Shoutbox

Hi,
I need to log the number of unread emails (i guess this is how it's called)

this needs to work also in the case an email is open and immediately set to unread again.

the whole point behind it is that i need to find out for sure if someone is opening my emails.
so I do not care in which form this "log" comes. if there is no "normal" way to accomplish this I am willing to go through some hassle.

for example think to remember that there is a screencapturing program which can be triggered by changes on predifined areas of the screen...  but i do not remember the name....   

anyhow, i think it's quite clear what i am looking for....  so if anyone has an idea then please let me know.

btw: just in case if someone wants to answer -just change your password-...   i know that i can do that.        but that's not the question ; )

What you want to do is not possible (refering to the screenshots especially); email does not work that way.

Somebody can log in to your account without you seeing anything on your computer on your screen. You even don't need to have your computer turned on. Email is accessed on a server, not on a local computer. You connect to the email server if you want to read (or download in case of POP3) email.

Moreover, setting your email to unread again will not work either as the 'hacker' can do exactly the same thing.

Also, the unread email count is not updated on-the-fly in real-time. Usually it is only updated every x minutes or so,if updated automatically at all that is. So logging this email count will not work either.

The only thing you can do is to change your password or hoping that the 'hacker' makes a mistake and doesn't change the email state back to unread.

BTW: why do you think someone is reading your email?

first your question: i am 99.9% certain because this person "knows" things he technically could not know! i even made some "traps" by sending me some bogus information to my own account....  and he was dumb enough to let it slip out.

i tried to "catch" him by putting some graphics into the email. the images are stored on a server where i have access to the logs.
but then again he was smart enough not to fall for this. i guess he has html turned off form where he accesses my account.

ok, now the other stuff.
according to the number of posts you made here you seem to know what you are talking about...   but did you actually really try what i was talking about?  i know that the email count does not update unless you "check" - may this be automatically or manually - but INSIDE messenger this seems to be different.   it does update in REALTIME. (unless i make a mistake - if so please correct me) 
just do this test. -> make sure you have one or two unread emails in you INBOX. log on to messenger and check the small envelope icon on the left - note the number next to it indication your unopened mails.  now click the envelope.   once the browser opened and you are accessing your mail, note how the number in messenger updates in realtime when you open the mail and how it does the same thing when you set it to unread.

anyhow....   until now it should be even clearer what i am looking for....         ANY possibility to indicate for sure if someone opened a message.        so no matter how crazy the idea is.... if anyone has a clue please le me know.

the only thing i can think of at the moment is to capture the small envelope are with a screencapture program which records an avi.
the only problem is.....  how to find the "one important second" in a recording that may go on for a few days ; )       but i think there are programs whcih could indicate it.      well....    we will see : )
   

quote:

---

Originally posted by messenpost
but INSIDE messenger this seems to be different.   it does update in REALTIME. (unless i make a mistake - if so please correct me) 

---

Only if you use a hotmail/msn address and in that case you can try to monitor the registry key:
  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\UnreadMail\<Your Windows Live Id>\MessageCount
for a drop in its value.

For this you can use a program like SysInternals' Regmon.
(and set "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\UnreadMail\<Your Windows Live Id>\MessageCount" as its include filter)

You could also monitor it with a script, but this requires some advanced Windows API calls (since you need to make it asynchronously or you'll lock up Messenger). Currently I haven't the time to make such a script, eventhough it would be a relative small.

You could also make the script by using a simple registry read and a timer, but then you need to be very careful, since such a script could lock your Messenger.

--

Attached is a small script which uses the timer approach, use at your own risk. I hope it works, I'm in a big hurry....

EXCELLENT!!!   Thank you very much : )   
I think this will do the trick.
Regmon picked up the changes after I played around a bit. - It somehow didn't seem to work with the full key in the filter. Using just "UnreadMail" worked perfect.

Now there is only one thing left to solve. I want to log the time so that I won't get confused by my own open/close actions. I probably need to run this for a few days!
Regon actually has a "time" column, but this is probably some sort of system time that I do not understand. 

any Ideas? 

btw: thank you very much for the script, but I never used any scrips before. so I don't exactly know how to use it.


Thank you again for the time and input : )

---

Problem Solved!!!

I should have spent just a few more seconds looking, before I wrote my last post.
There is a option where I can change the time format.   Now its doing exactly what I want.
PERFECT!!!

Thank you so much. You helped me a lot : ) !

quote:

---

Originally posted by messenpost
Now there is only one thing left to solve. I want to log the time so that I won't get confused by my own open/close actions.

---

I was thinking the same think when I was driving to work. Now that I'm home again, I've updated the script.

When a decrease is detected, instead of only showing a message box with just the previous and current unread email count, it will now display:
- A Messenger Plus! toast
- A message box, incl. date and time
- An entry in the event viewer, incl. date and time
- A debug output, incl. date and time

...all will still show the previous and current unread email count of course.

  And since the Events Log can be saved, you would also automatically have logging to disk.
  (Plus! > Preferences > Messenger > Event Logging > "Record events to disc")


To view the debug output;
- Enable debugging in Messenger Plus!
  (Plus! > Preferences > General > Scripts > "Enable debugging options")
- Open the Script Debugger window
  (Plus! > tick Show Script Debugging)
- In that debugger window, select "Unread Mail Monitor".


To view the Event Log output:
- Enable event logging
  (Plus! > Preferences > Messenger > Event Logging > "Display the Event Viewer window")
- Open the Event Log window:
  (Plus! > tick Display Event Viewer)


Note about the messagebox output:
When a message box is shown, this script will pause as long as you don't click on the message box's OK button. Because of this (syncronized) method, the script might miss unread email count decreases. If you wish to disable the message box then go the Script Editor and open up this script. In the first code line (script line 3) you can set bShowMessageBox to false.
  (Plus! > Preferences > General > Scripts > Unread Mail Monitor > Edit)

quote:

---

Originally posted by messenpost
Regmon picked up the changes after I played around a bit. - It somehow didn't seem to work with the full key in the filter.

---

Make sure you entered the exact string I showed:

quote:

---

Originally posted by CookieRevised
(and set "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\UnreadMail\<Your Windows Live Id>\MessageCount" as its include filter)

---

eg: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\UnreadMail\jos@hotmail.com\MessageCount

Thus that is "HKCU", not "HKEY_CURRENT_USER", and don't enter the quotes. And replace <your Windows Live Id> with your own Windows Live Id, without the < >.

Although "MessageCount" is indeed shorter but it will also list changes in everything else with that string in it (eg: a program which has "MessageCount" in its name, another registry setting with "MessageCount" in its path, etc...).

quote:

---

Originally posted by messenpost
Regmon actually has a "time" column, but this is probably some sort of system time that I do not understand.

---

The fractional number is the amount of seconds since the last time you cleared the logging window or since the logging started. As you've found out already, click on the clock icon in the toolbar to switch between this format and the current time.

quote:

---

Originally posted by messenpost
btw: thank you very much for the script, but I never used any scrips before. so I don't exactly know how to use it.

---

Download the script pack and import it in Messenger Plus! Live. It will automatically run. Importing can be done by simply double clicking on the script pack (just like you would execute a program).