KB03032501 SMTP service will not start, prevents outbound mail handling

If another program is providing an SMTP service on the machine Mailtraq is installed on, Mailtraq may not be able to start it's own SMTP service. This will prevent Mailtraq accepting mail via SMTP, including mail being sent by local users from their email client programs, and incoming mail (if you are accepting mail from external sources via SMTP).

To verify that this is the cause of the problem, in the Mailtraq Console, select:

Tools | Start Service | SMTP

Then view the Mailtraq Event Log (Actions | View Event Log) which will show the service starting and immediately stopping.

If you are unsure which program is providing the SMTP service which is preventing Mailtraq fromoperating, open a command prompt, and type:

telnet 127.0.0.1 25

The screen should then show a banner line containing information about the program.

If you are using Windows 2000 Server, the usual problem program is Microsoft built-in SMTP service, which should be disabled via the Windows Control Panel | Services. Badly-written anti-virus programs are also known to cause this problem.