Chip Hitware 6 A/CHIP_HITWARE6_A.iso/internet/SpamBam/README.txt

Text File | 1998-03-09 | 11KB | 266 lines

Spambam 1.1 Read me file (Setup and instructions)
Copyright 1998 Cain Hopwood, Molten Lava Productions.
Author E-mail: [e-mail]
Website for updates: http://www.epage.com.au/spambam
Document date 3 March 1998.

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CONTENTS
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1. What is Spambam.
2. Setup Instructions.
3. Operation.
4. Blacklist Maintenance.
5. Greenlist Maintenance.
6. Problems, Questions, Suggestions.
7. FAQ.
8. Known Bugs, Problems.
9. File List.
10. Obtaining a registration key and Legal Stuff.

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1. WHAT IS SPAMBAM?
-------------------

Spambam is an intelligent e-mail filtering program that sits
transparently between your ISP's POP and SMTP servers and your mail
client (Eudora, Exchange, Netscape etc). It detects spam (UCE) and
marks it so your e-mail client can act appropriately. Spambam does
this by adding the string "[SPAM]" to the subject of e-mails it
detects. If Spambam is not entirely sure the e-mail is spam it will
add the string "[SUS]" to the subject. Spambam can also be set to
delete the spam before it even gets into your inbox (although the
spam will be saved into a directory just in case).

How does Spambam do all this?

Spambam uses three main methods to filter e-mail.

1. A Greenlist: This contains the e-mail addresses and filter
patterns of people/ organisations you know. If an incoming e-mail
matches something in the Greenlist it gets through *no matter what*.
The Greenlist is maintained automatically by Spambam through a couple
of methods (see below for more details).

2. A Blacklist: This contains domains and individuals of known
spammers and also patterns that appear in the headers of spam. The
Blacklist is maintained automatically by Spambam by merging it with
the master blacklist kept on the Spambam home page. You can set
Spambam to merge either every time it starts up or on demand. You
can also edit your own blacklist to add your own patterns and spammer
domain's.

***********************************************************************
*The Standard Spambam Blacklist has over 2700 patterns and is growing!*
***********************************************************************

3. Header Checking: If your e-mail address is not found in the "To:"
or "CC:" headers (typical of bulk UCE e-mail) Spambam can be set to
mark it as Spam if it hasn't passed the Greenlist. Spambam also checks
for other header inconsistencies typical of spam e-mail.

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2. SETUP INSTRUCTIONS
---------------------

To setup Spambam unzip the files in the zip (which this Readme.txt
file came in) into a temporary directory. Then double click setup.exe
The setup program will ask you for a location and for some other details.
When you first run Spambam it will connect to the Spambam web site and
get the latest Blacklist file

IMPORTANT: If you connect to the Internet via a proxy (or from behind a
firewall) make sure you enter the proxy settings during the setup. You
can also set proxy information in the System/Settings menu, setup tab.

The next step you have to do is change your e-mail client to Use
localhost (or 127.0.0.1) as *both* POP3 and SMTP servers. This allows
Spambam to filter incoming mail, and update your Greenlist with the
addresses of the people you send mail to.

If you have multiple e-mail accounts on different servers you can
have them all using Spambam to filter out spam as well. Simply add a
"/" and the name of the server to the POP user name in your e-mail
program. Eg. If your POP username is "fred" and your POP server is
"mail.myplace.com" combine the two so that your POP username is
"fred/mail.myplace.com" then set your POP server to localhost (as
per the instructions above)

******************************************************************
For problems/more info on setting up particular e-mail clients see
the Spambam web site http://www.epage.com.au/spambam/
******************************************************************

Now Spambam is ready to run, start it up, and then start (or restart)
your e-mail program. Remember that at any time you can use the
System/Settings... menu on the Spambam main screen to
view and change the settings, Set the Auto update options and
configure the way Spambam processes incoming mail.

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3. OPERATION
------------

Spambam sits in the background waiting for a socket connection (so it
uses *none* of your CPU). When your e-mail client connects to it via
POP and asks for mail, Spambam puts the client on hold while it
retrieves any mail from your actual POP server. Spambam is a
multithreaded application so it checks the incoming mail for spam
*while it's being downloaded*. If spam is detected it is
marked/saved/deleted. Once all the mail is in Spambam will
immediately send it back to your e-mail client. There is very little
added total delay.

On the SMTP side, when your mail client connects to Spambam to send
some mail Spambam simply stores it, adds any recipients to your
Greenlist then send the mail via your real SMTP Server. This in fact
speeds up most mail clients as the sending is done in the background
by Spambam.

