Hosts and Incredimail

Discussion in 'privacy general' started by Douglas, May 26, 2003.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Douglas

    Douglas Guest

    Hi all,
    I'm using hpguru's Hosts file, and I realized that it lists Incredimail for blocking.
    Does anyone know why?
    I'd like to use Incredimail for fun once in awhile if it's safe :)

    Thanks,
    Douglas
     
  2. Pieter_Arntz

    Pieter_Arntz Spyware Veteran

    Joined:
    Apr 27, 2002
    Posts:
    13,491
    Location:
    Netherlands
    Hi Douglas,

    Incredimail checks if you´re a registered user. If anyone was using it illegally he would get directed to their site and be prompted to pay or stop using it.
    That is the only reason I could come up with as to why someone would put in in their hosts file.

    Regards,

    Pieter
     
  3. JacK

    JacK Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jun 20, 2002
    Posts:
    737
    Location:
    Belgium -Li?ge
    Hello

    Incredimail is Adware or shareware but no really freeware.

    Rgds,
     
  4. Douglas

    Douglas Guest

    Thanks Pieter and JacK. Appreciate the responses.

    Regards,
    Douglas
     
  5. Douglas

    Douglas Guest

    For those interested (which judging by the number of views is not many ;)), Incredimail does not track the user.
    There is an unintrusive ad window. So far the only ad I've gotten is for the pay version.
    So I guess that it's somewhat like Opera free, just less ads (and maybe more fun :D).

    Regards,
    Douglas
     
  6. Sparkle6103

    Sparkle6103 Guest

    Hi...I don't know if anyone will actually read this or not, but I am interested in using Incredimail. I noticed this post is over a year old, so could anyone update me about it? Is it unsafe in any way? Also, will it work with email through netscape? Thanks :-D.
     
  7. Devinco

    Devinco Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jul 2, 2004
    Posts:
    2,524
    Hi Sparkle6103,

    I stopped using Incredimail a while ago for several reasons:
    1. Every email you send it adds a little "get Incredimail" add line at the bottom. I know it is probably only for the free version, but annoying none the less.
    2. The occasional advertisement to buy the full version was annoying.
    3. Definately not configurable enough. Security settings practically non existant.
    4. The letter opening animations are cute, but trust me after reading 100-200 emails, you will want them turned off as it slows you down too much.
    5. The email announcers are really nice and I think are Incredimail's main draw. However there are better announcers like CyberBuddy that can do SO much more than Incredimail.
    I am currently using Mozilla Thunderbird and find it is easy to use, configurable, secure, and has excellent spam filtering. I like it much better than even Outlook2003. There are many other email clients definately worth looking at like The Bat, Courier, Pegasus, and Eudora. While I have not tried them, I have read some good things about all of them.

    As far as will Incredimail work with email through netscape, I don't know.

    Hope this Helps
     
    Last edited: Jul 11, 2004
  8. Robyn

    Robyn Registered Member

    Joined:
    Feb 1, 2004
    Posts:
    1,189
    Hi Sparkle

    You may find Incredimail fun and cute as I did but please be aware it lacks stability and does have spyware issues. Mail sent via IM can be traced and tagged as to how many are sent and received. I also was alarmed that a new e-mail address I have which I did not have when I used IM is now receiving the 'spam' IM newsletter!

    I amongst several others researched the program and found out we should not have installed it in the first place (and we did have the registered versions!) After the initial uninstall and registry clean we found over 1000 entries left when we used a string search of the registry (it spreads to more files and folders than Norton does) I completely cleaned 2 computers and both had endless leftovers to find in order to make sure it was totally IM free.

    Sorry I could not recommend this client to you as I have experienced it first hand and never would want to have this again despite loosing all the cute e-mails. I now use Outlook 2003 and will be installing this again when I upgrade in August.
     
  9. Marja

    Marja Honestly, I'm not a bot!!

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2004
    Posts:
    4,553
    Location:
    In the Vast Fields of My Mind
    Hi Sparkle!

    IncrediMail was cute and fun, for a short while, like Dinvinco said, every e-mail you send has their tag line on it!
    Robyn is also right, I still find odd lines of IM on the two computers I used to use it on. It was the culprit that slowed down alot of progs. It was always trying to push out my home page and my e-mail program, I used it as default or for fun.
    The last I used it, I was getting 300 e-mails a day! Once in a while one was for me! My regular mail was getting bounced back, I never signed up for anything but, IM. I thought my nieces would think it all was cute:oops: ! And it is, but, there is a lot of software you can use yourself, and make it yours. Do you and your computer a favor, make your own cute e-mails and letters, that way you have control over what gets sent out in your name.:)
    Of course, don't forget to pick up the spyware and adware fighters here, too! You never know!

