Strange Behavior Related to UAC and Admin Settings

[Resonant1]

I have some really odd things happening with Poco 4.8.0.4400 under Win 7 x64, Home Premium.

When I installed Poco I had the User Account Control settings at minimum, but not off completely. When starting Poco, no UAC pop-up was displayed. I made all my theme and file location customizations and that worked fine, although I could not display an e-mail in a browser. That would fail with a "file not found" error. Also, Poco will not operate as the default mail client for website "mailto:" links. If I click the link on a page what I get is a blank e-mail with a string similar to "mailto:theaddress@wherever.com" as an attachment. No address occurs in the TO field. I have not found a solution for this.

The other day I decided to turn off the UAC completely since I have a really good virus and execution control program. As soon as I did that, Poco lost all its custom settings and all my mail disappeared. I was able to reset file locations and get my mail back, but theme customizations had to be done all over again. Instead, I turned the UAC back on.

Today, I enabled "Run as administrator" on the Poco Icon. Now when I try to start Poco I get a UAC warning. And again ... as soon as I did that, Poco lost all its custom settings. Viewing an e-mail in a browser now works, though.

I find all this weird behavior rather disconcerting. It tells me that Poco is using different file and settings locations depending on privilege and UAC level. The reaction to the admin privilege seems backwards. It should trigger the UAC on low privilege and shut the heck up on high privilege, and it should use the same settings locations no matter what.

Another related concern is that Poco has not been updated in over two years, so this may mean that the code is "ignorant" of Win 7 requirements. I rely on Poco for my business e-mail and I archive all e-mail for record keeping. I need Poco to be viable on Win 7 and future OS's.

Has anyone found any solutions to any of the above?

[Tomas]

If you select from menu Help > Email support, report will be created, does the line starting with AppPath point to Program Files folder? If so, you have data in Win7 incompatible folders:
In such case move to a roaming directory could be initiated through menu Tools > Options, Directories page, there will be a blue linked text to initiate migration. If not, another possibility is to reinstall and choose one of the compatible data locations during install, then import data from previous install.

If I click the link on a page what I get is a blank e-mail with a string similar to "mailto:theaddress@wherever.com" as an attachment.

Is the problem with Firefox? If so, if you will use Firefox menu Tools > Options, Applications tab, type mailto into the search field, and click on the arrow button next to the action field in the mailto line to show a list of applications available, does it show two entries for Pocomail or just one? If there are two entries, please select the one named "Use PocoMail (default)". Then click OK to save the settings change.

If it's selected already though, select the other one instead. Then click OK to save the settings change. Close Firefox, start it again, repeat the above to select "Use PocoMail (default)" this time and click OK to save the settings change.

[Resonant1]

does the line starting with AppPath point to Program Files folder? If so, you have data in Win7 incompatible folders:

Yes, it points to C:\Program Files (x86)\Pocomail. But I have redirected mail and attachment files out to a data directory tree C:\Data\Poco\Mail, C:\Data\Poco\Attach, etc.

BTW, which problem are we working on with the above?

Is the problem with Firefox? If so, if you will use Firefox menu Tools > Options, Applications tab, type mailto into the search field, and click on the arrow button next to the action field in the mailto line to show a list of applications available, does it show two entries for Pocomail or just one? If there are two entries, please select the one named "Use PocoMail (default)".

Yes, this is in Firefox. Every other browser seems to insist on using Windows Live Mail. In Firefox 9 the path is Options > Options > Applications. There is only one mailto line and it has a drop-down box with only one item being Pocomail.

It acts as though either Firefox is feeding the mail address to Poco incorrectly, or Poco is mishandling the address once it opens the new mail window.

[KevTech]

Read this thread: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=7507

I posted code for the mailto issue as well as a link to the registry patch for win 7.

[Resonant1]

KevTech,

I don't see a concrete fix in that thread, What I see is a lot of confusion and folks reporting that the registry patch doesn't work. Not being one to like to thrash around in the registry, I would prefer a more concise solution.

I have tried clicking both buttons in the General tab of the Poco options with no joy. I'd love to see a real writeup from the Poco folks on this. Until then I really don't want to mess around with reg imports. There are so many of them listed, who knows which is which.

I am concerned that there doesn't seem to be any focus by Poco folks to make a Win 7 compatible version.

