Welcome to Netscape Communicator for Windows
These are the current release notes for Netscape Communicator for all Windows
platforms. You can access these release notes from the Help menu in Communicator.
Please ignore any release notes that might have been previously installed
on your system.
Netscape recommends that users of Communicator Standard and Professional
editions download Communicator
4.05. You can find out what version of Communicator you are running
by choosing About Communicator from the Help menu.
If you are using Netscape Communicator Professional Edition (which includes
Netscape Calendar, IBM Host On-Demand, and AutoAdmin) please read the information
contained in these notes. In addition, you can click here
to view the release notes specifically for Professional Edition.
These release notes include:
Unknown
problems and bugs - please tell us about bugs you find.
Additional information is available:
What's New in 4.05
Communicator 4.05 contains a fix for the Preferences bug, which can allow
malicious Web site operators to guess the full pathname to the Communicator
prefs.js file to read prefs.js from visiting users' hard
disk through an obscure series of steps. For more information on this bug,
please go to http://home.netscape.com/assist/security/content_content.html.
The Communicator 4.05 maintenance release also includes these new features:
Navigator and Composer
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New Security Info window
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Users can now import and export as text in Composer
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Users can now print without saving in Composer
Messenger and Collabra (Mail and News)
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Import Utility for Eudora - imports mail folders, mail messages, address
books and settings from Eudora to Communicator. It does not modify any
Eudora files or settings. For more information click here
for the Readme file. NSImport is also available from the Netscape public
FTP
site. Please send us feedback via e-mail at mail-import@netscape.com
or newsgroup at snews://secnews.netscape.com/netscape.messaging.messenger.
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Users can now print from the Mail Compose window
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Support for Microsoft Office 97 Mail Merge to e-mail
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The new Simple MAPI implementation now fully supports the MAPISendMail()
and MAPISendDocuments() calls. This allows Netscape Messenger
to be used with PeopleSoft applications that rely on Simple MAPI for mail
integration. MAPI Send also allows users of Microsoft Office to send documents
directly from the Office application using Messenger
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Users can now sort e-mail by order received
Cosmo Player 2.0
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Faster rendering using OpenGL
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New Graphical User Interface (GUI) for easy navigation
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Full Java in Script node support
General enhancements in the 4.05 release include:
Navigator and Composer
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AutoProxy now works without problems
-
Mime types of application/octet-stream and application/x-msdownload will
no longer cause Communicator to rename the file extension
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Enhanced interoperability between Navigator and Microsoft Exchange
5.0/Outlook. Read the tech note on how to start a third party e-mail client from the
Navigator menu or the Navigator toolbar.
Java and JavaScript
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Faster Java startup
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Faster applet loading
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Adjusted memory allocation strategy to improve results on smaller allocations,
such as strings and objects
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Improved file system utilization during loads from JAR files
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Improved caching and searching of classes lists in JAR files
Netcaster
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Netcaster is more stable under Windows 95 when specifying a webtop as the
default channel
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The Netcaster drawer no longer automatically opens when Netcaster receives
focus (such as when the topmost window is closed or when Netcaster is selected
in the Task Manager). To open the Netcaster drawer, click on the Netcaster
tab.
Messenger and Collabra (Mail and News)
-
Resolved stability problem caused by address book corruption
AOL Instant Messenger
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Users can now turn off the registration prompt after the first Sign On
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No longer halts if the user receives certain HTML markup
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Buddy List enhancements:
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Windows 95 - system tray icon now blinks when buddies sign on
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Checks for valid buddy names when you enter them
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New buddy names are created where the cursor is positioned
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Windows 95
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System tray icon stops blinking after buddies sign off.
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Windows 3.1
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Increased compatibility with modems
KNOWN ISSUES
General
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Users of the JDK 1.1 SmartUpdate or installer packages that require AWT
1.1 support should avoid updating to 4.05 to avoid reverting back to AWT
1.0 functionality. A 4.05 update that includes AWT 1.1 is available
on the DevEdge Site at http://developer.netscape.com/software/jdk/download.html.
