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The Bat!

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For other uses, see Bat (disambiguation).

The Bat!
Developer(s)Ritlabs, SRL
Initial releaseMarch 1997; 27 years ago (1997-03)
Operating systemWindows
Size36 MB
TypeEmail client
LicenseShareware
Websiteritlabs.com/en/products/thebat/

The Bat! is a shareware email client for the Microsoft Windows operating system, developed by Ritlabs, SRL, a company based in Chişinău, Moldova. There are two versions: a Home version and a Professional version. The Professional version includes a portable module, The Bat Voyager. [1]

Reviews

Reviews indicate that The Bat! has been regarded as an alternative email client for advanced email users and is often praised for its focus on security, as well as user interface customization and filtering capabilities, yet has also been criticized for its complexity and difficulty in learning. The reviews also indicate that The Bat! has continually evolved.

Features

The Bat! email client processes and stores an unlimited number of messages and has no restriction on the number of added email accounts. In addition to supporting POP3 and IMAP, The Bat! also supports Microsoft Exchange Server email.

Data security

  • Encryption. The internal PGP implementation based on OpenSSL lets users encrypt messages and sign them with digital signatures. Digital keys manager is included. PGP up to version 10.0.2 is supported. The Bat! supports S/MIME via Internal Implementation or Microsoft CryptoAPI, Secure Socket Layer (SSL) v3.0 / Transport Layer Security (TLS) v1.0, v1.1, and 1.2 (as of version 8.5) with AES algorithm.
  • Internal HTML Viewer. The Bat!’s internal viewer used to support HTML 4.0 and CSS v2.0 formatting, while ignoring scripts and executable code. The Bat!’s HTML viewer blocks viruses that use the known HTML vulnerability of Microsoft Internet Explorer (such as IFRAME and Automatic Execution of Embedded MIME type).
  • Safe handling of attached files. The Bat! checks attached file extensions and blocks them launching if they are suspicious. The Bat! warns users of double extension attachments and allows users to see the real extension.
  • Selective download. Messages can be deleted or left on POP3 servers by setting up respective filters in the Sorting Office.

Productivity

  • Sorting Office. A filtering system that sorts incoming, outgoing, read, and replied messages to folders; auto-responds; replies with custom templates; forwards, redirects, prints, or exports messages; sends read confirmations; runs external programs and more.
  • Message Templates and Macros. Email templates contents may be dynamically changed through the use of macros, which can also be used to automatically execute other user-defined functions such as cursor positioning, addressing changes, identity changes, active account changes and other.
  • Microsoft Exchange Connectivity. The Bat! connects to Microsoft Exchange Server using native MAPI protocol to fetch or send messages.
  • Multilingual Interface. Support for 18 languages.
  • IDN support. Support for IDNs that contain characters from non-Latin alphabets such as Arabic, Chinese, Cyrillic and Greek. IDN support includes Latin alphabet-based characters with diacritics, such as those found in French and German.

