POPconAdmin Help Index

Q&A:

What is POPcon for?

What do I need to use POPcon?

How do I contact Christensen Software?

Where do I find the latest version of POPcon?

How do I purchase the non-expiring full version of POPcon?

Overview:

POPcon Admin is the adminstration utility of the POPcon POP3 mail server connector. POPcon is run as a service under Windows NT and does not have a user interface for obvious reasons, like that it runs even without a user logged in and continues to run when user logs out. To control the actions and configuration of POPcon, the POPconAdmin utility is used. It communicates with the POPcon service via network protocols, so you can use it on the same computer as POPcon as well as any other computer on your network.

The Dialog:

After Starting up POPconAdmin you will see the main dialog displayed. The display includes the Session Log where all of POPcon’s actions are logged and Configure, Retrieve Mail Now, Help as well as Exit buttons. Normally, POPcon is started on a server, probably the server MS EXCHANGE is installed as well or a server that has the internet connection installed.

Commands:

Trigger Mail Retrieval:	Triggers mail retrieval now on the selected server.

Configure selected server:	Displays configuration pages for the selected server

General	Some general options

POP3	POP3 server configuration

Exchange	SMTP-server and accepted domains configuration

Antivirus	POPcon PRO Antivirus configuration

Rules	POPcon PRO Rule-based message distribution

Schedule	Schedules times for automatic mail retrieval

Connection	Internet connection – direct or by dial-up account

License	Enter your Unlock Code here

Antispam 	Use DNS blacklist servers to stop spam

Advanced 	For advanced configuration settings

Exit:	Exits the POPconAdmin, but does not terminate the POPcon server software and the retrieval of mail.


General options configuration dialog
General configuration dialog

For arriving emails with no valid recipient and other errors a Postmaster needs to be defined. The Postmaster will receive all emails without a valid recipient as well as general POPcon status notifications.

It is very important to define a real email address from inside your exchange server here because mails can be lost irretrievably if POPcon forwards some mail with no recipient information to the postmaster and that account does not exist in your exchange server.

The postmaster will NOT receive all emails to users that do not exist in Exchange. Unfortunately POPcon has no way of finding out which recipient addresses are configured in your Exchange Server. The postmaster address configured in POPcon is only used for emails that have NO recipient in your "accepted recipient domains" at all. You can configure Exchange to send copies of the bounce messages including a copy of the original message to the exchange administrator. This way you will at least see any misguided emails and can forward them by hand.

A logfile of POPcon events is maintained in popconsrv.log. You can limit the length of the logfile with the ‘Max Logfile Length’ setting on this configuration tab. When the logfile reaches this length, older events will be removed from it once a day.


POP3 configuration dialog

POPcon will collect mail from as many POP3 servers you like. Just click on Add to add another POP3 host to the list of Polled POP3 Hosts. For each server the POP3 server settings dialog will be displayed.

POPcon needs to filter recipients from incoming mail so only the recipients at your local internet domain(s) are accepted. Please add the domains you consider ‘local’ to your exchange server in the ‘Accepted Recipient Domains’ box. Why does POPcon need to do this?


POP3 Server settings
POP3 Server settings dialog

This dialog lets you input the specifics about a POP3 server you want to have polled by POPcon.

This is the information POPcon needs to know about each server:

POP3 Server:	The name the server you want to have polled.
POP3 Username:	The username needed to log into your POP3 mail server.
POP3 Password:	The password needed to log into your POP3 mail server.
POP3 Port:	Almost always the TCP/IP port for POP3 mail is 110. Under some circumstances, internet routers or firewalls change the port number. Please ask your network administrator or internet provider.
POP3 Timeout:	The time to wait for a non-responding pop3 server in seconds.
Leave Mail on Host	Check this box only if you are just testing the connection or have definite reasons for not having the mail removed from the server after it is downloaded. You will receive a copy of the same mail each time POPcon retrieves mail from the servers until the mail is removed from the server by other actions.
Filter mail by recipient domains only	Normally have this box checked – POPcon will distribute the email retrieved from this server according to what it finds in the TO:, CC: and BCC: fields of the mail. If you choose this options, don’t forget to add your local domain name(s) to the ‘Accepted Recipient Domains’ box. on the POP3 configuration dialog
Forward all Mail from this account to:	If you uncheck above option you need to specify the receiver of the email here. POPcon will then direct all mail retrieved from this server to the recipient given here. This option is most useful for polling private email  boxes.

