities/{longnumberhere}/Software/Microsoft/
InternetAcountManager/Accounts

Buttons such as Reply or Reply All (it can be any) are bumped off the other end of the toolbar when FF launches. It must be that if you ahve a certain number of buttons there already FF bumps one or two off. But with my layout there would still be room for the FF buttons to appear without doing this.

Ah...I see...OK I'll tell FFW to look there also in the future

OK, I will make the buttons narrower and see if that improves things - does it correct itself if you browse through the different folders in Outlook Express? Normally if you click on the 'Outlook Express' item in the Folders tree you will only see a few buttons. Then if you click on a folder, e.g. Inbox, the toolbar buttons should refresh.

As far as I can see once they are bumped off they stay off.

I'll try all this again when the next version comes out. But we've highlighted a few tweaks so I hope that is helpful.

I feel that OE should launch FF into the system tray rather than FF launching with Windows. What I'm looking for is to have FF unnoticeable, apart from the two buttons appearing in OE.

You've included an option for FF to close with OE, so it is logical and useful for "open when OE is opened" to be present as well.

O.K. - Home again - Time for some Testing and Feedback

Outlook Express
-------------------

0) FFW Installs O.K. - finds outlook pretty fast

1) First start-up of FFW after installation - OE (better delay timing now) Starts fine and toolbar buttons added o.k.

2) Test fetch o.k. - and spam/notspam buttons work fine in both OE and FFW

3) Doubleclick on FFW when in system tray tries to "mark as spam" and not "restore" ???

4) Closes o.k. when client closes

5) ADD/REMOVE Prefixes work as "Designed"

6) Reset Setting resets any settings changed from default - presumeably by design and not all settings in the options tab

7) Run setup wizard works o.k.


Outlook "Proper"
----------------

0)Ran Setup wizard after the above OE config. and testing - setup wizard found Outlook quickly

2) First start up of FFW generated pop-up error "Run-Time Error '429': ActiveX component can't create object" - both pop-up and FFW stated behind Outlook..... ...and hen error pop-up "o.k.'d" FFW dies...

Will PM the log file for analysis.

Hi, what does this mean:

5) ADD/REMOVE Prefixes work as "Designed"

Also, is it difficult to make FF start with OE? How is it all going? Sorry if I seem ungrateful or something. I've no idea how to make a program so really I think you're great.

Unless FF launches unobtrusively with OE it isn't really for me you see. It needs to be really easy and I think others will want this too. Is there any way to make the toolbar buttons install without displacing the existing toolbar configuration? Or make those buttons integrate without having to reappear every launch?

Brixtonman - I'll let Neo respond to your questions about how you would like FFW to work but I can responde re: your question about my "prefixes" comment

By "works as "designed"" I'm simply referring to the perceived behaviour where you specify a prefix to remove which si the same as the prefix you tell it to add (daft I know but I try things like that ) so see below for a snippet of Dialogue I had with Neo regarding this in an earlier version....

Thanks for the feedback, guys

How do you normally start Outlook Express? Have you set it to start with Windows?

You can achieve a similar effect by doing the following:

Option 1

1. Tick 'Start client on load'
2. Tick 'Close when client closes'
3. Tick 'Automatically send to system tray on load'
4. Create a shortcut for FastForward and change the name to 'Outlook Express'
5. Change the shortcut icon to the one for Outlook Express

Then when you click on this shortcut it will start FastForward (which will go to the system tray) and Outlook Express.

Option 2

1. Tick 'Start with Windows'
2. Tick 'Automatically send to system tray on load'

This will get FastForward to stay in the background until it's needed (when you start Outlook Express).

Well, there are different ways of achieving this, see some of those above. You could run FFW as a background service in Windows, but this would be overkill. I could build another small utility running in the background looking for Outlook Express - then when it sees it has started it will startFastForward, however this is practically the same as the second option above

Thanks Some parts of making a program are easier than others and obviously I like to test each feature as I add it so it can take a while produce each new version

Hmmm...works for me Perhaps this is to do with the double-click speed settings in Windows, as your double-click is maybe being registered as two left-clicks? I would try it again to see if it's the speed of the double-click

Yes this is by design - it resets to defaults

This indicates that one or more DLLs failed to register. Can you try registering the Redemption DLL manually? You can use the attached bat file (saved in to the FastForward folder) to do this if you like

Thanks Neo - I'll try those suggestions tonight - although I don't see why even two left-clicks should have that effect....

Great

<Cough> Readme file!? </Cough>