History

  • 1.0 Beta, the first public version, was released in March 1997. It supported folders, filtering, viewing HTML email without the need to have Internet Explorer installed, and international character sets. It also had a special feature named Mail Ticker.
  • 1.00 Build 1310, the first stable version, came to public in March 1998.
  • 1.32 introduced a proprietary layout engine on 27 April 2000. Versions up to 1.31 was used the THtmlViewer engine by David Baldwin.
  • Version 2.0 (September 2003) introduced IMAP support, a basic HTML editor, Anti-Spam and Anti-Virus Plug-ins and a Scheduler, and could import messages from Microsoft Office Outlook and Outlook Express
  • Version 3.0 (September 2004) introduced customizable User Interface, virtual folders, Mail Chat, Biometric authentication and support of MAPI protocol to connect to Microsoft Exchange Servers.
  • Version 3.95 (December 2006) supports IPv6.
  • Version 4.0 (February 2008) has Address History option, Favorite Folders sets and URL manager for HTML images retrieval. The Bat!'s text editor supports Unicode, internal image viewer supports rotate, advanced resize and zoom algorithms and full screen mode.
  • Version 4.1 (December 2008) adds HTML templates, support for SOCKS proxy, and a new mail database format that allows for an unlimited volume of mail.
  • Version 4.2 (June 2009) adds postponed sending.
  • Version 5.0 (April 2011) improves support for IMAP protocol, hints, folder information html templates, image downloader, odd/even row contrast.
  • Version 5.1 (April 2012) adds Inbox Analyzer, image download manager, message tags, hints, external HTML viewing module and Multi-SMTP option.
  • Version 6.0 (November 2013) supports International email addresses.
  • Version 6.1 (December 2013) supports SSL 3.0 and TLS 1.1 protocols.
  • Version 6.2 (January 2014) introduces Summary View.
  • Version 6.3 (March 2014) comes with the internal implementation of the RSS feed subscriptions.
  • Version 6.4 (April 2014) Address Space Layout Optimization adds extra safety for The Bat!
  • Version 6.6 (August 2014) support for Windows Touch technology on desktops and laptops with touch screen as well as hybrid devices and Windows 8 tablets.
  • Version 6.7.20 (February 2015) adds separate 64-bit installer.[2]
  • Version 7.0 (August 2015) adds address book sync (CardDAV) and support for the EWS protocol (MS Exchange Server 2007 and later).[3]
  • Version 7.1 (January 2016) adds OAuth 2.0 authentication with Gmail and Mail.Ru.[4]
  • Version 7.2 (July 2016) features faster email download in POP3 accounts and overall performance improvements.[5]
  • Version 7.3 (September 2016) adds support for Perfect Forward Secrecy and Elliptic Curve Cryptography.[6]
  • Version 7.4 (December, 2016) The Bat! v7.4 keeps up with ultra-high-resolution displays. [7]
  • Version 8.0 (November 2017) has upgraded the HTML editor, AVX-512 use, fixes and improvements.[8]
  • Version 8.0.18 (December, 2017) publishes stability updates. [9]
  • Version 8.2 (January, 2018) overcomes Mailsploit vulnerabilities. [10]
  • Version 8.2.4 (January, 2018) has performance improvements. [11]
  • Version 8.2.8 (February, 2018) fixes issues introduced in v8.2.4. [12]
  • Version 8.3 (March, 2018) New Features in TheBat! and Voyager v8.3 [13]
  • Version 8.4 (June, 2018) New Message Editing Features in The Bat! (including HTML Styling) and Voyager v8.4[14]
  • Version 8.5 (June, 2018) TLS 1.2 in The Bat! 8.5[15]
  • Version 8.6 (August, 2018) New Features in Message Editor[16]

System requirements

Compatible with Microsoft Windows XP and later versions. No minimum requirements for memory size or CPU speed. Runs on any Windows PC platform with at least 1024x768 screen resolution, and on Windows tablets.

See also

References

  1. ^ ""The Bat! Voyager".
  2. ^ "Security and speed boost in the 64-bit version of The Bat!". Ritlabs, SRL. 5 February 2015.
  3. ^ "The Bat! v7: Keep your address book in touch with your smartphone". Ritlabs, SRL. 5 August 2015.
  4. ^ "OAuth Authentication for Gmail and Mail.Ru in Christmas Edition of The Bat!". Ritlabs, SRL. 6 January 2016.
  5. ^ "The Bat! v7.2: faster email download and improvements in the HTML editor". Ritlabs, SRL. 20 July 2016.
  6. ^ "Security Enhancements in TLS/SSL and Better Handling of HTML Messages Round Up in The Bat! v7.3". Ritlabs, SRL. 13 September 2016.
  7. ^ "The Bat! v7.4 keeps up with ultra-high-resolution displays". Ritlabs, SRL. 13 December 2016.
  8. ^ "The Bat! 8.0.14". Ritlabs, SRL. 27 November 2017.
  9. ^ "The Bat! 8.0.18 Christmas Edition". Ritlabs, SRL. 24 December 2017.
  10. ^ "The Bat! 8.2 Overcomes Mailsploit Vulnerabilities". Ritlabs, SRL. 11 January 2018.
  11. ^ "The Bat! 8.2.4 Performance Improvements in TheBat v8.2.4". Ritlabs, SRL. 23 January 2018.
  12. ^ "Stability Improvements in The Bat! 8.2.8". Ritlabs, SRL. 19 February 2018.
  13. ^ "New Features in TheBat! and Voyager v8.3". Ritlabs, SRL. 23 March 2018.
  14. ^ "New Message Editing Features in The Bat! and Voyager v8.4". Ritlabs, SRL. 22 June 2018.
  15. ^ "TLS 1.2 in The Bat! 8.5". Ritlabs, SRL. 27 June 2018.
  16. ^ "New Features in Message Editor". Ritlabs, SRL. 20 August 2018.
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