Frequently Asked Questions

Last updated on 12/7/2006

General Questions
Sending Files
Picking Up Files
Technical Questions
Civil Netizen for Windows Questions
Civil Netizen for Mac OS X Questions

General Questions

Q
What is Civil Netizen?

Civil Netizen is an Internet application designed for “Internet citizens”, or netizens, like you, to easily connect and interact with each other in meaningful ways. For now, Netizen’s only function is Parcel. But, keep your eyes wide open because over the upcoming months, we will be adding many new innovative features to it.
Q
What is a parcel?

Parcel is the first of many upcoming features of Civil Netizen. With Parcel, you can easily send any files – small and large – to your friends and family without the hassle of annoying web uploads or cumbersome attachments that have to make their way through your mail system. Parcel sends files directly from your computer to the recipients without any middlemen or the need for any complicated network configurations. Netizen can transfer your parcels over the Internet or your local network, so the only size or speed limitation it has is your hard drive and network bandwidth!
Q

What are some typical uses for parcel?

Parcel can be used to send anything for any reason. Though there are an infinite amount of uses for Parcel, we’ll name a few of the common ones:
- Sending a large set of full quality photos of your recent trip to all your friends
- Sending your digital camera video clips from your night at the bar
- Sharing all your work from your school project with your entire team
- Sending digital prints and proofs to a business partner
- Sending cuts from your video project to your effects and sound team
- Sending your demo tape of your rap alter-ego to your friends
- Quickly sending files within your own local area network without having them route all over the Internet, finishing the transfer with lightning fast speeds while avoiding frustating Windows configuration.
We’ve touched the surface here, but would love to hear how you’re using Parcel on a daily basis.
Q

Why is it called ‘beta’?

Civil Engines is a small, three person company. Like any small company, we only have so many resources to develop and test our products. While we’ve tested it thoroughly in-house, we rely on the graciousness and patience of Netizens like you to give it a go. Since Netizen is still pre-production quality software, from time to time you’ll experience minor bugs and glitches. If you experience one, we’d love to hear about it through our bug submission form or on our blog so that we could evaluate the problem.
Q

Who is Civil Engines Research

Behind the fancy name, Civil Engines is just three guys, Dave, Chris, and Paolo living in New York City. We hope you enjoy the work we’ve done so far and can’t wait to let you into our world over the next few months to see the new things we've been working on.
Q

Is Civil Netizen free?

Isn’t everything on the Internet? Yes, Netizen is free and always will be to use. Over time, we’ll add some additional premium services for power users and businesses that we’ll charge for. Since we don’t have to pay to host every file that you send, we don’t feel we should charge you for it either.
Q

Can I distribute Civil Netizen?

Yes, you may distribute the most recent and unmodified binary versions of Netizen. Please refer to the license agreement for specific distribution terms and restrictions.
Q

Is Civil Netizen open source?

Yes, portions of the Netizen code base is governed under the terms of the MPL and may be modified and used by our users. Please take a look at our MPL compliance page for additional details, terms and restrictions.
Q

How do you guys make money?

Profit = Revenue – Cost. This is the magical formula we all learn in our high school economics class. Let’s look at cost first. We have designed Civil Netizen to run at a minimal cost to us. Web-based applications are remarkably very expensive to operate — just ask Google. Supporting millions of users on the web often requires spending hundred of thousands of dollars on hardware, bandwidth, and smart staff to keep it all running. Civil Netizen is designed to push as much of the user interface, CPU processing, storage, and bandwidth demands on the desktop PC sitting at your home or in your offices. As a result, our servers can focus on doing things only servers can do, and support many more users at tiny fraction of the cost.
While many of our products and features are and always will be free, Civil Engines Research will NEVER turn around and charge for these products in the future. To develop a revenue stream, we plan to launch some optional paid services that will make sending parcels more reliable, secure, and even profitable. Stay tuned.

Sending Files

Q
How do I send a file?

Sending files using Netizen is really simple. In fact, we have a graphical tutorial on our site that will walk you through the process. Take a look at at our download page.
Q

Can I send multiple files?

Absolutely! The more the merrier. Just drag and drop or add more files or folders on the “Send Parcel” screen and Netizen will package them up for you.
Q

Can I resend an existing parcel?

Sure you can, as long as the parcel hasn’t expired. Just go to the “Send Parcel” screen and select the “Forward an existing parcel” option to find the parcel you want to resend. Choose the parcel, click on the “Forward Parcel” button, and select your preferred method of resending the parcel.
Q

What do I do after packaging a parcel?