[ente]

Hello Resonant
I don't know exactly what "strange behavior related to UAC and admin settings" means and what these settings are used for. But in case you have the problem, that when you are in the internet and you would like to click on a email address shown, you wish that Pocomail opens a new mail and puts in the to field the address you had clicked on (as it was the case in good old Windows XP), then you have to do what k tech reccomended to do: go back to that topic and go on reading (he is just to humble to direrct you straight to (his) relevant lines...)
Suddently you will then find a posting of k tech where he gives the few registry lines it needs to get W7 64 know about Pocomail.
Here they are:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mailto]
"URL Protocol"=""
"FriendlyTypeName"="C:\\PROGRA~2\\Pocomail4\\Poco.exe"
@="URL:MailTo Protocol"
"EditFlags"=dword:00000002
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mailto\DefaultIcon]
@="C:\\PROGRA~2\\Pocomail4\\Poco.exe,-1"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mailto\Shell]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mailto\Shell\open]


Copy this lines and save them as
W7forPocomailRegistry.reg
Important: File exptension has to be
.reg

(and not .reg.txt!)
Then go and start Regedit
As soon as it opens, you will see in the left top
File
Click on that an then select Import
then you'll be asked which file
select
W7forPocomailRegistry.reg
press enter
and a fifht of a second later you'll get the message that import has been successfull.
And then, the next time you are in the internet and you see an email address which you will send a mail, just click and Pocomail will present you a new mail with that address in the to field.
Regards,
ente

P.S. I'm one of the folks lamenting about that (and other) Windows 7 related bugs of Pocomail. But, since there is nothing better around - still going strong like Johnny Walker with Pocomail. Even so I'm frustrated that the long time ago (and many times) promised fixes - not to speak about an update and even less speaking about a new version - have still not been made.
Hello Slaven, did you hear!

[Resonant1]

I don't know exactly what "strange behavior related to UAC and admin settings" means and what these settings are used for.

That refers to the original post in this thread where all that is explained.

Click on that an then select Import then you'll be asked which file select W7forPocomailRegistry.reg press enter and a fifht of a second later you'll get the message that import has been successfull. And then, the next time you are in the internet and you see an email address which you will send a mail, just click and Pocomail will present you a new mail with that address in the to field.

That would be incorrect. I still cannot click on a link and have the address end up anywhere but as an attachment.

This is why I said previously that what I see in the referenced thread is a lot of confusion and folks reporting that the registry patch doesn't work. And now that I have thrashed in my own registry, it doesn't work for me either.

With patches like this one has to keep in mind that MS makes many different incarnations of Win 7 and what works for one does not work for the others. It's like entirely different groups at Microsoft developed each variant of Win 7 and none of them talked to each other. That's probably what actually happened since not only are we talking about 32 bit versus 64 bit, then the home, business, and pro versions, and finally all the international versions.

So I should rephrase my question to: "Has anyone found a fix for the mailto problem under Win 7 Home premium 64 bit"?

[ente]

That would be incorrect. I still cannot click on a link and have the address end up anywhere but as an attachment.

This is why I said previously that what I see in the referenced thread is a lot of confusion and folks reporting that the registry patch doesn't work. And now that I have thrashed in my own registry, it doesn't work for me either.

Very strange! I used this patch by now 6 times and its working on all 6 machines - 5 of them have W7 64 bit pro, 1 goes with W7 64 bit home. And we click on a link several times a day and every time successfully. Did you by any chance change the install path for pocomail - if so, you ought to make that be reflected in this patch.

BTW. folks complained about the other patch, which was placed in the topic at an earlier date. In that one - somebody has mentioned - thought had been given only to the 32 bit version of W7. And some folks complained about some lines proposed to be entered by typing one by one into the registry because they did not make the link work
ente

[Resonant1]

Did you by any chance change the install path for pocomail - if so, you ought to make that be reflected in this patch.

No, it is the default Pocomail4. I did go into the registry and manually change the DOS format of your file specs ("C:\PROGRA~2\Pocomail4\Poco.exe") to fully qualified specs ("C:\Program Files (x86)\Pocomail4\Poco.exe") in all places, and that didn't work either.

Could someone from Poco chime in here??? Like an actual employee? Any time now would be good. For the "sake of Pete" ... there are obviously many of us using Poco that wish to use it into the future. How about a little help here? Anyone from Poco? Hellooooooo ....? (knock knock) Is this thing on? Hellooooo........

[KevTech]

No, it is the default Pocomail4. I did go into the registry and manually change the DOS format of your file specs ("C:\PROGRA~2\Pocomail4\Poco.exe") to fully qualified specs ("C:\Program Files (x86)\Pocomail4\Poco.exe") in all places, and that didn't work either.

You can not do that as the registry will not know that path as it has a space in it....That is why it uses the DOS short name progra~2 for the x86 folder and for the program files folder will use progra~1.

As for your earlier statement about different versions of windows having different registry entries, the registry references for mailto are in the same place whether it be x86, 64, home, pro, ultimate, etc.

If you have not already done so go to start > default programs > set your default programs

In the list click on Pocomail then down toward the bottom click on set this program as default which should give pocomail all the mail defaults.

[Resonant1]

You can not do that as the registry will not know that path as it has a space in it....That is why it uses the DOS short name progra~2 for the x86 folder and for the program files folder will use progra~1.

That's not quite accurate. Under MY Win 7 Home Premium 64 bit, the registry is chock full of fully qualified file specs, with spaces, across many different software products and they all work fine. I tried it as an alternative to see if it would work for Poco but it didn't since presumably, for my system the registry keys specified are either not correct or incomplete.

