Starting ASpam
After installing ASpam, it can be started from the Windows START button. Before starting to use ASpam, you must configure it to tell it which mailbox to scan, if you wish to send notifications to spammers, etc. This should not take more than 5 minutes via ASpam’s main configuration window, as described below.
The trusted user file
The trusted user file is a simple ASCII text file. It contains a list of email addresses (one per line) that you consider 'trusted'. The content of any email apparently coming from a user listed in this file is not checked, and thus always remains in your mailbox.
Note that
you can declare an entire organization as 'trusted': adding only the part after
the @ sign of the email address to this file will make ASpam accept any email
coming from users at the given site. E.g., adding '@microsoft.com' will accept
'bill.gates@microsoft.com' as well as 'joe.clark@microsoft.com' and all other
senders that contain '@microsoft.com' .
It is, by
the way, not a good strategy to list well-know domains such as Microsoft,
Yahoo, Hotmail, etc. in this manner, because this type of address is frequently
used by spammers. Rather add all your correspondents using these services one
by one, giving their complete address.
A good way
to initialise this file is to add all users to whom you have sent email. You
can do this automatically with the Add button: after pushing this
button, simply select the file containing all 'Sent' messages. ASpam automatically
extracts all email addresses in it and adds them to the trusted users file.
in ASpam.ini
:
[FILES]
TrustedFile=.\trusted.txt
The trusted Subject file
The trusted Subject file is a simple ASCII text file. It contains a list of subject tags (one per line) that you consider 'trusted'.
This feature is used to instruct Aspam to accept mail coming from mailing-lists. Just add the tag that your lists put into the subject to this file. For example, if you subscribe to the TRNSYS-users mailing list, add a line saying
[TRNSYS-users]
(because all mail coming from that list will have a subject like
Subject: [TRNSYS-users] How do I recompile the TRNSYS kernel ?
in ASpam.ini
:
[FILES]
TrustedSubjectFile=.\lists.txt
The filter file
This file
contains a list of words and / or phrases (one per line) which will cause an
incoming email to be refused if it contains them. You can use this file to tune
how tolerant ASpam should be. For example, if this file is empty, no email will
ever be deleted (it doesn't make much sense to run ASpam in this case). The
other extreme would be to add a line containing only a single letter such as
'e' : since there are no messages without it (at least the message header
contains an 'e'), this would turn ASpam into a sort of answering machine.
Combined with the ‘key’ feature (see below) and the ‘trusted users’ file, this
allows you to accept only email from people you know, or to whom you gave your
key.
The default
filter file is somewhere in the middle. It contains an extensive list of terms
harvested from spam email of several months. The idea is to refuse only
'suspect' mails, to bother new senders as few as possible. This means accepting
to let a spam mail through every now and then.
Note that
short words like 'sex' tend to be part of bigger words. I once received a very
interesting email about a Excel spreadsheet for the COMIS simulation tool. The
author called it 'COMISExcel', and I never saw it: an automatic filter I had
set up in Outlook trashed for the word 'sex'. Since Outlook does not notify the
sender of such action, I only heard about this great, new tool months later by
coincidence...
ASpam comes
with my personal filter file I use the day of the release. Note that I refuse
some elements commonly used, such as any mail containing a link (any <href…
HTML tag). You may want to adapt this file (e.g. remove most of the lines I
use).
in ASpam.ini :
[FILES]
FilterFile=.\filter.txt
The message file
This simple
ASCII text file contains the notification message ASpam sends to authors of
mail that is rejected. A default message in English, French and German is
provided, but you can of course modify it by simply editing this file. Remember
to modify the ‘key’ in this message if you decide to modify it in the .INI
file.
in ASpam.ini :
[FILES]
MessageFile=.\message.txt
The log file
Each time ASpam
takes some action (such as starting up, refusing a message, accepting a
message, etc.) a line is added to this file to monitor what excatly was done
and why. This allows you to better understand the way ASpam reacts, and better
fine-tune the other configuration files.
Loggig can
be switched off in the configuration tab. If you keep logging on over long
periods of time, you may want to erase the log file every now and then to save
some disc space and execution time.
in ASpam.ini :
[FILES]
LogFile=.\aspam.log
The ASpam.ini file
This file
contains the settings of the program, such as logging (on/off), filter file to
use, etc.). You can modify this file by changing the settings of ASpam when it is
run interactively (under the configuration tab), or by simply editing it with
an ASCII text editor. You have to restart ASpam for the changes to take effect.
In addition
to the information described in the previous chapters, the following
information can be set:
[SETTINGS]
ReplyRejected=1
1: send
notification
0: don’t
SkipMessages=0
Number of
messages to skip when scanning mail. Usefull if you dial up to your office
computer over a slow network and you know there are 100 messages waiting which
have already been scanned.
RunEvery=60
Makes ASpam
scan your mailbox ever N (
DeleteRejected=0
0: Do not
delete any mail
1: Delete
refused mail
Key=Antispamwpk42
The key to
your mailbox: any mail containing this word will be accepted by ASpam. Be sure
to change your message text if you modify this value.
[LOGIN]
User=joe
Password=***
Server=gaston
OutServer=gaston
The login
information to your mail server. Note that you can specify a different server
for outgoing mail (used for notification messages).
The Send test message tab
This window
can be used to send a test message using any identity. I use it to test the
behaviour of ASpam.
General notes
You can edit
all these ASCII text files with any ASCII text editor. If you are using a word
processor such as Microsoft Word, be sure to use 'Text only' mode when saving
the file. NOTEPAD is perfectly OK to edit ASCII files.
There is a
/silent option you can use if you want to run ASpam from some other programs,
such as a scheduler. Started with this option, ASpam will run silently (without
opening any windows), using the options from the aspam.ini file. Note that if
the RunEvery entry is not 0, ASpam will run periodically until it is killed or
it crashes.
Last
Update: 21/03/2006