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E-mail

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There are preset rules for the following e-mail clients:

Becky!
Calypso
Eudora
Foxmail
Outlook Express
The Bat

Default e-mail client rules can be found in the General section.

Send Mail By Becky!
Send Mail By Calypso
Send Mail By Eudora
Send Mail By Foxmail
Send Mail By Outlook Express
Send Mail By The Bat

Protocol: TCP
Direction: Outbound
Remote Port(s): SMTP (25)
Action: Allow It

What it's for

This rule is used whenever your e-mail client sends mail. It uses SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) to send the mail to your e-mail providers SMTP server which in turn forwards your mail to it's destinations POP server so that the recipient can then receive the mail.

To optimize

Add an Event for 'Remote Host' and specify the 'Remote Host' as your e-mail providers SMTP server. This is usually smtp.your_provider.com so, for example, if NTLWorld is your e-mail provider you would use smtp.ntlworld.com. You can either e-mail your provider for there SMTP server details or send an e-mail and check either your Allowed log or the DNS Cache log both of which should give you the IP number or host name of your providers SMTP server.
More about SMTP
Back to E-mail

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Read Mail By Becky!
Read Mail By Outlook Express
Read Mail By The Bat

Protocol: TCP
Direction: Outbound
Remote Port(s): NNTP (119)
Action: Allow It

What it's for

This rule is used by your e-mail client whenever you read newsgroup postings. It uses NNTP (Network News Transfer Protocol).

To optimize

Add an Event for 'Remote Host' and specify the 'Remote Host' as the NNTP server that your news provider uses. As an example, to refine this rule for Steve Gibson's news servers you would use news.grc.com. If your mail client can't read news, or you don't read news then delete (or turn off) this rule.
More about NNTP
Back to E-mail

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Receive Mail By Becky!
Receive Mail By Calypso
Receive Mail By Eudora
Receive Mail By Foxmail
Receive Mail By Outlook Express
Receive Mail By The Bat

Protocol: TCP
Direction: Outbound
Remote Port(s): POP3 (110)
Action: Allow It

What it's for

This rule is used whenever your e-mail client receives mail. It uses POP3 (Version 3 of the Post Office Protocol) to collect mail from your e-mail providers POP server.

To optimize

Add an Event for 'Remote Host' and specify the 'Remote Host' as your e-mail providers POP server. This is usually pop or pop3.your_provider.com so, for example, if NTLWorld is your e-mail provider you would use pop.ntlworld.com. You can either e-mail your provider for there POP server details or collect an e-mail and check either your Allowed log or the DNS Cache log both of which should give you the IP number or host name of your providers POP server.
More about POP3
Back to E-mail

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Becky! IMAP connection
Eudora IMAP connection
Outlook Express IMAP connection
The Bat IMAP connection

Protocol: TCP
Direction: Outbound
Remote Port(s): IMAP (143)
Action: Allow It

What it's for

This rule is used by your e-mail client if it supports mail collection via IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol). IMAP is...

“... a method of accessing electronic mail or bulletin board messages that are kept on a (possibly shared) mail server. In other words, it permits a "client" e-mail program to access remote message stores as if they were local. For example, e-mail stored on an IMAP server can be manipulated from a desktop computer at home, a workstation at the office, and a notebook computer while travelling, without the need to transfer messages or files back and forth between these computers.”- The IMAP Connection

To optimize

Add an Event for 'Remote Host' and specify the 'Remote Host' as your IMAP server. If you don't use IMAP then delete (or turn off) this rule.
More about IMAP
Back to E-mail

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Eudora HTTP connection
Outlook Express HTTP connection
Foxmail HTTP connection

Protocol: TCP
Direction: Outbound
Remote Port(s): HTTP (80), 81-83, HTTPS (443), SOCKS (1080), 3128, 8080, 8088, 11523
Action: Allow It

What it's for

This rule is used by your e-mail client when it parses HTML formatted e-mail and when you try and collect e-mail form web based e-mail like Hotmail. HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) is the only port you really need for browsing the Internet, ports 81, 82, 83 are auxiliary web browsing ports and are rarely used. HTTPS (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol over Secure Socket Layer (SSL)) is used by your e-mail when connecting to secure sites. It's used for when you read your web based e-mail (such as Hotmail). SOCKS is only needed by people using a SOCKS proxy server. 3128, 8080, and 8088 are common ports that proxy servers use. If your e-mail client needs to use a proxy server for HTTP connections then it will probably be on one of these ports. 11523 is used by AOL's browser.

Foxmail's Hotmail proxy also uses this rule for collecting web based mail from Hotmail servers.

To optimize

Remove the remote ports: 81, 82, 83 unless you know that you need them. If you don't use a SOCKS proxy server remove SOCKS. If you don't use a remote or local proxy remove 3128, 8080 and 8088. If you are just going to be using Outlook Express for collecting POP mail and not Hotmail you can remove the HTTPS port. Another thing you can do (again, assuming that you are not using OE for web based e-mail) if you want to stop HTML formatted e-mail from having images downloaded is to delete (or turn off) this rule. If you do use OE for Hotmail, you can still set up rules to allow the sending and receiving of Hotmail while still blocking HTTP access to HTML formatted mail, but it requires a few more rules. If you don't use AOL's browser remove 11523.
HTTP rules for collect Hotmail while denying HTML mail HTTP access!
Allow only selected e-mails HTTP access
More about HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS, PROXY
Back to E-mail

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Calypso LDAP connection
Outlook Express LDAP connection
The Bat LDAP connection

Protocol: TCP
Direction: Outbound
Remote Port(s): LDAP (389)
Action: Allow It

What it's for

I never use Calypso, OE or The Bat so I don't know the name of the function(s) that uses this rule, but it's for searching anonymous LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) servers for e-mail addresses.

To optimize

If you can specify in your e-mail client what LDAP server to use, specify that server as a 'Remote Host' Event.
Back to E-mail

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This is an unofficial guide, the information expressed here may differ from Agnitum's. There is a support forum (no longer run by Agnitum, but by users) if you need more help this is a good place to start. Where information here conflicts with what Agnitum have told you always go with the information given to you by Agnitum.

Guide/site and images ©Stephen Cox