Compare Free and Professional Edition
 Table of Contents
The professional edition of PostCast Server has several new features
that are not available in the free edition. The trial version of PostCast
Server Professional has all the features available in the full version,
but it expires after 14 days and inserts a small two-line advertisement
at the bottom of each message.
These features are not available in the free edition:
SMTP gateways
This option allows you to specify one or more backup SMTP
servers. If PostCast Server is unable to deliver a message, it can forward
it to a backup SMTP server. This enables the program to successfully send
higher percentage of messages.
If only certain domains are unable to receive messages
from PostCast Server, you can use this option to forward those messages
to your ISP's SMTP server.
Some ISPs (AOL, for example) block access to their servers
if the incoming connections originate from dynamic (dial-up) IP addresses.
This option enables you to forward all messages for those servers to your
ISP's SMTP server. Their server's (non-dynamic) IP address will be the
source of your outgoing messages. See SMTP
Gateways topic for more information.
Multiple mail folders
The program has six folders for storing different types
of e-mail messages. The default folder is "Outbox" where all
outgoing messages are stored. Sent messages are automatically moved to
the "Sent Items" folder. Manually deleted messages are moved
to the "Deleted Items" folder.
Undelivered messages are saved in the "Bad" folder.
The "Bounced" folder contains messages that could not be sent
within the specified timeframe. The program automatically stores unfinished
items you are working on to the "Drafts" folder.
It is also possible to transfer messages from one folder
into another by selecting the "Move to Folder" or "Copy
to Folder" options from the Edit menu.
DNS caching
Every time your web browser wants to load a web page, it
needs to contact a DNS server first, which will translate the http://www.domain.com/
address into a machine readable format - the IP address. The same thing
happens when PostCast Server tries to send a message to a recipient. The
domain name in the e-mail address is translated into the address of the
server that receives messages for that domain.
Even though the communication only takes up a few hundred
milliseconds each time a message is sent, these can add up over time,
as the number of requests can easily reach hundreds or thousands of DNS
queries. DNS servers can sometimes be unavailable and the responses to
queries can be very slow.
An easy way to speed up this process is to cache the information
locally thereby eliminating the need for repetitive queries to the remote
DNS server. This is done by telling PostCast Server to contact a local
database on your computer, rather than the remote DNS server. This local
connection can be performed much faster and does not depend on the response
time of the remote DNS server across the Internet.
PostCast Server contacts the remote DNS server once, and
then caches (memorizes) the addresses returned from the query. So the
next time you are requesting the same domain.com address, it instantly
returns the answer, without having to contact your ISP's DNS server to
ask it for the translation. The process is much faster, since it does
not have to connect to any remote servers every time. See DNS
Caching topic for more information.
Firewall and proxy support
This feature enables you to send e-mail through other proxy
servers on your Local Area Network (LAN) or on the Internet. If the only
way to connect to the Internet on you LAN is through the firewall, you
can use this feature to run the program even if the direct connection
to the Internet is not available.
When the message is sent through the proxy server, your
dynamic IP address is not embedded in the message headers and detected
by the remote mail server. The default port for socks proxy is 1080. The
program will be able to send messages directly from your computer, even
if the port 25 is blocked by your ISP.
This feature also enables the program to send messages to those servers
that block connections from dynamic IP addresses.
Automatic detection of DNS addresses
The "Detect when default DNS addresses change"
option in the Settings screen enables the program to automatically configure
correct DNS server addresses when you switch to a different Internet connection.
This is especially useful if you are using connections with several ISPs.
50 parallel threads for sending
The number of threads the program can use to send messages
has increased from 20 to 50. This will enable users with fast Internet
connections to send messages faster. It
is still recommended to use maximum 20 threads on dial-up connections.
More control in system tray mode
When running minimized in the system
tray, the program shows more options in the pop-up menu when you right-click
its icon. This simplifies the basic operations and allows you to have
more control over the program without opening the main window.
Balloon tooltips
The program now displays the tooltip window after receiving
or sending messages. Tooltips are also displayed in some other situations,
like when the program detects the new DNS server or automatically configures
itself to run on a new IP address. The option can be disabled
in the Settings/Advanced window.
Client-server communication logs
It is now possible to log all communication between the
e-mail client and PostCast Server. This log is useful for troubleshooting
problems with the client connection to the server. The file is placed
in the Logs folder and it is accessible from the drop-down list on the
main menu. You can enable this option in the Settings/Administration window
under the "Log files" section.
|