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FastCheck 1.0.10.0

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FastCheck

FastCheck

Heinz Tschabitscher

The Bottom Line

FastCheck lets you know about new messages in your FastMail account in what is very close to real time and in a very comfortable, concise and easy to use manner. It's really a pity FastCheck only works with FastMail accounts.

Pros

  • FastCheck provides near-instant new mail notification for FastMail accounts
  • Displaying sender and subject nicely by default, FastCheck lets you customize mail alerts flexibly
  • FastCheck goes to great lengths making setup and use easy and convenient

Cons

  • FastCheck only works with FastMail while little should stop it from supporting any IMAP account
  • Custom mail notification and filtering require writing a script
  • You cannot delete messages right from within FastCheck

Description

  • FastCheck announces new mail in multiple FastMail accounts.
  • If you can connect via IMAP, FastCheck provides instant notification.
  • FastCheck works (with periodic checking) through POP/HTTP connections to FastMail.
  • You can specify the folders you want to be checked.
  • FastCheck announces new mail using system tray, pop-up window and custom sound.
  • You can customize the alert process by making FastCheck run a JavaScript file.
  • Useful sample notification scripts (showing header info, using MS Agent) are available for download.
  • The default FastCheck announcements display sender and subject info.
  • With FastCheck, you can make FastMail your default Windows email program.
  • FastCheck supports Windows 9x/ME/NT/2000/3/XP/Vista.

Guide Review - FastCheck 1.0.10.0

There is a nice extension to the IMAP email protocol that specifies an "IDLE" command. One of the benefits is that the server can let you know instantly when new mail arrives.

The FastMail email service offers a wonderful web interface with, naturally, limited new mail notification capabilities. While FastMail also provides IMAP access incidentally supporting the IDLE IMAP extension, most email clients either don't use the IDLE command at all or don't exploit it fully, and usually they aren't that good at notifying you about new mail anyway.

Now this is where FastCheck enters the stage, and it does so in a very elegant way. FastCheck goes to great lengths to make it easy to set up your account (taking most circumstances like firewalls and dial-up connections into account to make sure you get up and checking without major complications).

You can specify which FastMail folders you want FastCheck to watch, and the notifications are prompt, unobtrusive and useful with new messages grouped by sender.

While you also learn about the subjects of new mail, FastCheck does not give you any body preview. And while the option to customize new mail notification via a JavaScript file is great, some simple and easy-to-use filtering might make a nice addition to FastCheck, too.

All in all FastCheck is a great tool, though, a tool that shouldn't be available for FastMail users alone.

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