Just like in real life, after you package a parcel, you’ll want to send it. You can do that in three ways:
1. Use your primary desktop email program – If you use Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, Thunderbird, or any other Windows-based desktop email program, Netizen will launch the program and customize an email for you to notify your friends of the pickup waiting for them.
2. Use another messaging program – If you use web-based mail like Yahoo Mail, Gmail, Hotmail as well as any instant messaging client such as AIM, Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, GTalk, Trillian, etc, you can simply paste the pickup slip text into those programs and send a message to your friend with the pickup notification.
3. Save a pickup slip to your desktop to send another way – If you’re not sure how you want to notify your recipient, you can always save a pickup slip to your desktop for future use.
And don't forget, you can always generate a new pickup slip notification from within Netizen under the “Track Parcel” screen.
Q

How do I send multiple parcels?

After you’ve sent a parcel to someone, you can easily send a new parcel by clicking “Send Another Parcel” at the bottom right of the screen.
Q

How do I send a parcel to multiple recipients?

You can send a pickup slip notification to as many people as you want. They can pickup the parcel at any time, regardless of who else is receiving the parcel.
Q

Do recipients need to download the software too?

Yes. Civil Netizen works by directly connecting you to your recipients. In order to efficiently and securely do this, it is necessary for both parties to have Civil Netizen running. Our software is of course, always free (as in free beer) and free of ads or spyware. As a piece of desktop software, Civil Netizen overcomes some common limitations of web-based file transfer services, such as the difficulty of sending entire folders. As a bonus, it provides you with total privacy. One of the benefits of a desktop application over a hosted service is that your private data is never visible by any third-party — including us.

Picking Up Files

Q
What do I do with the pickup slip I received?

To pickup a parcel, just drop the pickup slip into Netizen and begin the pickup. Feel free to take a look at our graphical tutorial on our site that will walk you through the process. Take a look at www.civilnetizen.com.
Q

What do I do after a parcel has finished downloading?

The best part about receiving a parcel is opening it! After the parcel has been delivered, click on the “Unpack Parcel&rdquo button and open it up. You can always come back to unpack a parcel in the “Track Parcel&rdquo screen.
Q

How do I view a downloaded parcel?

When you unpack a parcel, the folder you unpack it to will automatically open. However, you can also just find the directory you created and your delivered files will be there.
Q

How do I pickup another parcel?

After you've started picking up a parcel or after one has finished downloading, just click on the “Pickup Another Parcel” button to begin the pickup process again.
Q

When will I not be able to pickup a parcel?

Since Netizen sends and picks up parcel directly from one computer to another, it's important that both computers are on and have an active Internet connection. Also, if either you or the sender has restrictive firewalls in place, you might find it difficult to get the parcel through.
Q

I have a laptop! How can I send someone a parcel if my laptop is packed away?

We feel your pain. Our software is still far from complete, but the answers to these problems will be coming to future versions of Netizen. Just wait and see...
Q

I can't get past my firewall! How can I send someone a parcel?

During this beta period, parcel send and pickup operations may not work reliably for computers behind restrictive firewalls. Starting with Beta Release 5, we have added a secure web bridge feature that will automatically route your pickup request through our network provided that you can at least connect to our network through your firewall.

Technical Questions

Q
Does Civil Netizen scan my parcels for viruses?

No. Civil Netizen does not include any anti-virus software so if you include any infected files in your parcel then it is likely that your recipient will catch that virus. Since your parcels do NOT cross our servers we cannot scan your parcels for viruses ahead of time. The best defense, at least for now, is to scan your files before packaging them as parcels. We also recommend that you use anti-virus software to scan the files you receive even from friends and family.
Q
Does Civil Netizen keep a copy of my parcel or pickup slip on your servers?

Nope. Our servers never see your pickup slip or parcel. You keep and host your own parcels so that it stays completely private between you and your recipients.
Q
Do I have to keep Civil Netizen running on my computer?

Yes, since we don't have your parcel you must keep your computer connected to the Internet and keep Netizen running in order for your recipients to pickup your parcels.
Q
Why are my downloads and uploads so slow?

Netizen's download speed depends on the upload bandwidth of the sender's Internet connection and the download bandwidth of the recipient's connection. For most cable and DSL connections upload bandwidth is usually a fraction of the download bandwidth, and thus is the limiting factor. Also, if either the sender or recipient is using other applications which take up bandwidth, such as email or web browsing, the transfer will be slow. If there are multiple computers sharing the same Internet connection, then any bandwidth hungry applications running on those computers can also affect the net speed of your transfers.

If that level of service is not sufficient for your parcels, then stay tuned as we continue to add features and services to enhance the parcel experience.
Q
How will my recipients retrieve my parcels if I'm roaming on various different networks?

