Singing the anti-spam blues

[f0dder]

I've been using the Bayes IT Filter plugin for The Bat for some months, and after som training it gave pretty nice results. After a windows reinstall, however, it seems to have forgotten all it's training, even though I pointed it at the old database files. It also has a habit of locking up every once in a while, using 100% CPU, and then I have to shut down The Bat.

So, what are the alternatives? I prefer something that plugs in nicely, as I like having the ability to manually classify mails as ham/spam (after all, this did work pretty well for the Bayes filter).

I also need to find a spam solution for my second workplace, where they use Outlook Express on all the boxes (changing email client is an option, but they don't adapt well to software changes, so I'd prefer staying with OE). Again, preferably something that plugs in, I'd hate having to run Yet Another Service (TM).

However, at least for the workplace, some proxy solution could work - I have a linux server there. I'd prefer not having to do per-host configuration, although adding something static to each client (ie, pointing it to the anti-spam proxy) would be okay.

Shamurai suggested on IRC that I should check out http://www.spamato.net/ which does sound nifty, but it's JAVA - and I'd really like to avoid that if possible.

So... what do I do?

[Josh]

I say you trust ole shamurai ;-) But yeah, umm, i dont know much about The bat since my trials with it have led me to nothing but frustration.

[KenR]

I have been using AntiSpam Sniper for the Bat http://www.antispamsniper.com/ and love it. very configurable, lots of options. near perfect results.

Let me know if you want/need any additional info.

Ken

[f0dder]

tinjaw found http://dspam.nuclearelephant.com yesterday, which sounds like it might fit my needs - I'll have to read into it some more, and see if it's easy enough to setup with a lot of mucking around.

I'll take a look at antispamsniper for my own use though, since it sounds more like what I need - thanks, Ken

[Curt]

So... what do I do?

-f0dder (January 15, 2007, 05:33 PM)

Well, that's a question I cannot answer 

Five years ago I wrote some guy and told him something. He liked my letter so much that he published it on his site, but included my e-mail address..     I wrote him several times and begged him to remove it, but he never responded. For two years my inbox was over-crowded with spam.

Then I learned about filtering, and I found SPAMfighter  They live just around the corner to me, but I and some 3 million other users think SPAMfighter might be the best solution for Outlook and Outlook Express. But maybe you won't use any of those clients at home - the Bat may be a better choice??
Why do you prefer the Bat? 

http://www.spamfighter.com/

[f0dder]

SPAMfighter is too bugged imho - when closing Outlook Express, it oftens hangs. And also I don't like the messages that it adds.

Why do you prefer the Bat? 

-Curt (February 21, 2007, 10:35 AM)

Because there's a lot less exploits for The Bat than for OE , I can view HTML mails safely if I choose to (it has it's own instead of using an IE control), it has good message filtering, good multi-account support, and decent anti-spam plugins (the free version of AntiSpamSniper works wonderfully, and it hasn't taken long to train it).

Anyway, dspam turned out to be too much bother, so I'll probably try moving the users to ThunderBird... hope it'll be painless, and that TB can cope with import of some pretty large  amounts of Outlook Express mails.

[Carol Haynes]

I have been singing the praises o POPfile for years but no one listens (maybe it is my singing).

The only issue with POPfile is that you use a webpage to configure the software. Fine in Outlook because you can set up a folder in the folder tree that opens it when you click but in other clients it may not be as easy - you can of course just use the optional tray icon to access the control panel.

POPfile is a Bayesian filter system that is not spam specific but doesn't take long at all to start classifying anything you like. Basically the way it works is it adds a field in the email header with the classification you want to use and then in the mail client you use rules to sort the incoming mail on that field. Simple but effective (if a little clunky and geeky for the first 30 minutes).

There is a plugin for Outlook (2002 on) that allows all the configuartion to be done from a toolbar in Outlook. It used to work great (and really simple and effective) but I found that it started to have some problems with later builds of POPfile. Outclass hasn't been updated since 2004 because the writer doesn't want to continue working on it. He would like it to be developed though if anyone wants to take on a project.

For details see:

http://www.vargonsoft.com/Outclass/

and

http://popfile.sourceforge.net/

[f0dder]

That might be a solution, Carol, but I'm afraid it's a bit too clunky and geeky for those people... will probably be a lot easier to get them moved to ThunderBird, after all it does look a bit like OE. I did come about PopFile quite a long time ago, but had since forgotten about it.

Thanks for the suggestion though, and if anybody else has anything to add, please do - even if I've pretty much made up my mind, input is still valuable

[Carol Haynes]

Actually POPfile has come on a bit in recent years - OK it is a little geeky to start with but once it is up and running it is pretty hands off.

[lanux128]

i don't mean to stray, but is there anyone who can recommend a good and easy to configure anti-spam tool for Outlook Express? i have to work with some elderly folks who find learning a software too strenuous, so i have to find a work-around..

[iphigenie]

popfile is great - I had it set up to not only recognize spam, but also correctly separate work email from private email from all the newsletters.

Then for a while i just couldnt make popfile run on my windows and I used the bluesquirrel one - spam sleuth - quite an interesting system as it will score based on so many different methods and automatically do challenge/response for messages in a

But when i reinstalled my machine i kind of had the same experience, all i had backed up somehow didnt work and it had lost all it's configuration and I stopped using it.

I just use what fastmail does at the moment and it's working ok, although nowhere near the great fit that popfile did.

Although nowadays it's those random text with spam in an image one that get through pretty much any bayesan filter