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If you are using an applet that uses RMI callbacks, you must call netscape.security.PrivilegeManager.enablePrivilege("UniversalConnect")
before the your first call into the RMI runtime.
Navigator
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If you are running Netscape Communicator on Windows NT 3.51 using a Matrox
Millennium graphics driver, an application error may occur when viewing
HTML pages. Obtain an updated version of the driver (version 2.25 or later).
-
Navigator only supports Microsoft Exchange 5.0 or later.
-
After entering a URL that does not exist, avoid clicking the Stop button
before Navigator notifies you that no DNS entry has been found. If you
do click the Stop button, no more URLs will be found by Navigator. If this
occurs, restart Communicator. A simple workaround is to wait until Navigator
notifies you that it does not exist.
-
Transparency does not function correctly. If an image has a background
chunk, it will be visible in transparent areas and the page background
will not show through. To turn on background image printing, choose Page
Setup from the File menu and enable the Print Backgrounds option.
-
If a system halt related to the Kernel32.dll occurs, update the kernel.
You can obtain the update from http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q148/3/36.asp.
This may correct the problem.
-
If you uninstalled beta versions of Communicator (Preview Release 5 or
earlier) on Windows NT systems, you may experience trouble running .avi,
.wav, .mid, or .rmi files.
To fix the problem:
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Open the Control Panel and select one of the following:
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For NT 3.51, select Drivers.
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For NT 4.0, select Multimedia - Devices.
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Add the following drivers if they are not already listed: (MCI) CD Audio,
(MCI) Microsoft Video for Windows, (MCI) Midi Sequencer, and (MCI)
Sound.
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Run regedt32.exe and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\MCI Extensions.
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Select Add Value from the Edit menu; for Value Name enter avi,
and for String enter avivideo.
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Select Add Value and for Value Name enter wav, and for String
enter waveaudio.
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Select Add Value and for Value Name enter mid, and for String
enter Sequencer.
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Select Add Value and for Value Name enter rmi, and for String
enter Sequencer. You don't need to modify the data type.
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In a frame document, only the activated frame is printed, because only
one frame can be printed at a time. To activate a frame, click on it.
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Printing documents with applets, plugins, and webfonts on layer do not
work properly.
-
The paddings property of Style Sheets is not supported. Use topPadding,
rightPadding, bottomPadding, and leftPadding instead.
-
The margins property of Style Sheets is not supported. Use leftMargin,
rightMargin, and bottomMargin instead.
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Width, height, and border tags for images in Style Sheets are not enabled.
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Under certain circumstances in a table cell, the EMBED tag parameter ALIGN=RIGHT
causes the plugin not to be loaded or displayed. As a workaround, insert
the ALIGN=RIGHT parameter in the table column and/or row descriptors.
Composer
-
Starting Composer from the command line with netscape -edit (or
double clicking on the Composer icon) does not start a new window if any
other Communicator window is already active.
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Windows 95 and Windows 3.1 users: It is strongly recommended that you avoid
adding images larger than 1 MB to the Composer window. Doing so may cause
Communicator to halt.
Messenger
-
If you encounter a general protection fault in msvcrt.dll when
sending a message, exit Communicator. This is caused by a .tmp
file Windows limitation. See your system administrator or equivalent about
removing these .tmp files from the Windows temp folder. Afterwards,
you can send messages from Communicator.
-
If a system halt occurs when invoking the Compose window, rename the address
book file (abook.nab) located in the Program Files\Netscape\Users\<username>
directory.
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A message saved as plain text (with a .txt extension) will be converted
into plain text instead of in original MIME format. If you save the message
to an existing file, the existing file will be replaced instead of having
the message appended to it.