You can ask your internet provider if you don’t have some of the above information items.


SMTP server configuration
EXCHANGE / SMTP Server configuration dialog

Here you need to specify the Exchange- (SMTPServer) you want the mail to be directed to. Normally this will be the network name of your Exchange server. You need to provide the following fields of information:

Exchange Server:	Your Exchange/mail server, typically the machine name of where MS EXCHANGE is installed.
SMTP Port:	Almost always the TCP/IP port for SMTP transfers is 25. Change this setting only if you know what you are doing. Sometimes Firewalls or routers cause the port number to be changed. Ask your network administrator if you think you need to change this setting.
SMTP Timeout:	The time to wait for a non-responding exchange server in seconds.


Antivirus
Antivirus configuration (only POPcon PRO)

The POPcon antivirus subsystem uses an internal RAV virus scanner to scan all file attachments of received emails.

The virus signatures are updated automatically over the internet. You may choose the updates to take place either weekly or daily.

You can configure POPcon to take one of these actions if a virus is found:

•	Divert to Postmaster – The Postmaster (‘General’ configuration) will receive the email wrapped in a warning message and can decide what to do about it.

•	Deliver to recipient – The original recipient will receive the possibly infected email, but wrapped in a POPcon virus warning message.

•	deliver to recipient … and CC: to Postmaster: Combines above methods – original recipient receives the message wrapped in a warning message and the message is delivered to the postmaster as well.


Rules
Rule-based distribution of Emails (POPcon PRO only)

Using the rule-based distribution system of POPcon, you can have your emails forwarded or CC’ed to alternative recipients or deleted altogether if user-defined conditions are met. On this configuration screen you can add, edit or remove rules. After defining the rules you can use the ‘move up’ and ‘move down’ buttons to change the rules’ order of execution.


Rules
Rule condition definition

Example of a condition configuration for a rule. You can configure if the rule is activated IF or if NOT the condition is met. Possible conditions are a text phrase found in the recipients addresses, the senders address, the subject or the attachment filenames.


Rules
Rule details

Detail view of a rule.

Rule Name: You can set a name for the rule for easier organization on the main rules page.

Conditions: Define one or more conditions that must be met in order to activate this rule, then define whether all conditions must be met (AND) or at least one must be met (OR) to activate the rule.

THEN: Action part of the rule, what happens when the rule is active – choose between rerouting the email, forwarding a copy of the email or deleting the email altogether.


Scheduling configuration
Scheduling configuration dialog

POPcon will retrieve your mail periodically from the POP3-servers you configured. You can choose between two different scheduling schemes:

Simple Scheduling: 	Just waits a configurable amount of minutes between mail retrievals.

Complex Scheduling: 	Specify the exact mail retrieval times for each weekday to reduce internet connection cost by for example not polling mail in the night and only seldom on weekends.

Use the buttons to change the complex scheduling options:

Add:	Add scheduled retrieval time. You specify weekdays and time.
Add Multiple:	Add multiple scheduled retrieval times given weekdays, time period and retrieval frequency.
Remove:	Remove the currently selected mail retrieval time. Select times by clicking on them in the Scheduled POP3 mail retrievals list. Shortcut: Just double-click on a mail retrieval time to remove it from the list.
Remove All:	Remove all times. Very handy if you accidentally added 24-hour retrieval with 5 minute intervals…


Connection configuration
Connection configuration dialog

When POPcon retrieves mail it needs to connect to the internet. You can choose between two different connection schemes:

Direct Connection: 	POPcon tries to connect to POP3 servers directly without using the dial-up networking settings. Use this option if you are connected to the internet via a router or another computer.

