Netscape recommends that users of Communicator Standard and Professional editions download Communicator 4.05. You can find out what version of Communicator you are running by choosing About Communicator from the Help menu.

 If you are using Netscape Communicator Professional Edition (which includes Netscape Calendar, IBM Host On-Demand, and AutoAdmin) please read the information contained in these notes. In addition, you can click here to view the release notes specifically for Professional Edition.

• What's New in 4.05
• Known issues
• Known issues in Navigator

Additional information is available:

• From the Help menu, choose Help Contents
• From the Help menu, choose International Users
• Developer information
• Documentation information
• Technical notes
• Introduction to Communicator

• Known issues in 4.0
• Known issues in 4.01
• Known issues in 4.01a
• Known issues in 4.02
• Known issues in 4.03
• Known issues in 4.04

The Communicator 4.05 maintenance release also includes these new features:

Navigator and Composer

• New Security Info window
• Users can now import and export as text in Composer
• Users can now print without saving in Composer

• Import Utility for Eudora - imports mail folders, mail messages, address books and settings from Eudora to Communicator. It does not modify any Eudora files or settings. For more information click here for the Readme file. NSImport is also available from the Netscape public FTP site. Please send us feedback via e-mail at mail-import@netscape.com or newsgroup at snews://secnews.netscape.com/netscape.messaging.messenger.
• Users can now print from the Mail Compose window
• Support for Microsoft Office 97 Mail Merge to e-mail
• The new Simple MAPI implementation now fully supports the MAPISendMail() and MAPISendDocuments() calls. This allows Netscape Messenger to be used with PeopleSoft applications that rely on Simple MAPI for mail integration. MAPI Send also allows users of Microsoft Office to send documents directly from the Office application using Messenger
• Users can now sort e-mail by order received

• Faster rendering using OpenGL
• New Graphical User Interface (GUI) for easy navigation
• Full Java in Script node support

Navigator and Composer

• AutoProxy now works without problems
• Mime types of application/octet-stream and application/x-msdownload will no longer cause Communicator to rename the file extension
• Enhanced interoperability between Navigator and Microsoft Exchange 5.0/Outlook. Read the tech note (link un-available AOL removed the document) on how to start a third party e-mail client from the Navigator menu or the Navigator toolbar.

• Faster Java startup
• Faster applet loading
• Adjusted memory allocation strategy to improve results on smaller allocations, such as strings and objects
• Improved file system utilization during loads from JAR files
• Improved caching and searching of classes lists in JAR files

• Netcaster is more stable under Windows 95 when specifying a webtop as the default channel
• The Netcaster drawer no longer automatically opens when Netcaster receives focus (such as when the topmost window is closed or when Netcaster is selected in the Task Manager). To open the Netcaster drawer, click on the Netcaster tab.

• Resolved stability problem caused by address book corruption

• Users can now turn off the registration prompt after the first Sign On
• No longer halts if the user receives certain HTML markup
• Buddy List enhancements:
• Windows 95 - system tray icon now blinks when buddies sign on
• Checks for valid buddy names when you enter them
• New buddy names are created where the cursor is positioned
• Windows 95
• System tray icon stops blinking after buddies sign off.
• Windows 3.1
• Increased compatibility with modems

GeneralGeneral

• Users of the JDK 1.1 SmartUpdate or installer packages that require AWT 1.1 support should avoid updating to 4.05 to avoid reverting back to AWT 1.0 functionality. A 4.05 update that includes AWT 1.1 is available on the DevEdge Site at http://developer.netscape.com/software/jdk/download.html.
• If you are using an applet that uses RMI callbacks, you must call netscape.security.PrivilegeManager.enablePrivilege("UniversalConnect") before the your first call into the RMI runtime.

NavigatorNavigator

• If you are running Netscape Communicator on Windows NT 3.51 using a Matrox Millennium graphics driver, an application error may occur when viewing HTML pages. Obtain an updated version of the driver (version 2.25 or later).
• Navigator only supports Microsoft Exchange 5.0 or later.
• After entering a URL that does not exist, avoid clicking the Stop button before Navigator notifies you that no DNS entry has been found. If you do click the Stop button, no more URLs will be found by Navigator. If this occurs, restart Communicator. A simple workaround is to wait until Navigator notifies you that it does not exist.
• Transparency does not function correctly. If an image has a background chunk, it will be visible in transparent areas and the page background will not show through. To turn on background image printing, choose Page Setup from the File menu and enable the Print Backgrounds option.
• If a system halt related to the Kernel32.dll occurs, update the kernel. You can obtain the update from http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q148/3/36.asp. This may correct the problem.
• If you uninstalled beta versions of Communicator (Preview Release 5 or earlier) on Windows NT systems, you may experience trouble running .avi, .wav, .mid, or .rmi files.

To fix the problem:
1. Open the Control Panel and select one of the following:
• For NT 3.51, select Drivers.
• For NT 4.0, select Multimedia - Devices.
2. Add the following drivers if they are not already listed: (MCI) CD Audio, (MCI) Microsoft Video for Windows,  (MCI) Midi Sequencer, and (MCI) Sound.
3. Run regedt32.exe and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\MCI Extensions.
4. Select Add Value from the Edit menu; for Value Name enter avi, and for String enter avivideo.
5. Select Add Value and for Value Name enter wav, and for String enter waveaudio.
6. Select Add Value and for Value Name enter mid, and for String enter Sequencer.
7. Select Add Value and for Value Name enter rmi, and for String enter Sequencer. You don't need to modify the data type.

