The Court recommends that users sending secure information to the Court, either via electronic mail (email) or through the Court’s Web Filing system use Netscape 4.75 or above. The Court has not yet (Spring, 2001) certified Netscape 6.x for use by e-filers. Netscape may be obtained without charge from the following Internet site:

http://home.netscape.com/download/0402101/10000-----_qual.html

The remainder of this document assumes the reader is using Netscape version 4.75 or above and will lead the reader through four tasks:

1. Creating a User Profile in Netscape Communicator
2. Obtaining a Personal Certificate
3. Installing a Personal Certificate
4. Setting Up Netscape Messenger Email.

Note: Those who wish to use just the Court's Web Filing need to do only tasks 2 and 3.

Netscape Communicator is a suite of several programs bundled together. The browser part of the suite is known as Netscape Navigator and the email program (client) is Netscape Messenger. You access the different programs from within Netscape by selecting the Communicator item on the menu bar. Netscape Communicator allows more than one person to have their own settings and preferences through the use of "profiles". A profile is a collection of settings that relate to a particular user (such as name, email address etc). When you have more than one profile, Netscape Communicator will ask you which profile to use each time you launch the program.

There is currently a limitation in Netscape Messenger in that you can only have one mail server per profile. This means that if you already use Messenger to send and receive mail from an existing mail service, you will need to create another profile to use the Court’s secure mail system. We recommend that you create a new Netscape profile first, before you sign up. That way, your existing settings will not be affected at all and the configuration information relating to the Court’s mail system will be kept in a single new profile.

If Netscape is running, close it down. Click on your Start button and find the Netscape Communicator group (usually in the Programs section). Select the sub-menu Utilities and then click on User Profile Manager.

The Profile Manager window will appear and you will see a list of profiles, which already exist.

Click on the New button to begin creating a new profile. A window will open with some information about using Netscape profiles. Once you have read the information, click on Next.

You are prompted to enter your Full Name and your <Email address.In the Full Name field, enter your name as you would like it to appear in the "From:" field of emails you send. In the Email address field, enter your usual email address.

When you are done, click Next.

You are now asked to give a Profile Name. This is used to distinguish the various profiles you may have. If you entered an email address in the previous screen, Netscape automatically fills in a suggested profile name for you. If you did not supply an email address, Netscape puts "default" in the field.You MUST change this from "default" - we suggest using your surname, but you can use any name that will help you identify this profile as being used for your secure mail to the Shawnee County District Court.As you type the profile name, Netscape automatically changes the location path in then lower field. You do not need to change this. When you are happy with the profile name, click Next.

You now need to enter the Internet address of the Court’s outgoing mail server. Enter secmail.shawneecourt.org, as shown above, and click Next. The Court’s secure mail server is equipped with encryption software which makes it difficult for unauthorized third parties to determine the content of mail sent between your mail client and the Court.

Now you will be asked about your incoming mail server. In the Mail server user name field, enter your usual user name for your email account. In the example above, Sally Smith’s Mail server user name is ssmith. In the Incoming Mail Server field, enter the name of your usual incoming mail server. In the example above, Sally is a MediaOne email subscriber and her usual incoming email server is pop3.mediaone.net.Check that the Mail Server type is set to POP3.Once you have entered this information, your profile is ready to use. Click on Finish to save all the settings. Netscape will now start, using your newly created profile.Note: In the future, every time you start Netscape, you will be asked which profile you wish to use. To send email to the Court, select the new profile you created. To access your existing mail service, select the appropriate profile (usually, this will be called "default".

Before you configure your email client, you must have created a new profile to hold all the new settings. Before setting up your profile for communicating with the Court, first request your personal certificate. A personal certificate is an electronic document, which binds together your name, your email address, and your password in a secure fashion. Once the personal certificate is installed, you are ready to start configuring Netscape Messenger to use the Court's secure email system.

Request a personal certificate as described below.