Dial-Up Connection:	Use this option if you want POPcon to dial up to the internet using one of the dial-up accounts you already configured on the POPcon server computer.

POPcon needs to have the following information to use dial-up networking:

Connection to use	The Dial-Up networking account you want POPcon to use for dialing into the internet. Attention: You can only use the dial-up accounts configured on the computer POPcon Server runs on, not the Accounts the computer you use POPcon from might have.
Username:	To keep the standard dial-up networking from asking you (probably at the server terminal) for the username and password of the dial-up account it is about to dial, POPcon needs to know the username and password of that account as well.
Password:	See Username
Do not disconnect…	Leaves connection active after POPcon finishes downloading mail
Trigger mail when dial-up connection active:	Allows POPcon to utilize an already open internet connection. POPcon will check periodically if the specified connection is already opened by another program. If so, it will download new mail periodically. Please also enter the number of minutes POPcon waits between two mail retrievals.
Trigger mail retrieval when ANY connection active	Triggers mail retrieval also when ANY other internet connection is open, not only the one specified on top of this dialog.


Add Time
Add Time dialog

Allows you to specify the exact time of day and day of week mail retrievals may take place.


Add domain
Add an accepted domain

Just input the domain you want to accept mail for. It will be added to the list of accepted domains.


Add multiple times
Add multiple scheduled times dialog

This dialog box allows you to add multiple retrieval times in one pass. Specify the day of week you want the retrieval to take place, the retrieval frequency in minutes and the starting and ending time each day.


License configuration
License configuration dialog

This dialog tab shows the current licensing information (or ‘not licensed / evaluation copy’). Click on ‘Enter Unlock Code’ to enter your licensing information. After payment your will receive an email with this code.

You can also view the current antivirus subscription status. Note: Antivirus status fields are not valid until the first antivirus signature download actually has taken place.


Enter licensing information
Enter Licensing information dialog

Enter the Name you licensed POPcon under and the Unlock Code sent to you by email here and press OK to accept. If you enter a valid name/unlock code pair the licensing information will be accepted and POPcon will no longer time-expire after 30 days.


Welcome dialog
Welcoming dialog / shareware notice

This dialog is shown only once when you install POPcon first. We feel that so called ‘nag screens’ that tell the user to purchase the product each time he uses the program are counterproductive. Feel free to use POPcon as much as you like during the 30 days evaluation period. There are no restrictions to the software other than the restricted time allowed to use it without purchasing a license.

Purchasing itself is a painless process. Just visit the POPcon website, our secure payment partner accepts major credit cards and we will send you the software-generated unlock code by email in a matter of hours, normally even faster. You key in the unlock code and are done.

See How do I purchase the non-expiring full version of POPcon? about purchasing information.


Evaluation End Dialog
End of evaluation period notice

This dialog is shown each time when you try to start POPcon after using the unlicensed version for more than 30 days. You either exit the software or enter the by now required unlock code.

Purchasing itself is a painless process. Just visit the POPcon website, our secure payment partner accepts major credit cards and we will send you the software-generated unlock code by email in a matter of hours, normally even faster. You key in the unlock code and are done.

See How do I purchase the non-expiring full version of POPcon? about purchasing information.


Accepted domains - why
Why does POPcon need to know the ‘accepted domains’?

The need to filter incoming mail so only that sent to one of the accepted domains is due to how POP3 and SMTP mail retrieval/sending works with multiple receivers. This is no problem specific to POPcon, every program retrieving mail by POP3 and forwarding it by SMTP must need to know what domains it is allowed to accept mail for and ignore all other mail: Consider this example:

Angie at ABC corp. wants to send a mail to both her manager Bob and to you, her client. So she sends the mail:

TO: you@yourdomain.com, bob@abccorp.com

POPcon retrieves the mail and receives no other indication about the intended receiver than what is written in the ‘TO:’ field of the mail.

