Messages downloaded multiple times

[px03afk]

I'm not sure if this is a problem with Spami but maybe somebody can shed some light.

I have three machines downloading messages from two accounts with the same ISP and so the messages are not deleted when they are downloaded, they are held for 5 days. Most of the time all works OK but every so often any one of the machines will download messages it has already downloaded and it might repeat that again very shortly afterwards.

The machines are using Outlook 2003 with POP3 account settings and Spami is using SSL connection where possible.

Can anyone give me a clue as to why this problem occurs and if there is a way of stopping it happening.

Thanks

[Chactory]

Hi!

Thank you for giving us such an interesting brainteaser!
I'm sure that you are using Spamihilator version 1.0.
Can you tell me, how the settings of your three computers are?
Are they all the same?
Do those Computers receive mails in always the same order?
Is it supposable, that none of the three computers sets mails as unread?

Kind regards,
Chactory

[px03afk]

All three machines are set up the same way and yes, it is Spami version 1.0. They are a mix of operating systems, XP Pro, Vista Home and 7 Home 64bit. They are all set to use SSL and they are all set to remove messages after 5 days for both accounts.

As for the order in which they look at the two accounts, they are set with different time cycles so any one could access either account first and therefore I think the answer to your question is that they are not getting the messages in the same order.

David

[Chactory]

Hi David,

although I do not know why and how, I think it could be of interest to watch, if there is a reproducable action. Can you find a regularity in the time cycle, how many days after the first mail fetch you get the duplicats? Are those mails always non-spam mails?

Kind regards,
Chactory

[px03afk]

Hi Chactory,

When it happens it may repeat the messages on the very next download, after an hour or a day or a week, i.e. it appears to be completely random and unpredictable. Also, so far as I can tell, all messages still on the server are downloaded again, whether they are spam or not, although I think that Spami doesn't report spam messages again.

Where is the information held that Spami/Outlook uses to decide whether a message is a new one and therefore needs to be downloaded.

David

[Chactory]

Hi David!

Where is the information held that Spami/Outlook uses to decide whether a message is a new one and therefore needs to be downloaded.

Please look into the files "client.log" and "server.log" to learn more about that. I think it is a very intelligent idea to check this question.

Kind regards, Chactory

[Quellcore]

Hello px03afk!

Where is the information held that Spami/Outlook uses to decide whether a message is a new one and therefore needs to be downloaded.

If i remember correctly it is the file "uniqueid.db" (SQLite Database)
within Spami's User-Folder (a.k.a. [Partition]\Users\[USER]\AppData\Roaming\Spamihilator

Regards,
Quellcore

[px03afk]

What would I be looking for in the log files? Part of the problem is that unless you happen to be looking at the download when the problem occurs you only know it's happened when you look in your mailbox. Is there any more diagnostic I could/should switch on and is it worth capturing unique.db periodically to find out if info is being lost in it.

[Chactory]

Hallo px03afk!

I would check the appearance of such twicely received mails and compare all accessory commands or properties.

I have another thought, I would try to let remove from the server only by one of the three computers.

Gruß,
Chactory

[px03afk]

Just happened again and I took a look at both the Client.log and Server.log files. The only thing I notice is that on the previous run the Client.log shows a list of UID's followed by a list of what appears to be a list of messages along with their sizes. There then follows an entry where the connection to the server worked OK but there is an error 'One or more messages could not be received' but the connection finishes. The very next entry has the UID list again, follows by the message list, followed by a series of RETR entries for each of the messages.

It therefore looks as though the failure to retrieve messages has upset the list of those which have already been processed, resulting in them being downloaded again as they presumably are no longer present in the list of those already downloaded.

Surely, even if there is a communications problem with the server, the list of messages which have previously been downloaded shouldn't be cleared.

[Chactory]

Presumably Michel, the program author of Spamihilator, lets the spamfilter program retrieve mails again when it happens to fail with complete and correct retrieve.

Therefore, it would be of interest to me, why there occurr errors so often. I'm suspecting that it could happen, when two of your three computers want to fetch mails or delete mails on the server coincidentally.

Sorry for being not very helpful to you. If its very uncomfortable to you, please try my idea to let delete on server by only one of the three computers or try to contact Michel by a personal message ("Private Nachricht senden").

[px03afk]

I'm not sure that deleting from only one machine will do much good if the issue is with multiple machines contacting the server at the same time. However, whatever the reason for the failure it still doesn't make complete sense to me to remove the list of mails already downloaded. I'll try to contact Michael.

Thanks

[Chactory]

Hallo px03afk!



Regards,
Chactory

[Henk]

Hallo Chactory!

I have exactly the same problem.
Since I leave the mail on the server for some time, I got all my mails downloaded double in outlook express.
Please solve this problem.
I am using version 1.0.0

Gruß
Henk

[Henk]

Hallo Chactory!

I want to add some info:
I am using Outlook Express 6
I have multiple email accounts (also on different servers)
I also have alias accounts for my main email account.
Only the mail for the main account and its aliasses are set up to be left on the server.
The mail on the server is only for webmail access.

Gruß
Henk