Is there an SSL upgrade for Agent 7.2/1218?

[jerryab]

Comcast/Xfinity will soon require a newer SSL than the one in Agent
7.2 1218.

I use Agent for light e-mail and a few newsgroups. No binaries, etc.

I wrote to Forte Inc--no response.

No info about whether Agent 8 uses (or can be upgraded to use) the
newer SSL protocols.

Or does Agent need to be discarded and replaced w ith more modern
software?

[Ralph Fox]

Post by jerryab
Comcast/Xfinity will soon require a newer SSL than the one in Agent
7.2 1218.
I use Agent for light e-mail and a few newsgroups. No binaries, etc.
I wrote to Forte Inc--no response.
No info about whether Agent 8 uses (or can be upgraded to use) the
newer SSL protocols.
Or does Agent need to be discarded and replaced w ith more modern
software?

Agent 7.2 needs only a small configuration change. See this post:

* Google Groups: <https://groups.google.com/g/alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent/c/mJmtMSUqp6M>
* Narkive: <https://alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent.narkive.com/35h3yv8s/notice-agent-and-ssl>
* Usenet: <news:***@4ax.com>

[jerryab]

Finally got it. Thank you very much

Turns out the AppData folder was hidden under Users. No idea why. It
simply wasn't there--at first. I changed the view to show everything.
And then there it was. I changed the Agent.ini file using Notepad,
saved it, shut down Agent, and restarted it. Then tried using the
Comcast/Xfinity e-mail test message and it came back PASSED.

IMO, this should have been addressed and fixed by Forte long ago.

Jerry

Post by Ralph Fox

Post by jerryab
Comcast/Xfinity will soon require a newer SSL than the one in Agent
7.2 1218.
I use Agent for light e-mail and a few newsgroups. No binaries, etc.
I wrote to Forte Inc--no response.
No info about whether Agent 8 uses (or can be upgraded to use) the
newer SSL protocols.
Or does Agent need to be discarded and replaced w ith more modern
software?

* Google Groups: <https://groups.google.com/g/alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent/c/mJmtMSUqp6M>
* Narkive: <https://alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent.narkive.com/35h3yv8s/notice-agent-and-ssl>

[Arthur T.]

Post by jerryab
I changed the Agent.ini file using Notepad,
saved it, shut down Agent, and restarted it.

I would never do that. I never edit *any* ini file while the program
using it is active. I'm not in the mood for a search, but I think the
Agent help even says not to do it.

I'd also make a backup copy before updating it.

OTOH, I'm glad nothing went wrong, and that you fixed your problem.

[jerryab]

Post by Arthur T.
I never edit *any* ini file while the program
using it is active.

The program was not running. I closed Agent before doing anything with
the program. Then opened the ini file.

I knew what I needed to find, so I scanned the file until I found the
line regarding SSL. I changed the 0 to 10880 and saved it. Closed
everything and then restarted Agent. It ran properly, so I sent the
test e-mail. It was quickly returned stating it now passed their test.

[Otomatic]

Post by jerryab
I changed the Agent.ini file using Notepad,

Never use Notepad to edit configuration files.
Use a real text editor like Notepad++ (Free).

[pyotr filipivich]

Post by jerryab
Finally got it. Thank you very much
Turns out the AppData folder was hidden under Users. No idea why. It
simply wasn't there--at first. I changed the view to show everything.
And then there it was. I changed the Agent.ini file using Notepad,
saved it, shut down Agent, and restarted it. Then tried using the
Comcast/Xfinity e-mail test message and it came back PASSED.
IMO, this should have been addressed and fixed by Forte long ago.

I'm not sure Forte is still active in the email or newsreader biz
any more.

[The Horny Goat]

On Fri, 17 Feb 2023 13:05:20 -0800, pyotr filipivich

Post by pyotr filipivich

Post by jerryab
Finally got it. Thank you very much
Turns out the AppData folder was hidden under Users. No idea why. It
simply wasn't there--at first. I changed the view to show everything.
And then there it was. I changed the Agent.ini file using Notepad,
saved it, shut down Agent, and restarted it. Then tried using the
Comcast/Xfinity e-mail test message and it came back PASSED.
IMO, this should have been addressed and fixed by Forte long ago.

I'm not sure Forte is still active in the email or newsreader biz
any more.

It does seem to have been abandonware for at least two years now.

Is anybody running Agent on Win 11?

[Nobody]

Post by The Horny Goat
On Fri, 17 Feb 2023 13:05:20 -0800, pyotr filipivich

Post by pyotr filipivich

Post by jerryab
Finally got it. Thank you very much
Turns out the AppData folder was hidden under Users. No idea why. It
simply wasn't there--at first. I changed the view to show everything.
And then there it was. I changed the Agent.ini file using Notepad,
saved it, shut down Agent, and restarted it. Then tried using the
Comcast/Xfinity e-mail test message and it came back PASSED.
IMO, this should have been addressed and fixed by Forte long ago.

I'm not sure Forte is still active in the email or newsreader biz
any more.

It does seem to have been abandonware for at least two years now.
Is anybody running Agent on Win 11?

v8.00/32.1272 is reliably happy... without hiccups/hiccoughs... thank
you.