Dynamic IP addresses and intermittent connectivity is a fact of life on the Internet today, especially with wireless networks. As long as Netizen is connected to our network, your recipients should be able to pickup your parcel. Netizen will periodically ensure that you are still connected to the Internet and that your computer will be accessible to recipients of your pickup slip. If you get disconnected from the Internet you can wait for Netizen or manually rejoin our network. As long as you find a way to get Internet connectivity, your recipients will be able to retrieve your parcel.

Now that level of connectivity and parcel availability may not be good enough for our users, especially ones that are in mobile or semi-connected environments. So, in future releases, we will introduce other features and services that will allow your recipients to retrieve your parcels even when you're not connected to the Internet. Stay tuned...
Q
How do I keep Civil Netizen from getting stuck in “Discovering...” mode?

If you are connecting to the Internet from work, ask your system administrator if Netizen is allowed in your corporate network. Some corporate networks do not allow programs that use UDP, like Netizen, and can block access to our network. If your network has a very restrictive firewall then Netizen will not be able to function correctly, even for your recipients on the local corporate network.

If you are connecting to the Internet from home or from a wireless hotspot, please ensure that your network or personal firewall is allowing Netizen to access the network. Users outside the United States may also experience some difficulty or latency connecting to our network. Over the next few months we will be increasing our points of presence around the world, so please bear with us as we continue to grow and improve the network.

Please refer to the FAQ item below for information on how to configure firewalls to work with Netizen.

Netizen also gets stuck in “Discovering” mode if your computer is not giving it enough CPU time to do its work. This usually happens if another program is misbehaving (ie spyware) and consumes 100% of the CPU. You can wait these processes out before starting Netizen or use the Windows Task Manager to find and terminate any run-away processes you may have.
Q
How can I configure my ultra secure Linux firewall to get this thing to work properly?

Netizen will attempt to automatically negotiate a connection through most home NAT/broadband routers. For some people, the security afforded by this type of NAT and its packet filter may not be sufficient for their purposes and instead opt for a more custom solution using something like IPChains, IPTables, IPCop, or OpenBSD's IPF. Though these corporate style firewalls are not yet fully supported, there are a number of ways to get Netizen to work without sacrificing too much security. Perhaps the easiest way to get Netizen to work is to simply allow UDP communication from Netizen to receive replies from the Internet. This can be accomplished by setting a firewall rule that allows UDP packets out of the network and its incoming replies back into the network. For some firewalls, stateful UDP packet inspection (SPI) also should be deactivated. Although not usually necessary, an alternate security policy would be to forward UDP packets to Netizen's dynamic port range of 4895-5395.
Q
But I have an off-the-shelf broadband (wireless) router. Why doesn't this this thing work more reliably?

Certain off-the-self broadband routers, such as the Netgear WGT634/624 and RP/WGR614 series, come with built in firewalls and not so friendly NAT implementations that may restrict or otherwise make Netizen less than reliable. Netizen will work with your network configuration even if it detects and notifies you that a restrictive firewall is present. You just may experience reduced performance and reliability over time, though. If you experience degraded performance and/or reduced connection reliability, you can try manually forwarding packets within Netizen's dynamic port range of 4895-5395 to your computer. Also, try deactivating stateful packet inspection (SPI) if you have it running.

Connection churn and long periods of high network activity have been known to cause problems with certain broadband routers. The default firmware for the Linksys WRT54G/GL/GS series of routers, for example, has a well known problem with software that generates lots of connections. So, please ensure that your broadband router's firmware is up-to-date. This also has been known to happen with other routers such as the Netgear WGT524/DG834G and the D-Link 500/600 series. If a firmware update is not available for your router, you can temporarily alleviate the problem by simply power-cycling it (or by getting a better router).

If you continue to experience problems with your broadband router, please send us a bug report. Perhaps we can help diagnose and workaround your particular problem. If we find a workaround for your particular router, we will post the results on this page.
Q
How do I get Civil Netizen to work with my personal firewall like Windows XP SP2 Firewall, Norton Personal Firewall, Zone Alarm or McAfee Firewall?

In order to allow Netizen to function correctly with these personal firewall products you must give “CivilNetizen.exe” outgoing and incoming access to the network. You should “unblock“ Netizen and add it to the list of programs exempt from the default set of restrictions and then give it permission to have “all access” to the Internet.
Q
How do I keep Norton Anti-Virus from notifying me to permit or block Civil Netizen?

