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Mercury/32 4.62 - Free Mail Server

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Mercury/32 - Free Mail Server

Mercury/32 - Free Mail Server

Heinz Tschabitscher
The Bottom Line
Mercury/32 is a powerful mail server with a rich feature set, solid performance and effective filtering. With its flexibility, Mercury/32 can perform most mail management tasks with ease. The few weak points include missing web-based access and a somewhat fragmented interface.
Pros
  • Mercury/32 comes packed with features and solidity from tradition
  • Flexible filtering including outgoing mail and disclaimers, strong anti-spam features
  • Mercury/32 supports multiple domains, domain mailboxes and can fetch mail from POP accounts
Cons
  • Mercury/32 configuration a bit fragmented, no web administration interface
  • Can't use the Windows user database
  • Mercury/32 and its individual servers can't be run as Windows services
Description
  • Mercury/32 is a SMTP/POP/IMAP, Finger, PH and, partly, webmail server.
  • Extensive filters and actions plus an interface to external applications offer flexible automatic actions in Mercury/32.
  • Precise connection control, filters, DNS blacklists, the Bayesian SpamHalter filter and graylisting help dam spam.
  • Mercury/32 includes solid support for mailing lists with a web-based administration interface.
  • Using flexible scheduling and remote POP email collecting, Mercury/32 works well in dial-up setups.
  • Integration with Clam AV lets Mercury/32 detect viruses.
  • Mercury/32 can keep detailed connection logs and statistics.
  • Mercury/32 supports Windows 9x/ME/NT/2000/3/XP/Vista.
Guide Review - Mercury/32 4.62 - Free Mail Server
If software is built on solid ground, it, much like wine, can only get better.

Mercury/32, the mail server from the maker of Pegasus Mail, is a great example. Years of coding have made Mercury/32 a feature-rich, powerful and, most of all, very flexible mail server.

You can use Mercury/32 as an SMTP, POP, IMAP, Finger and, to some extent, webmail server. Each module is highly configurable, and Mercury/32 offers extensive filtering, content control, disclaimers and an interface to external mail processors. Mercury/32 elegantly connects with SpamHalter, a Bayesian spam filter and the ClamAV anti-virus engine, for example.

Security is also tight in Mercury/32 with precise access control and TLS/SSL support across protocols. Unfortunately, web-based access is limited to mailing list administration.

One of a long, continuous development history's adverse effects is an almost inevitable fragmentation of the configuration, which takes you to many a dialog and window in Mercury/32. A bit more and better Windows integration such as using the Windows user database or installing Windows services would also be nice.

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