• In a frame document, only the activated frame is printed, because only one frame can be printed at a time. To activate a frame, click on it.
• Printing documents with applets, plugins, and webfonts on layer do not work properly.
• The paddings property of Style Sheets is not supported. Use topPadding, rightPadding, bottomPadding, and leftPadding instead.
• The margins property of Style Sheets is not supported. Use leftMargin, rightMargin, and bottomMargin instead.
• Width, height, and border tags for images in Style Sheets are not enabled.
• Under certain circumstances in a table cell, the EMBED tag parameter ALIGN=RIGHT causes the plugin not to be loaded or displayed. As a workaround, insert the ALIGN=RIGHT parameter in the table column and/or row descriptors.

ComposerComposer

• Starting Composer from the command line with netscape -edit (or double clicking on the Composer icon) does not start a new window if any other Communicator window is already active.
• Windows 95 and Windows 3.1 users: It is strongly recommended that you avoid adding images larger than 1 MB to the Composer window. Doing so may cause Communicator to halt.

MessengerMessenger

• If you encounter a general protection fault in msvcrt.dll when sending a message, exit Communicator.  This is caused by a .tmp file Windows limitation. See your system administrator or equivalent about removing these .tmp files from the Windows temp folder. Afterwards, you can send messages from Communicator.
• If a system halt occurs when invoking the Compose window, rename the address book file (abook.nab) located in the Program Files\Netscape\Users\<username> directory.
• A message saved as plain text (with a .txt extension) will be converted into plain text instead of in original MIME format. If you save the message to an existing file, the existing file will be replaced instead of having the message appended to it.
• If you get an error regarding expired certificates when sending/receiving signed or encrypted mail, please go to http://www.verisign.com/update/faq/index.html to update your certificate.
• If you make changes to the Advanced S/MIME Cipher Preferences in the Messenger tab of the Security Advisor dialog box, you must communicate these changes to people that you exchange encrypted mail with. To update their Certificate database information about you, send them a signed message. If you send only encrypted messages, they will not be aware of your preference changes.
• The file format for certificate import and export has changed between Communicator 4.03 and 4.04 due to the standardization of PKCS 12. Communicator 4.04 and newer imports certificates exported with older versions of Communicator. However, older versions of Communicator will not be able to import files exported with Communicator 4.04 or newer.
• When downloading a user certificate, you will be able to save the certificate for backup purposes. If the certificate chain does not yet exist on the user's machine, the certificate will be exported without the certificate chain. In this case, it is highly recommended that you save the certificate after retrieving the certificate chain by going into the Security Advisor, selecting Your Certificates and exporting the desired certificate.

Plug-insPlug-ins

• In 8-bit (256 color mode), you might experience color pallete problems while loading some plug-ins in Communicator. If this happens, minimize and then restore the window, or open a new Navigator window from the "File" menu to fix this. Running Windows in 16-bit (high color) mode will completely eliminate this problem.
• Sound files greater than 6MB are not supported in the 16 bit version and may not play back properly.
• Plug-ins installed in versions of Navigator prior to 4.0 are not automatically transferred to Communicator. Furthermore, for plug-ins to be automatically transferred from a prior 4.0x installation, the new version of Communicator must be installed into the same directory as the version from which you are upgrading. (If you install into a different directory, your plug-ins must be re-installed.)

NetcasterNetcaster

• Java and JavaScript must be enabled to run Netcaster.
• It is recommended that you select the Go Offline option from the File Menu before viewing sites offline.
• The order of the channels in the selector may change after exiting Netcaster.
• The Automatically Load Images preference (Preferences, Advanced from the Edit menu) should be checked.
• If you specify an invalid URL when adding a channel, the channel is added under My Channels, but does not appear when you select it. A green light may also appear; ignore this light.
• If you change a webtop to a channel in Channel Properties, the webtop remains on your screen. Close the webtop and when you select it again in My Channels, it appears as a channel in a Navigator window.
• If you change your Communicator preferences, such as color or font, while Netcaster is open, a system halt may occur. Change your Communicator preferences before starting Netcaster.
• The buttons in the Netcaster window may disappear depending on the font you select.
• Select a channel before modifying any security information in the Options dialog.
• Your channel settings may not be preserved if Communicator terminates abnormally.
• If you change your screen's resolution while Netcaster is running, the Netcaster window may no longer be visible.
• The display and cache size of the Castanet channels cannot be modified.
• If you add a Castanet channel by specifying its IP address and then access the channel again by specifying its DNS name, Netcaster will attempt to resubscribe to the channel.
• Unless you specifically use the Update Now command to update a channel, at most, two channels will update at the same time.
• Some of the channel preferences may not be visible until you restart Netcaster.
• If you add two channels with the same name, an error may occur.
• You cannot move a webtop, as indicated in the Netcaster NetHelp.

SmartUpdateSmartUpdate

• If you are using SmartUpdate to upgrade from a previous 4.0x version of Communicator, you may see the following error:

Error extracting values from registry - you must re-install your current version before performing the upgrade.
 If you do not wish to re-install your current version, you can simply download the full Communicator 4.05 installer located at http://netscape.1command.com/client_archive40x.phtml.

Web PublisherWeb Publisher

• The Web Publisher shipping with Enterprise Server 3.0 will need to be upgraded to work with Communicator 4.05 and higher. If the Web Publisher does not start correctly with Communicator, please contact your Enterprise Server administrator to install the new Web Publisher. To download this patch, please go to http://netscape.1command.com/relnotes/filelib.phtml.