Norton Anti-Virus has a feature called Worm Protection that will continually prompt you to permit or block Netizen regardless of whether or not you hit “Permit” or “Block.” You will need to competely disable Norton Worm Protector or at the very least remove “Netizen“ from the list of programs listed under the “Program Control” portion of “Internet Worm Protection.”
Q
Why does Outpost Firewall keep warning me that Netizen is sending malformed DNS requests?

Netizen sends out RFC compliant DNS requests and it is not yet known why Outpost Firewall/Outpost Firewall Pro warns users of malformed DNS requests. These warnings are benign and is an indication that Outpost Firewall may be blocking Netizen from discovering the network and cause it to get stuck in the “Joining” phase. To disable these warning, double click on the tray icon for Outpost Firewall. Right click and select “DNS Cache” -> “Properties”. Under the “Security” settings, uncheck “Verify and block malformed DNS Requests” and click “OK” to accept the changes. This problem has been known to occur with Outpost Firewall 3.51 and may occur in previous and future versions of the software.
Q
How do I configure Netizen to use my proxy server?

Netizen does not currently support proxy server configuration at the moment. We are in the midst of implementing and testing that feature and it should be available in an upcoming release.
Q
Will Civil Netizen work behind my router/firewall/proxy server?

Civil Netizen is optimized to work in as many network environments as possible. If you are behind a common wireless (or wired) router connected to a broadband connection, Civil Netizen should work for you and your recipients. You don’t have to configure anything on your router or map any ports. We have tested Civil Netizen with popular routers from brands such as Linksys, D-link, and Netgear. If you run into connectivity problems from home networks, please tell us about it.
Q
How do I configure and use Netizen's secure web bridge feature?

Netizen's secure web bridge feature is automatic. You will just have to wait a little. After unsuccessfully trying to establish a direct connection with your friends for 30 to 60 seconds, Netizen will automatically switch over and route through our network using the secure web bridge. All you have to do is ensure that you are indeed connected to our network (indicated by the green LED light at the lower left hand corner of the application).

Parcel pickups and/or deliveries that are bridged through our network will time out and fail if your connection to the Netizen Network is interrupted (indicated by a red LED connection light). "Pinging.." events (indicated by the flashing yellow light) will not affect your bridged transfers. Should your transfer be interrupted, the retry timer will ensure that connectivity is restored and that your transfer resumes.
Q
Do you plan to support Linux (or other operating systems)?

For Linux enthusiasts, you may like to know that we have built Civil Netizen on the amazing foundation of Mozilla and its cousin Firefox. Just like Mozilla, Civil Netizen is a cross-platform application that can be ported to run on Linux or other more exotic operating systems. Civil Servant, the service portion of Civil Netizen, is running on Linux servers right now. The desktop Linux version will be forthcoming.

Civil Netizen for Windows Questions

Q
What are the minimum system requirements for Civil Netizen?

Netizen for Windows is designed to run on Windows 2000/XP. The application will scrape by on a computer using dialup with a minimum of 128MB of RAM and at least a Pentium III 500MHz processor. It has been done, but it wasn't pleasant.

We recommend that Netizen be used on a computer that is connected to the Internet via a broadband connection with at least 256MB of RAM and a 1.4GHz Pentium IV or comparable processor.

Q
What does Civil Netizen install on my computer?

Netizen for Windows installs a number of files and registry keys to ensure its operation. The installer copies the main application and its associated files to “C:\Program Files\Civil Netizen.” It will also attempt to install an updated version of Microsoft's redistributable runtime libraries, “msvcr71.dll” and “msvcp71.dll”, to the “C:\Windows\System32” directory. These two libraries are required to run Netizen and are only installed if they don't already exist on your computer.

The installer also creates a number of registry keys to keep track of installation and uninstaller properties and version information. The installer does not create or modify any other registry keys other than the following.
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Civil Engines
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Civil Engines\Civil Netizen
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Civil Engines
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Civil Engines\Civil Netizen
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Classes\.slip
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Classes\.parc
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Classes\.stub
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Classes\NetizenSlipFile
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Classes\NetizenParcFile
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Classes\NetizenStubFile
Netizen stores its settings and application specific information in “C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Civil Engines\” and the parcels that are stored and managed by the application are maintained in “C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\Netizen\Shared Parcels.” These directories are created when you first launch the application.
Q
How do I remove Civil Netizen from my computer?

If you no longer want to use Netizen, you can remove it by selecting “Add/Remove Programs” from the “Control Panel” and then clicking on “Change/Remove” next to the Civil Netizen program description.
Q
What does Civil Netizen leave behind on my computer?

