SpamCombat <-> MailWasher

[timns]

Anyone here have much experience with Spam Combat compared to Mail Washer?

I used Mail Washer 6 for years, and liked it very much. Then MW2010 came along and as far as I am concerned, the wheels fell off. First there was the disastrous decision to change to the "pay per year" license model. Then there were the shocking number of bugs, the horrible interface, the not-so-good spam detection... and finally it takes a good minute or so to start up these days.

So! Hunting around, I came across Spam Combat which looks like it might be freeware, and has what appears to be comparable capabilities. Does anyone use it in anger? Any good advice or opinions before I download and spend ages setting it up?

[rjbull]

I got fed up with training and re-training Mailwasher, plus other problems with it.  My strategy now is to first run freeware Magic Mail Monitor.  It isn't Bayesian, and you have to constantly update the filters, but I've not found it too onerous so far.  I use TheBat! as e-mail client and have the AntispamSniper plugin for it, Pro version thanks to a DC discount.  There's also a free version.  Pro versions exist for Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows Mail, and Windows Live Mail, but not free versions.  AntispamSniper is well-liked on DC.  I'll be interested to hear more about SpamCombat.

[timns]

Thanks! I bit the bullet and downloaded SpamCombat late last night, so today will be interesting.

First impressions of Spam Combat follow.

Pros:

• The interface is more business-like than Mail Washer
• The whitelist / blacklist filters are on permanent show so it's very easy to update them
• It's ALREADY doing better at spam/not spam detection than MW
• It's freeware - yet clearly well supported, and in fact you can purchase support for $35
• There's a splendid pop-up from the system tray icon that summarises what's waiting in your inboxes, and when the next mail check is due
• Stats! Gotta love 'em
• Hot keys for fast categorization of messages
• Pretty solid help file - albeit a bit out of date

Cons:

• Was unable to automatically import my Thunderbird accounts
• Does not minimize after I hit the "run mail client" button
• After adding a sender to the whitelist, the interface does not update that message to reflect that it's now "good"
• Cannot launch hyperlinks from within the preview window. I liked this feature in MW - for example, I'd see a reply to a DC thread that I'm following, and can launch the browser direct from MW and delete the message without having to have it load into my mail client.
• An annoying dialog asking "Are you sure you want to delete checked messages from server?" even if there are no checked messages.
  

In my opinion, Pros outweigh the Cons quite considerably, so: Spam Combat IN, Mail Washer OUT - of my software list anyway.

[joiwind]

Been through the same process : MailWasher (paid) out, Spamcombat in.

I gave up on MW when they introduced the new gui (I was beta-testing) and soon chucked it when seeing the CPU hitting the roof.

The only drawback with SC for me is that it is no longer in development but it does what I want it to do and well - go for it timns.

[timns]

Thanks Joiwind - and I have signed up to their forum in case it's still possible to get some mini-updates rolling.

[rjbull]

• It's freeware - yet clearly well supported, and in fact you can purchase support for $35

-timns (January 24, 2011, 04:38 PM)

Interesting approach, and they appear to have forums which are presumably free.

• There's a splendid pop-up from the system tray icon that summarises what's waiting in your inboxes, and when the next mail check is due
• Stats! Gotta love 'em

If you like those features, you'd probably like Poppy, which can do similar things:

    * Checks multiple POP3 accounts for new mail.
    * Uses the taskbar icon to indicate that mail is waiting.
    * A configurable interval between checks of the POP3 account.
    * A a convenient popup menu to reach all functions and configuration.
    * Play a sound when new mail has arrived on any account.
    * Play a different sound for each account.
    * Execute an external program when new mail has arrived.
    * Show a non-interfering popup window when new mail has arrived.
    * Automatically hide the popup window, without user intervention.
    * Always notify or only when new mail has arrived.
    * Always notify or only when mail from a friend has arrived.
    * Dialog to display 'From' address and subject of each message.
    * View the headers of an e-mail message.
    * Preview the source of an e-mail message.
    * Delete e-mail messages from POP3 servers.
    * Select and/or unselect messages based on selection rules.
    * Only notify based on the selection rules.
    * Check e-mail headers against an anti-SPAM DNS blacklist.
    * Option to automatically delete SPAM messages
    * It is small and easy to use.
    * Support for POP3 servers that use SSL (like GMail).

• After adding a sender to the whitelist, the interface does not update that message to reflect that it's now "good"

Humph.  That could be better.