Craig A.

About me

Developer Information
Name Craig A.
User since May 21, 2013
Number of add-ons developed 0 add-ons
Average rating of developer's add-ons Not yet rated

My Reviews

Advanced Composer

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

I've used Signature switch for years, and know of nothing better. Most of my email is S/MIME or PGP encoded, required for sensitive material security. I usually use the latest Thunderbird release, 115.11.1 (64-bit) at this writing. I use Signature Switch under both Windows and Ubuntu Linux.

Here is a list of Pro's and Con's from my experience.
Pro:
- Multiple signatures allowed (Full for outside communication, contact only for internal communication)
- Easy to use, button is top right of a Compose window
- Allows inclusion of inline images (secure email doesn't allow links to external sites for this information)
- Generally works well!

Con:
- Forces signature to be at the bottom of the message as opposed to inserting signature inline at the cursor for replies (reason for 4 star rating, this is a problem) [solution is to copy/paste the signature where it's needed from the bottom of the message]

This review is for a previous version of the add-on (2.6). 

Just Report It

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful SPAM Reporting replacement for now defunct Habul. Just Report It allowed me to finally upgrade TB to current after the TB API changes broke Habul.

SPAM is a huge problem. I use RBL's like SpamCop, strict RFC checking, Thunderbird's built-in adaptive junk mail filter and was still getting 50-300 SPAM messages/day.

After installing Just Report It and reporting SPAM garbage dumping to SpamCop, I now only see 3-7 SPAM Messages/day.

There is big money in SPAM, and I've watched organized efforts by SPAMmer's to kill off any effective defense against this activity.

Just Report It + SpamCop + RBL are the only effective last line of defense left. SPAM grows at 30%/year, and it is a constant battle to keep my Inbox from being hijacked by SPAMvertising delivery platforms and made useless by SPAM profiteers.

15 years ago I tried running without all the SPAM protections. My mailbox received 10,000+ messages in one day. That is one new message every 8 seconds which makes your mail delivery bell sound like a gas pump Ding, Ding, Ding every 3-8 seconds.

It is necessary to have a program like Just Report It to combat this war about who is going to control your InBox... SPAMmers or you. Read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Frog for a little history.

Thank you Just Report It! (not perfect, but it sure works)

This review is for a previous version of the add-on (2.2.0). 

HabuL

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

I wrote an earlier review April 24, 2017 [find "previous review" link at the end of this message] for "HabuL Setup" tips. Since then, HabuL is a -must- have to automate the SPAM reporting process to SpamCop.

I'm writing this review because the HabuL homepage https://sourceforge.net/projects/habul/ says "Status: Abandoned", and Thunderbird 60.0 won't install HabuL as packaged/available on this site. I discovered I can edit the habul-1.21.0-sm.xpi contents, specifically the install.rdf file to change maxVersion to a newer number that Thunderbird 60.0 will install and HabuL works again. I don't know how long this trick will work, so I also reported a bug to Mozilla https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1485190 You can vote for this feature under "Details" if its important to you.

install.rdf Ex: {maxVersion} 69 {/maxVersion};


My experience after 1+ year of careful and diligent SpamCop reporting:
Week 1: Dramatic decrease in SPAM
Week 2: SPAM increased to levels higher than previous weeks (SPAMmer targeting)
Week 3: levels starting to decrease
Week 4: SPAM levels really starting to drop
Month 1 - now (1+ year later): Spam Levels staying around 10-30/day.

At Week 0 I was getting 500+ SPAM messages/day making it through strict SMTP RFC compliance checking, 5 RBL's, and Thunderbird "adaptive Junk SPAM filtering". After the first month of SpamCop reporting, SPAM dropped to about 10/day. Today it's up to about 20-30/day. 500+/day makes your INBOX mostly unusable. In case it isn't obvious, spamcop.net is one of the RBL's I use for SPAM filtering.

KnujOn [NoJunk backwards] SPAM Research effort is shut down. You can read their SPAM research findings at http://knujon.com/illicit_domains_icann_graphic.pdf This material explains there is already effective AntiSPAM policy in place, it's not enforced. No enforcement means you might as well not have the legislation.