When you remove the application, the uninstaller removes files and folders in the main program directory as well as the specified registry keys. It does not, however, delete your personal Netizen settings in the “Application Data” directory and it does not delete your parcels in the “Shared Parcels” directory. It is at your discretion to delete your parcels before or after you uninstall the application. Should you choose not to preserve your preferences and settings between Netizen installations, then you should also delete the “C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Civil Engines\” directory. Also, the uninstaller will not remove the Microsoft redistributable libraries since the those libraries may be shared with and utilized by other applications.

For a complete listing of the files, directories and registry keys created and or modified during the installation process, please review the installer logs at “C:\Program Files\Civil Netizen\uninstall\install_wizard.log.”
Q
Civil Netizen either won't start or displays a startup error message on my computer. What do I do?

If you have another instance of Netizen running on your computer, double clicking on the Civil Netizen icon will have no effect. Please check the Windows Task Manager to see if a previous instance of Netizen failed to exit properly and is still running in the background. If so, terminate the processes and try launching Civil Netizen again.

If a previous instance of Netizen fails to exit cleanly, you may also encounter the following error message:
- The file "/content/profile/profileSelection.xul?manage=true" cannot be found. Please check the location and try again.
This is a known problem and we are working towards correcting it in future versions of Netizen. This error message also has been known to occur even when there are no previous instances of Netizen still running in the background. This usually happens when old versions of Netscape Navigator (4.7 and earlier) are installed on your computer. If you would like to continue using Netizen, try uninstalling those old versions of Netscape Navigator and upgrade to the latest version of Firefox.

If you are still encountering this problem, please send us a bug report. Perhaps we can help diagnose and workaround your particular problem.
Q
I installed a VPN client and now I can no longer send or receive with Civil Netizen. What do I do?

Installing any software that requires a Virtual Network Adapter, such as a VPN client or a virtual machine (such as VMWare and Virtual PC), may change the order in which network applications prioritize available connections on your computer. For Netizen, this may mean that it ends up using a network adapter that may only allow it access to the virtual network and not the Internet. Luckily, there is a simple way to fix this problem.
1. Under “Control Panel”, launch the “Network Connections” applet and select the “Advanced Settings...” option under the “Advanced&rdquo menu.
2. Navigate to the “Adapters and Bindings” tab and search for the list captioned “Connections are listed in the order in which they are accessed by network services”
3. Ensure that the primary network adapters you are using to access the Internet appear at the top of that list. Usually you can select either “Local Area Connection” or “Wireless Network Connection” and use the arrow buttons to move it up the priority list.
This configuration change will ensure that all your Internet applications will use the appropriate network adapter. It also should not affect how your VPN or virtual machine software operate [Special thanks to Joel Björkman for helping diagnose and solve this problem].

Civil Netizen for Mac OS X Questions

Q
What are the minimum system requirements for Civil Netizen?

Netizen for Mac OS X is designed to run on Mac OS X version 10.2.8 and later. The application will run on a Mac with an 800 MHz PowerPC G4 processor and 128MB of RAM. We recommend that Netizen be used on a Mac with at least 512MB of RAM and a 1.2GHz PowerPC G4 processor.

Q
How do I remove Civil Netizen from my computer?

You may remove Netizen by simply dragging the Civil Netizen icon from your Applications folder to the trash icon on your dock.

Q
What does Civil Netizen leave behind on my computer?

Your personal Netizen settings and your parcels are not deleted from your computer. If you do not wish to preserve your preferences and settings between Civil Netizen installations, then you should also delete the “~/Library/Civil Engines/Netizen” directory. Also, if you do not wish to retain any of your parcels, you should also delete the “/Users/Shared/Netizen/Shared Parcels” directory from your computer.

Q
How do I prevent Civil Netizen from disconnecting from the network when my computer goes into sleep mode?

According to the Apple Support Website, portable computers have no network connectivity when in sleep mode, but can wake if the Energy Saver options “Wake when the modem detects a ring” or “Wake for Ethernet network administrator access” are enabled. In order to keep Netizen connected to the Internet, do not manually put the computer to sleep and drag the “Put the computer to sleep when it is inactive” slider to Never. You should also try to not let the hard drives spin down during idle modes to prevent the ethernet card from being deactivated. This can be accomplished by ensuring that the “Put the hard disk to sleep when possible” option is unchecked.

We are continuing to work on solutions that will enable you to send and receive parcels without having to go through increased energy usage or sacrificing your laptop's battery life. Upcoming versions of Netizen will provide support for such disconnected or semi-connected use.

Didn't find the answers you need here? You can always email us your questions. If your question is really good, we won't even bother to wait until it becomes "frequently" asked and just post its answer right away.