[Opinicus]

Post by Nobody

Post by The Horny Goat
Is anybody running Agent on Win 11?

v8.00/32.1272 is reliably happy... without hiccups/hiccoughs... thank
you.

Same here. I've been using the same version for as long as it's been
available.

[s|b]

Post by The Horny Goat
Is anybody running Agent on Win 11?

I am.

[Ken Blake]

Post by The Horny Goat
Is anybody running Agent on Win 11?

I am.

Me too.

[Shinji Ikari]

Hello.

Post by The Horny Goat
On Fri, 17 Feb 2023 13:05:20 -0800, pyotr filipivich
It does seem to have been abandonware for at least two years now.
Is anybody running Agent on Win 11?

here. V7.10

Just use the parameter:

[Online]
AllowedSSLProtocols=8192



works fine for me.

[Shinji Ikari]

correction...

Post by Shinji Ikari
[Online]

AllowedSSLProtocols=10880

[Arthur Conan Doyle]

Post by The Horny Goat
It does seem to have been abandonware for at least two years now.
Is anybody running Agent on Win 11?

Yes, 7.2 runs just fine on Win 11. Someone has posted the key and link for 8.0,
but I haven't had the need for it.

--
Usenet: The world's first (and best) social network.

[Rich]

Post by Ralph Fox

Post by jerryab
Comcast/Xfinity will soon require a newer SSL than the one in Agent
7.2 1218.
I use Agent for light e-mail and a few newsgroups. No binaries, etc.
I wrote to Forte Inc--no response.
No info about whether Agent 8 uses (or can be upgraded to use) the
newer SSL protocols.
Or does Agent need to be discarded and replaced w ith more modern
software?

* Google Groups: <https://groups.google.com/g/alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent/c/mJmtMSUqp6M>
* Narkive: <https://alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent.narkive.com/35h3yv8s/notice-agent-and-ssl>

Thanks Ralph, always a great resource.
I use comcast as ISP, UseNetServer.com for Usenet and agent ONLY for
UseNet, is this something that I will need to do in the future? How
might I know when this becomes a problem?

Thanks and best regards,

Rich

[Ralph Fox]

Post by Rich
Thanks Ralph, always a great resource.
I use comcast as ISP, UseNetServer.com for Usenet and agent ONLY for
UseNet, is this something that I will need to do in the future? How
might I know when this becomes a problem?
User-Agent: ForteAgent/7.10.32.1214

It is a problem when you get this error trying to connect to the server

Error: Unable to negotiate an SSL connection with server xxxxxxxxxxx

[Rich]

Post by Ralph Fox

Post by Rich
Thanks Ralph, always a great resource.
I use comcast as ISP, UseNetServer.com for Usenet and agent ONLY for
UseNet, is this something that I will need to do in the future? How
might I know when this becomes a problem?
User-Agent: ForteAgent/7.10.32.1214

It is a problem when you get this error trying to connect to the server
Error: Unable to negotiate an SSL connection with server xxxxxxxxxxx

Doh!
Thanks again Ralph, you have been a great help for everything Agent
and very much appreciated.

Cheers,

Rich

[Paul Webster]

Thanks for posting this answer.
I had come back from a break and found that email had stopped working from one of my providers - Ionos ex 1&1.
I knew that they were going to switch off the old protocols but was waiting to see if Agent failed before checking further ... and ... it failed.
After a couple of hours looking for configuration options for Winsock etc, I found your post and made the simple change.
All now working again.

I do use another email client to generate a simple archive on the side and could switch to it full time but my fingers know where to type and auto-filing rules put things in the right place and it is hard to give up on an old friend.

Paul

On Saturday, 25 February 2023 at 19:22:16 UTC, Ralph Fox wrote:

[Paul S Person]

On Sun, 18 Jun 2023 05:33:36 -0700 (PDT), Paul Webster

Post by Paul Webster
Thanks for posting this answer.
I had come back from a break and found that email had stopped working from one of my providers - Ionos ex 1&1.
I knew that they were going to switch off the old protocols but was waiting to see if Agent failed before checking further ... and ... it failed.
After a couple of hours looking for configuration options for Winsock etc, I found your post and made the simple change.
All now working again.
I do use another email client to generate a simple archive on the side and could switch to it full time but my fingers know where to type and auto-filing rules put things in the right place and it is hard to give up on an old friend.

This note might help:

https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/988l85vk

My notes:
1. My ISP hasn't made the switch yet, so I can't verify that it works.
2. My AGENT.INI file is in my Agent directory. There is no Data
subdirectory. But that may just be me, or the version of Agent, or the
vagaries of Windows installation. Just find the file, wherever it is.

The theory is that setting the higher number allows Windows to use TLS
1.2 instead of 1.0.

[Ralph Fox]

Post by Paul Webster
Thanks for posting this answer.
I had come back from a break and found that email had stopped working from one of my providers - Ionos ex 1&1.
I knew that they were going to switch off the old protocols but was waiting to see if Agent failed before checking further ... and ... it failed.
After a couple of hours looking for configuration options for Winsock etc, I found your post and made the simple change.
All now working again.

You're welcome.