Unfortunately, the SMTP-protocol needs every single receiver decoded for it and products like MS-EXCHANGE will complain with a message to the postmaster about every mail they received for another domain. In case of the above mail this would only mean one correctly forwarded message (you@yourdomain.com‘ and one complain-message (bob@abccorp.com: receiver does not exist at this domain) to the postmaster. But factor in rising amount of mails each day and then imagine the reaction to mass-mailings sometimes including dozens of recipients beside the one at your organization. Also, some mail servers will automatically reply to each message with an unknown receiver in it telling the other party the intended receiver does not exist. This would be very strange to angie – a message from your server, telling her that bob@abccorp is an unknown recipient.

By giving POPcon a list of accepted domains, we enable it to filter only those recipients with specific domain names that EXCHANGE or whatever mail server you use will then accept.


About POPcon
The Aboutbox

Actually I can not give you much help for the about box. It is quite simple – look at it, click on the internet-link if you like, or just click on OK to terminate the box.


What is a POP3 server
What is a POP3 server?

POP3 is short for PostOfficeProtocol3, a communications protocol defined by the internet community for retrieving mail from post office servers. This protocol has been universally adopted by internet providers to allow customers without a permanent internet connection to still receiver mail. Without a permanent internet connection your internet provider will receive and store your mail for you while you are offline. When you connect again, mail-client products like MS-Outlook and POPcon ask the POP3 server of your internet provider for the mail it has stored. This and eventually the retrieval of the stored mail is done via the POP3 protocol.


What is a SMTP server
What is a SMTP server?

SMTP is short for Small Message Transfer Protocol, a communications protocol defined by the internet community for sending mail over the internet. This protocol has been universally adopted by mail client- and server-software vendors and internet providers. POPcon uses SMTP to transfer the mail after retrieval from a POP3 server to your MS-EXCHANGE server. MS-EXCHANGE unfortunately does not include the capability to download mail from POP3 servers but instead relies on having a permanent internet connection with SMTP-mail delivered directly to the MS-EXCHANGE machine.


What is POPcon for
What is POPcon for?

POPcon is a software that connects mail server programs like MS EXCHANGE to one or more POP3 mailboxes. MS-EXCHANGE does not have the ability to poll POP3 mailboxes, instead MS EXCHANGE is built for a permanent internet connection with SMTP-protocol mail delivered directly to the machine MS EXCHANGE is installed on. If you want to use MS EXCHANGE with your internet providers POP3 mailboxes you need a product like POPcon.

POPcon offers the following features:

-	Can be installed on same machine as MS EXCHANGE - uses only one internet connection and one POP3 mailbox to receive mail for the whole workgroup or company.

-	Polls multiple POP3 mailboxes and distributes mail to your MS EXCHANGE mail server.

-	Flexible scheduling for mail retrieval based on day of week.

-	Monitor POPcons actions from any system in your network using ‘POPcon Control’ included with the software.

-	Poll private POP3 mailboxes and forward mail to a single MS EXCHANGE mailbox or distribute mail collected in a single POP3 mailbox to multiple MS EXCHANGE mailboxes according to user the mail was sent to.


What do I need to use POPcon
What do I need to use POPcon?

POPcon can be installed on any machine running MS Windows 95™, Windows 98™ or Windows NT 4.0™. You may install it on the same machine MS EXCHANGE is running on and share the same internet connection with MS Exchange™. Memory and speed requirements are modest, but we did not test it on a machine with less than a 200MHz Pentium and 64MB memory.


How can I contact Christensen Software?

You can reach us by email: support@christensen-software.com (preferred)

By phone: +49-4106-653124

By fax: +49-4106-653123

By mail:

Christensen Software

Im Roseneck 7

D-25474 Hasloh

Germany

Or visit our homepage at http://www.christensen-software.com


Where do I find the latest version of POPcon?

The latest version of POPcon can always be found at

http://www.christensen-software.com/popcon.htm

The latest version of POPcon PRO can always be found at

http://www.christensen-software.com/popconpro.htm


How do I purchase the non-expiring full version of POPcon?