Spambam can also be set to save any spam into a directory (the default
name is "SPAM"). It will also create a simple HTML index file for the
saved items for easy viewing. if the directory gets full just Delete
the files in it and the index file will be recreated when the next
item of spam arrives.

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4. BLACKLIST MAINENANCE
-----------------------

You can edit your blacklist (Blacklist.txt) easily and add your own
filters. Any text editor will do the job, for your convenience the
Tools/Edit Blacklist... menu fires up a copy of notepad for this
purpose.

Each line in the file (not prefixed by "//") is a filter item. If
it's straight text that item will match against the whole header
(Except the "Subject:" line). A specific Header line can be specified
by prefixing the filter item with the Header label terminated by a
colon space (": ") pair. eg. The filter line;
  received: cyberpromo.com
will match against only "Received:" header lines whereas the filter line
  cyberpromo.com
would match anywhere in the whole header.

Filters for particular lines in the header can also be set to match
if the pattern is *not* found in the header by prefixing the pattern
with a "!". Eg. The filter
  message-id: !@
will match if the "@" symbol is not present in the message-id: header
line. Don't confuse this with cancelling a filter (below).

If you wish to cancel a filter *don't just delete it*. Put a "!"
before it so that when you merge with the master list it won't get
added again. The best place to add your own filter lines is at the
beginning of the Blacklist.txt as merges add new items to the bottom
of the List.

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5. GREENLIST MAINENANCE
-----------------------

The greenlist has two sections;

1.  All entries up until the "//end useralias" line are considered to
be *your* e-mail addresses. You must enter these in otherwise
Spambam will not filter optimally.

2.  The rest of the greenlist is exactly the same format as the
blacklist. The difference is that incoming mail is checked against
the addresses and patterns in the greenlist. Plain e-mail addresses
in the greenlist are checked against the "from" and "reply-to" headers.

To initialise the Greenlist you can merge it from an Exchange address
book, a Netscape address book, or a flat text file. It is a good idea
to add your mailing lists to the top of the second section of your
greenlist as mailing lists are almost always tagged as spam. eg. the
line "subject: INKLINGS" will ensure the Inklings newsletter gets
through. There's really not much to do on the greenlist as Spambam
maintains it for you automatically.

Here's a sample greenlist;
// This is a comment, up to //end useralias specifies your usernames
//begin useralias
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
cain
cain_rm
[e-mail]
//end useralias
// The rest are acceptable senders the first two are to let a mailing
// list through.
subject: NetBITS
subject: [SF]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
cain
cain_rm
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
...

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6. PROBLEMS QUESTIONS, SUGGESTIONS
----------------------------------

Please don't hesitate to send feedback, praise, or complaints to
[e-mail]. But before asking any questions about setup or
problems please take the time to visit the Spambam web site and
check the latest FAQ.

The web site is at http://www.epage.com.au/spambam

YOU CAN ALSO GET REGISTRATION INFORMATION AT THE WEB SITE!

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7. Frequently Asked Questions
-----------------------------

The Spambam FAQ is best retrieved online as that way you will be
sure of having the latest version with the most information. To get
it point your browser at http://www.epage.com.au/spambam/FAQ.html.

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8. KNOWN BUGS, PROBLEMS
-----------------------
- The log file does not auto roll (so delete it once it gets to big)
- Any POP errors that occur Spambam->POP server are interpreted by
client as Password fault. (not fixable)

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9. FILE LIST
------------

Blacklist.txt
Greenlist.txt
Licence.txt
README.txt
register.exe
register.hlp
Setup.exe
SPAMReply.txt

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10. OBTAINING A REGISTRATION KEY AND LEGAL STUFF
-----------------------------------------------

Spambam is distributed as SHAREWARE, so please register it. Your
contributions enable us to maintain and improve our products.

REGISTRATION ONLY COSTS $10.

To ease registration register.exe has been included. Simply run
this program if you want to pay using the KAGI system using credit
cards, USD cheques, or USD cash. The register.exe encrypts all
credit card information before it is sent to KAGI.

You can also register using KAGI Via the WWW and secure forms.
visit the Spambam web site http://www.epage.com.au/spambam for
more information and a link to the Spambam KAGI payment form.

If you wish to pay in Australian dollars information on how to pay
is also on the Spambam Web site.

Please read the file Licence.txt, use of Spambam implies acceptance
of it's terms.