As for your earlier statement about different versions of windows having different registry entries, the registry references for mailto are in the same place whether it be x86, 64, home, pro, ultimate, etc.

I didn't say that all versions use different registry entries. I said, "MS makes many different incarnations of Win 7 and what works for one does not work for the others." That is generally speaking, not in reference to the registry, and is true, especially when it comes to the UAC, which is the original focus of this thread. I have learned this from debugging many other software products.

If you have not already done so go to start > default programs > set your default programs

Done long ago. Otherwise the mailto link would not try to open Poco when you click the link. One odd thing, though, if you go into the default programs window and look at the Poco listing, then click on "Choose Program Defaults", for Extension EML and MAPI Send Mail it says Poco is the default. But for protocol "mailto" it says "Unknown application". It stays that way no matter what, even when it saves and says Pocomail has all three defaults.

[KevTech]

Done long ago. Otherwise the mailto link would not try to open Poco when you click the link. One odd thing, though, if you go into the default programs window and look at the Poco listing, then click on "Choose Program Defaults", for Extension EML and MAPI Send Mail it says Poco is the default. But for protocol "mailto" it says "Unknown application". It stays that way no matter what, even when it saves and says Pocomail has all three defaults.

Ya some registry entries will work with full path and some will not. All depends on how the program was programmed.

You have the registry hosed for those extensions. Whatever program you had or have installed is not releasing the association.

Have you tried associating pocomail to those extensions?

Same place as set default except choose associate a program or protocol.

You also need to check this:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.eml

I have WIn 7 home and pro 64...Pocomail works fine on both of them.

Applied patch, set defaults in Windows and pocomail options.

You may need to start over so...

You may want to use unassociate and remove the user association

After that remove the file extension completely through unassociate which will remove the global file associations for them.

Reinstall pocomail which will reinstall the extensions and apply the patch then set as defaults again.

[Resonant1]

You have the registry hosed for those extensions. Whatever program you had or have installed is not releasing the association.
Have you tried associating pocomail to those extensions?

Have never installed anything else. I opened the HP box, turned on the laptop, and installed Poco. Have already made the associations as described above.

You also need to check this:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.eml

It exists and is pointed to Pocomail. Besides, I wouldn't use Explorer on a bet, so it's irrelevant. I use Firefox for my own activities and all others for testing my web designs.

Interesting side note, if I try to use a mailto link in Explorer it says "The default mail program is not properly installed." Firefox simply opens the Poco program but then feeds the address to the attachment variable instead of the "TO" variable. Google Chrome doesn't react to the link at all. Safari throws up a message saying: "Safari can’t open “mailto:address@resonantenergies.com?Subject=Comments%20or%20Questions%20for%20Resonant%20Energies” because Microsoft Windows doesn’t recognize Internet addresses starting with “mailto:”."

I have WIn 7 home and pro 64...Pocomail works fine on both of them.

Like I said ... all versions of Windows are not created equal. Individual vendors like Dell and HP also diddle the OS, making things even worse.

You may want to use unassociate and remove the user association
After that remove the file extension completely through unassociate which will remove the global file associations for them.

LOL ... that's sooooooo not gonna happen. This is a business critical machine. No shareware registry tweaking software will see the light of day here.

You may need to start over so...
Reinstall pocomail which will reinstall the extensions and apply the patch then set as defaults again.

I may opt to forget the mailto capability and live with it as I have already before I entertain starting over ... unless I feel adventurous and confident in my backup of the Poco mail files and settings.

If I DO reinstall, I will turn off the UAC once and for all FIRST and then install Poco outside the Program Files (x86) tree in a user owned directory so it has full read/write access to its own directory structure. But before that, I'd really like to hear from Poco personnel.

Helloooooooo ... are you guys out there? Wake up and smell the tech support. We want your product. Make it work on Win 7 please....

[KevTech]

It exists and is pointed to Pocomail. Besides, I wouldn't use Explorer on a bet, so it's irrelevant. I use Firefox for my own activities and all others for testing my web designs.

Wow you really do not know what you are doing.

That has nothing to do with explorer and everything to do with the global associations in Windows.

I will sign off as this is pointless for me but will say this...this is a user to user forum not official tech support.

[Resonant1]

Wow you really do not know what you are doing.
That has nothing to do with explorer and everything to do with the global associations in Windows.

Really? ... Insults?

Not knowing the exact definition of every key in the registry, I was going by the portion of the key as highlighted here: "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.eml" to assume it was involved with, ... oh i don't know ... Explorer? If that makes me a dumb@ss then I guess I can't help that, huh? But then, the whole point of asking questions is learning what one does not know ... or am I mistaken again?

I will sign off as this is pointless for me but will say this...this is a user to user forum not official tech support.

... and on every forum I have ever used, the company management or support looks in and comments. My comments were a tongue-in-cheek plea for official help and to express the frustration I feel and see reflected throughout these sorts of issues on the forum.