There is no comparable SpamCop/Habul/Thunderbird tool available. It appears SPAMmers have targeted and killed successful organized efforts to block SPAM. So enjoy HabuL and SpamCop while you can.

I added Thunderbird email Filter Rules to move SpamCop reporting messages from my SentItems folder to my SpamCop folder. This helps not clutter up my Sent Folder with SPAM reporting clutter.

P.S. PackardDon is correct, only messages -marked- as "Junk" are removed from the current open folder.

And look for my April 24, 2017 message (click the "previous review" link at the end of this message) which has HabuL SpamCop Setup notes which would have been invaluable to me when I was setting up HabuL. Under Thunderbird 60.0, accessing HabuL "options" is done with Tools---Add-ons Options---HabuL.

Good Luck in your fight against SPAM.

This user has a previous review of this add-on.

Classic Password Editor

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

Excellent tool for adding missing features to Mozilla's login/password management system.

Unfortunately, needs an update to work in the latest Thunderbird 60 (which broke several useful add-ons including this one). Thunderbird 60.0 is claiming this add-on is "corrupted" and won't install.

This review is for a previous version of the add-on (1.0.3). 

HabuL

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

I have to agree with " Psychonaut", " Adam Reece", and "WilliamConley" reviews.

It wasn't clear that to make the "Report" button show requires using Thunderbird to "Customize" the Thunderbird "Toolbar" by manually adding the "HabuL Report Button" to the Thunderbird Toolbar. In my opinion this should be part of installing HabuL.

Setting up SpamCop was a nightmare, but I finally got it. You must go to www.spamcop.net and manually create your own SpamCop account. Then take the Report Spam email address provided by SpamCop which looks like [email protected] and copy the aB1cdefghJ23KLmN part into HabuL as your SpamCop ID. Then -don't- turn on quick report until you've submitted a few SpamCop reports to get the hang of reporting. The sequence of events goes like this:

1. When SPAM comes in, make sure it is moved to your "Junk" folder. [because HabuL will grab everything {flagged as Junk} in the open Junk folder to send it off as SPAM.] HabuL won't touch anything -not- flagged as junk.

2. HabuL will "Write" a Thunderbird email from you with all SPAM messages added as an attachment to your SpamCop address [email protected]. Edit out any of your automated "Contact" / Signature information and press "Send".

3. Then if you did everything right, after a couple minutes you'll get a email message from SpamCop in your Inbox with URL's for each piece of SPAM submitted. You have to click on each link and "Send" a report to the email addresses involved, after verifying the message is truly SPAM. Read everything SpamCop sends you, they're good about explaining why all these steps are necessary. i.e. make sure you aren't blacklisting your church mailing list, mozilla distribution list, or all of Yahoo for yourself and everyone else who uses SpamCop. Exercise due diligence when marking messages as SPAM, or you'll destroy the usefulness of SpamCop as a SPAM blocking service.

Since I use SpamCop bl.spamcop.net RBL in my Postfix setup, I'm hoping after some days all my reporting will pay off in a dramatic reduction of SPAM. This isn't an unfounded wish. I tried adding the SPAM email "Received:" IP to IP tables for a day. I found with the first 8-10 messages I'd effectively blocked all the machines sending me new SPAM every 2-3 minutes for about half a day. Then I had to repeat the blocking process for the next half day. Then at night I'd get about 30-80 more SPAM emails while I was asleep. I'd hoped HabuL in conjunction with SpamCop might automate this blocking process. I'll give it a few days of reporting to see. Today I've reported 50 pieces of SPAM to SpamCop in 4.5 hours. These 50 pieces of SPAM made it through strict RFC email protocol checking, and 8 different RBL lists, including bl.spamcop.net on my system.

My hope is HabuL will allow me a more tailored active approach with SpamCop to block SPAM for myself and everyone else using SpamCop services. SPAM is a serious problem with 80% of current internet email traffic now being SPAM.

Setting up HabuL isn't easy, and I think this difficulty accounts for most of the messages here saying it doesn't work after install. It does work, is better than not having HabuL, but is still a bit of work to use. Yes, I've filed Feature and Support tickets to address what I found. Hard to find support link:
https://sourceforge.net/p/habul/support-requests/?source=navbar