You can find purchasing instructions at

http://www.christensen-software.com/purchase.htm


Antispam configuration

The POPcon antispam system is based on DNS blacklists servers on the internet. Independent organizations work to keep these servers up to date. The servers contain lists of IP-addresses of known spammers and open mail relays that carry spam. POPcon PRO scans all mailheaders for IP addresses typically left there at each mail relay stage through which that particular email traveled. The collected IP addresses are then checked to the blacklist servers of your choice and when one the servers lists one of the collected IP addresses, the mail is tagged as spam.

You can have POPcon PRO delete that mail as a whole, forward it to your spam operator account or send it on to it’s intended recipients tagged with a ‘[SPAM]’ tag in it’s subject line.

We suggest these spam list servers as a starting point:

1.	Name: ‘DSBL’, Refer-URL: ‘http://www.dsbl.org’, DNS domain: ‘list.dsbl.org’

2.	Name: ‘ORDB’, Refer-URL: ‘http://www.ordb.org/faq/#why_rejected’, DNS domain: ‘relays.ordb.org’

We maintain a list of possible blacklist servers on our website at http://www.christensen-software.com/popconpro/blacklists.htm.

Note: The functioning of the method implanted by POPcon of determining the senders and relaying servers IP addresses heavily depends on the configuration of your ISP’s and the relaying server’s email software. Unfortunately this means that POPcon can not guarantee to find 100% of these addresses and consequently 100% of spam emails. But our tests have shown that in a wide variety of configurations these methods work just fine and will at least reduce your intake of spam by a large measure.


Anti Spam server configuration
Blacklist server properties

If you add or edit dns blacklist servers you do so through this dialog. You need to specify the DNS domain of the list. This is the dns domain that is actually used to check the IP of the email against.

We maintain a list of possible blacklist servers on our website at http://www.christensen-software.com/popconpro/blacklists.htm.


Advanced Configuration
Advanced Settings

We collected some advanced special configuration settings on this page. Under normal circumstances POPcon will work best with the default configuration on this page, so please change these settings only if you really need to.

Enable evenlog entries:
You can switch off POPcon’s eventlog entries here.

Remove string from start of recipient mail address:

With some configurations, POP3 server on the internet tend to prefix recipient mail addresses in some mail headers with constant strings. I.e. instead of passing yourname@yourcompany.com the server will pass superserver-v1_1-yourname@yourcompany.com. In this case you can use this function to remove the constant prefix from the mail addresses.

Remove string from end of recipient mail address:

Just like the ‘remove string from start’ option, this option removes strings from the end of a recipient email address.

Processed mail header fields:
POPcon scans the TO, CC and BCC header fields for recipients. In addition to these header fields most of the possible other header fields are also scanned by default. You can uncheck those header fields that do not contain valid recipient addresses. These are the two most often changed options:

Check ‘received..for’ headers for recipient information:
The ‘received..for’ header lines often carry information about the real recipient of an email that are missing in the TO: and CC: headers. BCC-Recipients are often found here. You should switch off this option only if you often have inaccurately delivered emails because of wrong information in the ‘received..for’ headers.

Check ‘Delivered-TO’ headers for recipient information:
The ‘Delivered-TO’ header lines are similar to the ‘received..for’ headers but often carry wrongly formatted addresses. You should switch on this option only if you often have inaccurately delivered emails when the correct information is in fact present in the Delivered-TO headers.

Replacement of domain names
Using this feature, you can have POPcon replace domain names in recipient mail addresses before transferring the email to Exchange. POPcon will only replace the domain name, keeping the address part before the “@” intact. You can use this feature to:

•	Map multiple external internet domains to the same internal domain without adding every external domain to the recipient policies and without adding all the email addresses to each user again.

•	Map an external internet domain to a local internal one without having to add the real internet domain to the Exchange recipient policies and so allowing Exchange to still send email out to the internet to this domain.