When connected to the Internet, in Netscape, click the Communicator menu, then click Tools, then click Security Info. A window for Netscape Personal Security Manager (PSM) will appear. Click on the tab at the top of the PSM window marked Certificates and then the tab on the left side of the window marked Mine.

Click on the button marked Obtain New, and select a Certificate Authority (CA) from whom to purchase a personal certificate. VeriSign, Inc. and Thawte Digital Certificate Services are the largest issuers of personal certificates. Note: The VeriSign certificate may be created online. The Thawte "Free Personal Email Certificate" is not valid for the Court’s site. Personal certificates are valid for one year and cost between $15 and $50, depending upon the issuer. Be sure to provide the same name to your CA as you gave to the Court when registering for electronic filing. Your personal certificate is your passport to the Court’s site, and the name in your certificate must match that given the Court.

Follow the instructions on your CA’s site. You will be mailed a personal certificate at the email address you used when creating the certificate. The certificate will be in a special "envelope" file format for certificates called a PKCS12 file, abbreviated .p12 on Windows machines.

Once you receive your certificate, it must be installed into Netscape as follows:

In Netscape, click the Communicator menu, then click Tools, then click Security Info. A window for Netscape Personal Security Manager will appear. . Click on the tab at the top of the PSM window marked Certificates and then the tab on the left side of the window marked Mine.

Click on the Restore button on the right side of the PSM window and the following dialogue box will appear:

Select the .p12 file containing your certificate, and click the Open button.

Netscape will ask you to enter the same password you provided your issuing certificate authority when you created your personal certificate, using the dialogue box below:

Type you certificate password into the dialogue box and click the OK button. A second dialogue box will appear requesting you assign a password to the PSM private keys security device, in this case the file on your PC Netscape uses to hold your certificates. This password may be the same as the one for your certificate or different.

Click the OK button when you have typed in your password. Netscape will display a dialogue box that your certificate has been added to the certificate store. The PSM window will be updated to display your certificate. Clicking on the certificate and then the View button will display information about the certificate and its expiration date. Clicking on the Close button at the bottom of the PSM window will close the PSM window and return you to Netscape.

Start Netscape Communicator and select the profile you created to use the Court's secure mail system. In Netscape, click the Edit menu then click Preferences.

On the left side of the new window that opens, you will see a list of categories of preferences. Click on the small + beside Mail & Newsgroups to expand that section. Click on Identity.

In the Your Name field, enter your name as you would like it to appear in the "From" field of messages you send. You may wish to use your name as registered with the Court, or you can choose something else. In the Email address field, you must enter your usual email address. The Reply-to address field should be left blank. You can enter something for the Organization field if you wish, but this is optional. The Signature File option allows you to automatically append a text file to each email you send. Signature files (sometimes referred to as .sig files) are sometimes used to add contact information about you such as telephone, address etc. Consult the Netscape help files for more information on using signature files.

Once you have entered all the identity information, click on Mail Servers to configure the servers for sending mail to the Court.

Select the server in Incoming Mail Servers and click Edit. If there is no server shown, click on Add. The Mail Server Properties window will be displayed.

Set the Server Name to be your usual email server, the Server Type to be POP3and enter your usual email user ID in the User Name field. Note: If you have created a user profile, these fields will be pre-filled, according to your profile definition. You can optionally check the Remember Password box if you do not want to type in your mailbox password every time you send or receive mail. You can also set Messenger to automatically check for new mail, at time intervals of your choosing. (Note – Messenger has to be running for this feature to work). Once the settings are all correct, click OK and you will be returned to the Mail Servers screen.

In the Outgoing Mail Server section, enter the server name as secmail.shawneecourt.org enter your usual email user ID in the Outgoing mail server user name field. Check the radio button for If Possible for use of SSL.

Netscape Messenger is now configured to send and receive mail using the Court’s secure mail system. There are other options available for setting various attributes such as Window Settings, Formatting etc. These will not affect the operation of your mailbox, but you may wish to consult the Netscape help files for details on these settings.

Click OK and the Preferences window will close.

Click here to register your digital certificate with the Court.

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