22.12.2008

HTML message templates and file system enhancements among the improvements in The Bat! 4.1

Chisinau, Republic of Moldova, 22 December 2008 - Ritlabs, SRL, makers of the popular The Bat email client for business and home users, has launched a new version software in time for the holiday season.

The most important enhancement in The Bat! 4.1 is the HTML templates creation option. In the new version creating HTML messages is much easier – in addition to plain text, The Bat! templates can handle the full range of formatting, pictures, background images, tables and other HTML message attributes.

Many business users need to adhere to their corporate style in every message. The new capability makes this extremely easy. The HTML templates allow you to save the graphic elements of your message as a template. All you have to do is write your text in the appropriate place. The same applies to sending accounting and other spreadsheet data. A template with a document headline, a table and a signature is all you need to generate a smart-looking spreadsheet. The table itself can be imported from an external application. These are just a few of the ways that HTML templates can come in handy.

Unicode encoding was first introduced in version 4.0 of The Bat! but was restricted to the messages. With version 4.1, Unicode functionality is extended so that now your templates can contain symbols or any combination of alphabets. For example, users can create templates in English yet include German or Spanish alphabet characters if needed.

The Bat! file system has also been also improved. In the new version there is no limit to the size of the message folder. The threshold for the volume of messages in a folder is determined by the capacities of the hard disk file system. For FAT disks the maximum size of a folder is 2Gb, while NTFS disk users have no restrictions on message folder volume.

Security has always been The Bat!'s main strength. The Bat! 4.1 is no exception. The new version features a new option for the S/MIME protocol mechanism. This means users can now create four kinds of certificate: signature only, encryption only, signature and encryption and Certifying Authority (CA) certificates. The latter is used for creating a personal Certifying Authority and a certificate hierarchy. Moreover, with The Bat! 4.1 the user is able to specify whether a certificate is self-signed (this does not apply to encryption-only certificates) or signed with an earlier CA certificate.

Ritlabs, SRL has made the backup and restore process faster, more reliable, and more convenient. This is made possible by modifications to the backup file format. The new format considerably increases backup reliability. Furthermore, a new file processing algorithm significantly accelerates the backup and restore process.

The Bat! 4.1 allows users to backup or restore selected folders to/from the backup file. This helps ensure you only keep the most important information and do not waste time saving/restoring minor messages. Finally, backup files can be encrypted and password-protected with a safe RC2 algorithm (users are reminded that they will not be able to restore their encrypted backup data without a password nor can they restore data backed up by The Bat! 4.1 with older versions of the software).

The Bat! 4.1 also contains a number of enhancements for business users. For example, the new version can connect to mail servers or via a SOCKS-based proxy server to any other TCP/IP connection (LDAP, HTTP, etc.). This feature is useful when The Bat! is installed in networks where Internet access is achieved via an intermediate computer working as a proxy server. The Bat! supports SOCKS versions 4 and 5, the latter works with IPv6.

Whether The Bat! 4.1 is customized for working via SOCKS or not, one can use an HTTP proxy server for uploading images into messages, setting time stamps for digital signatures (more details on this feature below), checking for updates and establishing other HTTP connections.

The Bat! 4.1 is also equipped with a time stamp option for digital signatures. These allows you to guarantee that a document was signed at a certain point in time and has not been modified since then. As a matter of fact, time label service is an electronic notary.

The Bat! 4.1 uses Windows address book to store TLS certificates. This means users that work with S/MIME in CryptoAPI mode don't have to store certificates in two places – The Bat! address book and Windows storage.

Users with The Bat! v.4.0 licence, as well as The Bat! v.3 users that purchased the program after November, 20, 2007, can use their existing licence keys with no additional payments or updates. Registered users of The Bat! are eligible for a 30% discount for The Bat! 4.1. Previously purchased keys are not cancelled and can be used at the same time in accordance with the terms of the licence agreement. A 30-days trial version of The Bat! 4.1 is available on our website, www.ritlabs.com.

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

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About Ritlabs, SRL

Ritlabs, SRL is a software-developing company specializing in high quality communications products with advanced requirements of information transfer confidentiality and anti-virus protection. Products developed by Ritlabs, SRL - The Bat!, The Bat! Voyager, Argus, SecureBat!, BatPost, DosNavigator, etc. are based on the company's experience and on a thorough understanding of the numerous customers.

The Bat! first entered the global market in 1997, and today is a leading e-communication processing system with millions of users worldwide. Company's customers range from home-computing enthusiasts to business and government organizations including banks and other financial institutions, the aerospace industry, oil and gas producers, IT software and hardware companies, and a wide spectrum of small and large businesses. Ritlabs, SRL is based in Chisinau, Republic of Moldova, city with a long history of technology development expertise.

All product and company names herein may be trademarks of their registered owners.