Well Robert, while I cannot answer all your good questions, I can say in the pine or alpine config, you can display only those items you really want to hear, such as in my config, this line: msgno date from subject(75%) Back again live, I make more room for longer subjects, such as in usenet. I have no date or time displayed unless I hit "h" for headers. I login to a remote shell-and-likewise have similar backspace issues, but can hear items in a shell prompt. In both these related pines you can fool around changing foreground-and-background colors and reverse some items. Hope that helps Hart
