Disabling new mail notification

  Q: How do I disable new mail arrival notification in slackware 10?

  A: Some folks thought this was a bash notification and the profile command:

export MAILCHECK="no"

  would prevent the alert.  But it actually comes from the in.comsat service
  running as a biff server.  To turn off the alert in Slackware, have the user
  issue this command:


biff n


   A 'biff n' command is often included in the file .login or .profile to be
   executed at each login.  To disable system-wide, have the administrator
   disable the in.comsat service (edit the /etc/inetd.conf).


   see also "man biff"



Gerald Swann 
9 Aug 2004