The NatWest On-Line Service

Nat West have introduced another new online banking service, which is finally accessible over the Internet.

This replaces their old service, which involved dialling directly into their network, and running a Windows program on your own machine to encrypt and sign the traffic. Instructions on using the old service can be found here.

They use Java in the browser to provide cryptographic signing of transactions, which means that it runs happily on Linux without having to resort to using Wine to run their Windows software.

Unfortunately, if you try to get in directly through the front page of their site, you'll fail. This is because they rely on the softupdate feature of Netscape, which isn't implemented in the Unix versions. When the softupdate fails, their script doesn't let you log in to the site, even if you've manually downloaded the required Java classes and added them to your classpath.
I've reported this to Nat West, but given their level of technical expertise, I don't really expect them to understand, let alone fix it, in the near future. These are the people who have just deployed a network of WinNT machines in their bank, for crying out loud.

UPDATE: It turns out that Netscape on Linux does actually have the softupdate feature, it's just that it sometimes fails to work. After I found that it didn't work, and then was told so by a certain ex-Netscape employee who shall remain nameless, I felt I was safe in claiming that it wasn't implemented.
The solution, as often with Netscrape, is to remove your .netscape directory and start again - then if you point your browser at http://www.nwolb.co.uk/, it should just work. I'll leave these instructions up because this is actually quite a common occurrence, and people may not want to delete their entire Netscape configuration just to use Nat West's banking service. Hopefully this kind of crap will be fixed in Mozilla.

Using NatWest On-Line with Linux (Plan A)

• Point Netscape at http://www.nwolb.co.uk/.
• It ought to just work. If it does, smile and go use it.
• In the fairly likely event that Netscrape doesn't manage to download the Java code, continue...
• Swear profusely at Netscape
• Close Netscape
• Remove your entire .netscape directory. (You might want to back up your bookmarks, cookies, etc., first)
• Restart Netscape and try again. It ought to work

If you don't want to remove your Netscape configuration, or if it still doesn't work for you, continue with Plan B...

Using NatWest On-Line with Linux (Plan B)

• First, you need to download the JAR containing the Java classes which the Nat West service requires. These are available from https://www.nwolb.co.uk/nwol/classes/NWGOUtility.jar.
  If you just click on the link, Netscape will complain "SmartUpdate failed: JAR archive has no installer file information." - so press shift while you click on it, and Netscape will just attempt to save the file instead of trying to install it automatically.
  
  
• Save the file in your ~/.netscape/plugins directory, or any other directory on your CLASSPATH.
  
  
• Restart Netscape
  
  
• Now just bypass their broken front page, and go directly to the login page: https://www.nwolb.co.uk/netdata-cgi/db2www/logon/PCindex.d2w/MAIN
  
  
• If you haven't used the service before, follow the 'Register PIN' link and fill in your user ID and PIN numbers to register.
  
  If you need me to tell you that you have to register with Nat West to get your UID and PIN, then go away now - I don't want to help you. If you already have a UID and PIN for the old service, you can't use them - you need to register again, and wait for them to send you your new PIN by snail mail. Nat West haven't yet discovered the 20th Century - they can't manage email and PGP.
  
  
• You'll probably be returned after that to their broken front page. Skip it and go back to the login page again.
  
  
• Follow the "Log in" link. A Java window should pop up, looking something like this:
  
  
  
  
• Log in, hit OK, and the system should just work. Bear in mind that most of the menus on the left hand side are JavaScript, and it'll instantly tell you 'Document: Done' while the Java is actually downloading and decrypting the page you asked for. Your machine will probably chug along quite slowly while this is happening, so you'll be able to guess it's doing something. Be patient. Or switch to Mozilla and use it with a real JVM.
  
  
• Finally, and this is quite an important step: Contact NatWest on 0845 60 50 789. Tell them that their system is buggy because it doesn't work in the absence of the softupdate browser feature. Also tell them that you're unhappy that they didn't provide these instructions on their own web site, leaving third parties to figure it out and make them available.