    Happy Creating!!

    Marja
     
  10. Peaches4U

    Peaches4U Registered Member

    Joined:
    Nov 22, 2002
    Posts:
    5,070
    Location:
    At my computer
    I strongly recommend you read the privacy policy before downloading Incredimail. I do not like it and will not use it and have such mail blocked.

    License: Adware

    Information:
    This is a graphical e-mail program that allows you to
    personalize your e-mails according to your mood. It includes a Web gallery that offers a constantly updated collection of e-mail letter backgrounds, animations, sounds and e-cards that are integrated into the message. It even offers a collection of Flash notifiers that will announce the arrival of new mail.


    Subject: Incredimail information.
    http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2002/2002-10-10.htm

    It's HTML-based, which not only opens the door to all manner of web-borne security threats that are absent from text-based email, but also adds tons of baggage to outbound IncrediMail email. This extra baggage can clog the inboxes of recipients of these mails, even if the recipients aren't IncrediMail users.
     
  11. ~*Nat*~

    ~*Nat*~ Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jul 9, 2004
    Posts:
    8,129
    Location:
    Germany/Ohio-USA ~ between two worlds
    I'd hate to lose my beloved Incredimail with all those cute and fun features,
    but I will consider uninstalling it, based on what all you've said about it. :'(
    And besides,- most of my e-mail contacts use webmail like YAHOO! and I
    noticed that they are able to see the Smileys, but the backgrounds you send
    are not visible. What a bummer...how good is that !??

    Isn't there a mail-program similiar to I.M. that is compatible with outlook express PLUS
    Webmail ? I totally dislike plain and boring typed messages - I like fun & funk -
    smileys and colors !! :D
    I don't think I need to mention that if possible that such program, if it exists,
    be Spyware-Free. I don't mind too much the ads though...
     
  12. Devinco

    Devinco Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jul 2, 2004
    Posts:
    2,524
    Good idea to get rid of it and Outlook Express while you are at it. OE is just way too insecure. Mozilla Thunderbird is vastly superior and free. It supports POP and IMAP webmail accounts and can create html emails. It can also import your outlook express email. But Incredimail makes it difficult to leave, because they don't let you export your emails out to a standard format.
    When I dumped IM I had to forward all my emails back to myself to get them with the new email client. That is not a nice way to keep people from leaving your program. :mad:
    No I haven't seen any other email programs that do the same thing like IM, but most people will not be able to appreciate all those animated emails anyway. I believe it has something to do with restrictions in the POP and IMAP email protocols. You can send some things in HTML emails like animated GIFs and use colors and styles etc. But anything fancier (JavaScript, DHTML animations, etc.) requires the recipient to have weak email security for it to work. I think thunderbird with Cyberbuddy can create a similar "fun" experience. Sure it requires a little more setup, but it can do a lot more and is a lot more fun. You can also create a lot of fun with just words too.
     
  13. Peaches4U

    Peaches4U Registered Member

    Joined:
    Nov 22, 2002
    Posts:
    5,070
    Location:
    At my computer
    Cyberbuddy sounds like a good program however, nowhere is there a privacy policy or licensing that I can find. I would feel more comfortable with this if I could read the latter.
     
  14. Devinco

    Devinco Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jul 2, 2004
    Posts:
    2,524
    Hi Peaches4U,

    I tried the free version and bought the full CD version.
    I have not noticed anything "evil" within so far (about a year).
    If someone has, please let me know!
    The instant messaging with the little agents is really fun, alas, instant messaging is not the safest way to communicate nowadays.
    You can even combine it with natural voices text to speech like at nextuptech.
    CyberBuddy has been a good experience and it could certainly substitute for incredimail features.

    But stay away (NO RUN) from Bonzi Buddy! Bonzi Buddy (and the aggressive marketing company that made it) purchased a developers license from CyberBuddy and created an evil marketing monster called Bonzi Buddy (a purple gorrilla). It looks very nice at first, but stay away. Very difficult to remove all parts.
     
