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SpamBayes 1.0.4 - Free Spam Filter

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User Rating4.0 out of 5 (1 Review)  Write a Review

By Heinz Tschabitscher, About.com

SpamBayes - Free Spam Filter

SpamBayes - Free Spam Filter

Heinz Tschabitscher
The Bottom Line
SpamBayes employs sophisticated analysis using Bayesian statistics to rid your email Inbox of junk mail precisely and in an effortless manner.
It would be great if SpamBayes' classifying power could be used to further categorize and prioritize good messages, and plug-ins for programs other than Outlook and Mozilla Thunderbird would be welcome.
Pros
  • SpamBayes detects spam precisely and efficiently
  • A POP proxy and IMAP module make SpamBayes work with most email accounts
  • Easy to use plug-ins for Outlook and Mozilla Thunderbird are available
Cons
  • SpamBayes cannot further classify or prioritize good mail
  • With email programs into which SpamBayes does not plug directly, setup can be a bit tricky
Description
  • SpamBayes filter spam in POP and IMAP email accounts, and plugs directly into Outlook and Mozilla Thunderbird.
  • SpamBayes uses Bayesian statistics to detect spam, learning with every mail (and as you correct it).
  • A POP proxy adds a classification header the email program can use to move incoming junk using a rule.
  • To train SpamBayes, you can use a web interface or forward mis-classified to a special SpamBayes address.
  • With IMAP accounts, SpamBayes moves spam right at the server. To train the filter, you move the messages, too.
  • In Outlook and Mozilla Thunderbird, you can use a toolbar to train SpamBayes.
  • Outlook can be configured to show the SpamBayes spam probability in the mailbox summary.
  • SpamBayes can display a detailed analysis for each email.
  • SpamBayes supports Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/3/XP/Vista.
Guide Review - SpamBayes 1.0.4 - Free Spam Filter
Massive experimentation and testing went into constructing a robust and highly efficient Bayesian spam filter. And efficient SpamBayes is.

After a just bit of training, SpamBayes detects junk mail reliably. With IMAP accounts, it moves the junk to a special folder automatically. Acting as a POP proxy in between your email program and the mail server, SpamBayes adds a marker that lets the email program filter the junk further.

To correct error, you can use SpamBayes's web interface or forward the messages to a training address with POP accounts and just move to distinct folders with IMAP. Outlook and Mozilla Thunderbird users have it particularly comfortable, too: SpamBayes plugs into these email programs for easy setup and training.

The option to put emails whose spam probability is somewhere between good mail and junk in a special folder make it easy to continue training and correcting (though that will not be necessary often) SpamBayes' decisions. Forget about the other, non-incremental training mode, though.

If you're curious what spam is made of, SpamBayes can show you a detailed analysis of a message's overall spam probably and its individual word counts.

It would be great of SpamBayes wonderful email classifying talent could be harvested for prioritizing and categorizing good mail further. Direct support for more email programs would be nice, too.

4 out of 5 4 out of 5
SpamBayes Trial and TribulationJune 06, 2009By denbigh
"I have been using SB since 2203/4. The program is pretty simple in concept and use, but does not give much variety. You classify mail into two types, spam and non-spam, preferably over a longish period, before installing SB. Then you 'train' the program by feeding it the two types - it uses some AI rules to create some rules to use itself, and you provide two folders for SB to use - I created SpamForSure and SpamMaybe. You set up the parameters for these folders on a scale of 0 to 100. Mine are set so that a spam score of >20 will put an email in Maybe and >90 into ForSure. Nowadays, with automatic retraining, no 'good' messages get to either box. The auto retraining is implemented by hitting a Spam button which whips an offending email away and makes an update to the rules. As far as I can tell, this was probably an academic project for an AI student, and the result is very good, but it goes nowhere. There have been no updates forever and the observations on how it could be improved have been ignored. A pity. But it doesnt change the fact that the program works. Whether it is better than other filters around, I have no idea, that needs an unbiassed comparitive review."
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