-
If you get an error regarding expired certificates when sending/receiving
signed or encrypted mail, please go to http://www.verisign.com/update/faq/index.html
to update your certificate.
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If you make changes to the Advanced S/MIME Cipher Preferences in the Messenger
tab of the Security Advisor dialog box, you must communicate these changes
to people that you exchange encrypted mail with. To update their Certificate
database information about you, send them a signed message. If you send
only encrypted messages, they will not be aware of your preference changes.
-
The file format for certificate import and export has changed between Communicator
4.03 and 4.04 due to the standardization of PKCS 12. Communicator 4.04
and newer imports certificates exported with older versions of Communicator.
However, older versions of Communicator will not be able to import files
exported with Communicator 4.04 or newer.
-
When downloading a user certificate, you will be able to save the certificate
for backup purposes. If the certificate chain does not yet exist on the
user's machine, the certificate will be exported without the certificate
chain. In this case, it is highly recommended that you save the certificate
after retrieving the certificate chain by going into the Security Advisor,
selecting Your Certificates and exporting the desired certificate.
Plug-ins
-
In 8-bit (256 color mode), you might experience color pallete problems
while loading some plug-ins in Communicator. If this happens, minimize
and then restore the window, or open a new Navigator window from the "File"
menu to fix this. Running Windows in 16-bit (high color) mode will completely
eliminate this problem.
-
Sound files greater than 6MB are not supported in the 16 bit version and
may not play back properly.
-
Plug-ins installed in versions of Navigator prior to 4.0 are not automatically transferred to Communicator. Furthermore, for plug-ins to be automatically transferred from a prior 4.0x installation, the new version of Communicator must be installed into the same directory as the version from which you are upgrading. (If you install into a different directory, your plug-ins must be re-installed.)
Netcaster
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Java and JavaScript must be enabled to run Netcaster.
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It is recommended that you select the Go Offline option from the File Menu
before viewing sites offline.
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The order of the channels in the selector may change after exiting Netcaster.
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The Automatically Load Images preference (Preferences, Advanced from the
Edit menu) should be checked.
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If you specify an invalid URL when adding a channel, the channel is added
under My Channels, but does not appear when you select it. A green light
may also appear; ignore this light.
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If you change a webtop to a channel in Channel Properties, the webtop remains
on your screen. Close the webtop and when you select it again in My Channels,
it appears as a channel in a Navigator window.
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If you change your Communicator preferences, such as color or font, while
Netcaster is open, a system halt may occur. Change your Communicator preferences
before starting Netcaster.
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The buttons in the Netcaster window may disappear depending on the font
you select.
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Select a channel before modifying any security information in the Options
dialog.
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Your channel settings may not be preserved if Communicator terminates abnormally.
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If you change your screen's resolution while Netcaster is running, the
Netcaster window may no longer be visible.
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The display and cache size of the Castanet channels cannot be modified.
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If you add a Castanet channel by specifying its IP address and then access
the channel again by specifying its DNS name, Netcaster will attempt to
resubscribe to the channel.
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Unless you specifically use the Update Now command to update a channel,
at most, two channels will update at the same time.
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Some of the channel preferences may not be visible until you restart Netcaster.
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If you add two channels with the same name, an error may occur.
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You cannot move a webtop, as indicated in the Netcaster NetHelp.
SmartUpdate
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If you are using SmartUpdate to upgrade from a previous 4.0x version of
Communicator, you may see the following error:
Error extracting values from registry - you must re-install your
current version before performing the upgrade.
If you do not wish to re-install your current version, you can simply
download the full Communicator 4.05 installer located at http://home.netscape.com/download.
Web Publisher
-
The Web Publisher shipping with Enterprise Server 3.0 will need to be upgraded
to work with Communicator 4.05 and higher. If the Web Publisher does not
start correctly with Communicator, please contact your Enterprise Server
administrator to install the new Web Publisher. To download this patch,
please go to http://help.netscape.com/filelib.html.