  15. ~*Nat*~

    ~*Nat*~ Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jul 9, 2004
    Posts:
    8,129
    Location:
    Germany/Ohio-USA ~ between two worlds
    Thunderbird sounds good, Devinco. I might give it a try :)
    I am soo looking forward to manually send all my emails to somewhere else :rolleyes: Thank's for the warning.
    Can one use it as a standalone mail client, or do you have to have firefox with it together ?
    I really would like to get firefox (again) - I had it a few weeks ago but uninstalled because It wouldn't let me import from outlook express for some strange reasons, and I got scared that I might have done something wrong. I'm not very good with open source stuff I have to admit.(<-- but that belongs in another thread i think)

    _______ I agree with Peaches4U...about the privacy policy from Cyberbuddy...but if You never experienced anything evil... :)
     
  16. Devinco

    Devinco Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jul 2, 2004
    Posts:
    2,524
    Yes, you can use Thunderbird by itself.
    Just for clarification, Thunderbird is an email client for sending and receiving emails. Firefox is a web browser for viewing web pages.
    So Firefox (web browser) will not import email from Outlook Express (email client) because they are two different types of programs.
    Firefox (web browser) will import your favorites (web page bookmarks) from Internet Explorer (web browser).
    Thunderbird (email client) will import email from Outlook Express (email client).
    Sorry if this was plodding, just wanted to be clear. :)

    Other general questions about Thunderbird, Firefox, etc. might be better in the Software & Services Area
     
  17. ~*Nat*~

    ~*Nat*~ Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jul 9, 2004
    Posts:
    8,129
    Location:
    Germany/Ohio-USA ~ between two worlds
    Ooops...

    ...what was I thinking. Of course Thunderbird is just for email, and firefox a
    web browser - duh, me ! I actually wanted to say that I couldn't import anything - I don't know why I said "importing from OUTLOOK EXPRESS" :eek:
    I believe I have too much with all the email posts on my mind yesterday & tonight ! hehe.
    Thank's for the link, I will check it out ! :)
     
  18. Eldar

    Eldar Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jul 12, 2004
    Posts:
    2,126
    Location:
    Vilvoorde (Belgium)
    Hi Douglas, Nat68 et all
    I'm new to this forum, but my experience with Incredimail (registered) is the following: it's cute, animated and fun to work with in the beginning, but it uses flash. It invites more spam and virusses. :mad: I've removed it from my computer, but what remains in the registry and on the hard disk says enough.
    :D Since about 2 years I've been using Pocomail and recently I upgraded to their new product Barca. Both are products of Poco Systems. These products are really secure, because they don't use MAPI, not like Outlook or Outlook Express and others. Several security options are built-in. Take a look at their website for more info.

    Just my 0.2 euro.

    Eric ;)

    :doubt: [Edit: changed IMAP to MAPI. Sorry ...]
     
    Last edited: Jul 14, 2004
  19. Peaches4U

    Peaches4U Registered Member

    Joined:
    Nov 22, 2002
    Posts:
    5,070
    Location:
    At my computer
    Thanks for the warning about Bonzi. I knew about Bonzi a long time ago and was wondering if Cyberbuddy was similar or Bonzi under a different name. If you have not had problems it probably is okay but I still would feel more comfortable to read their privacy policy. If they haven't any, then how good is our privacy with them? o_O
     
  20. Tatersalad

    Tatersalad Registered Member

    Joined:
    Mar 24, 2004
    Posts:
    76
    I’ve been using incredimail for few years now and I think it does what it’s supposed to do and does it very well. It’s for creating robust emails with sounds and animations and various other bells and whistles. Which can only be done in html so yes it’s html based. It’s been very stable and secure for me. As far as privacy policy concerns expressed here, http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2002/2002-10-10.htm
    That’s only referring to content you send them. Users submit stationary and animations for others to download. They are just saying that they own anything you send them. It has nothing to do with you personal email. I have not received any mare spam since I’ve been using the program. The more recent builds have a junk mail filter and the ability to disable remote images and scripts. You can check and delete you email on the server before you download anything. It’s a robust program so there’s a lot of registry entries. But it is only two folders how hard is that to delete.
    Some annoyances, you can export contacts but not emails to other clients, and if you reply to a plain text message it automatically coverts it to html. So you can’t prefix original text which forces me to use thunderbird for groups or any other plain text correspondents. If they ever fix this it would be the top email client imho.
     
  21. Eldar

    Eldar Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jul 12, 2004
    Posts:
    2,126
    Location:
    Vilvoorde (Belgium)
    :) FYI: You can export emails to other clients, but in order to do this, you've to use a free export utility, which converts all emails to EML. Try doing a search on Google with the word Incredimail & export!
    Only two folders o_O Incredimail is uninstalled, I agree with that, but it leaves a lot of junk behind in the registry and in other folders. You should try it to know what I mean. It never uninstalls completely. :doubt:
     
    Last edited: Jul 31, 2004
  22. furnace

    furnace Guest

     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.