AntiSpam
This is my adaptation of Dave Higton's spam deleting e-mail fetcher.
The current version is 1.67.1 (05-02-2019 - 410K)
MD5: c3c5f89ba18de27e7474170696bb036a
SHA256: 3f7d2dddd96d57f23155d08e4420647baf5501634ccbcd2a4fc86ba651e9d677
The main new feature of versions after 1.64 is support for ROOL's new (beta) AcornSSL module, which can be used instead of SecureSockets to create secure connections. Version 1.67.1 is a bug fix release.
Look here for a list of changes.
What?
AntiSpam is an application for deleting unwanted e-mail (a.k.a. spam). It can check your POP3 mailboxes and identify spam by looking at the headers of the messages. You can let it download the messages that aren't spam at the same time (preferred) or make it start another fetcher such as POPstar after it has deleted the spam.
Platform
This is a RISC OS program. It should run on any version of the operating system from 3.10.
Dependencies
To run AntiSpam you need SysLog and having StrongHelp on your machine is strongly recommended. If you have RISC OS Select, Adjust or Six, you already have SysLog. Otherwise you may need to pick up a version from Tom Hughes' website. The most recent version of StrongHelp can be found here.
Licence
This program is © Dave Higton & Frank de Bruijn, while some parts are by Jeremy Nicoll and Martin Avison. It is released under the Free Software Foundation's GNU General Public License (GPL).
Support
If something doesn't work as expected, please report it on the FreeLists mailing list.
Disclaimer
The authors accept no responsibility whatsoever for any loss or damage caused by use of or inability to use this software. In particular, users or potential users should be aware that this program can be expected to delete e-mails from a server. This is its purpose. If you do not wish e-mails to be deleted, DO NOT USE THIS APPLICATION!
Accessories
Several people have written utilities or instructions for use with AntiSpam. These were written with the original version of AntiSpam in mind and may not work with mine. The following ones have been checked and should be ok.
- Rosemary Miskin has created a utility called RuleSort and written instructions for integrating AntiSpam with Voyager.
User Tests
AntiSpam uses a script with rules to decide whether a message is spam or not. Sometimes you'll be faced with messages that cannot be caught by any rule you can create. If you know how to program in BASIC, you can add your own code to deal with that (see the StrongHelp manual for details). If you want other people to benefit from your work, you can send me your User Tests (check the StrongHelp manual for the address, please) and I'll put them on this page, like these:
| name/link | short description |
|---|---|
| alternate_letters | To handle things like t.h.i.s i.s y.o.u.r l.i.f.e. By Harriet Bazley. |
| capitals | To catch headers with mostly capitals. By Harriet Bazley. |
| datespace | In case multiple spaces are used to line up headers. By Harriet Bazley. |
| domain/username | For spam with usernames in From headers that equal domain names in Message-ID headers. By Harriet Bazley. |
| domaincaps | Will catch domainnames in all capitals in From headers. By Harriet Bazley. |
| littlespammed | To accept certain messages by username. By Harriet Bazley. |
| manydigits | For messages with too many digits in certain headers. By Harriet Bazley. |
| repeatedfirstletter | To catch things like 'arty artz artzt aruba'. By Harriet Bazley. |
| threedots | If a header contains at least three dots. By Harriet Bazley. |
| trailingspace | For headers that contain trailing spaces. By Harriet Bazley. |
| twowords | A set of three rules - to be used together - to catch two-word spam. By Harriet Bazley. |
| viagra | A viagra test, concentrating on the 'gra' bit. By Harriet Bazley. |
| weirdinitials | For messages with 'weird' initials. By Harriet Bazley. |
| zeroO | The letter O replaced by the number 0. By Harriet Bazley. |
| support | Supporting code required by (some of) the above. |
| the lot | All the above in one zip. |
Using the tests
Most of the above have some descriptive text in the BASIC file inside the zip. The actual program code in each file is the section starting after the first blank line end ending before the first 'equals/dash'-line or the end of the file, whichever comes first.
The easiest way to add a test to the main UserTests file is loading that file in an editor like StrongED, placing the cursor at the end and dropping the new file (or all of them) in. You can edit out the headers and descriptions, but that isn't strictly necessary (although it will of course make the UserTests file smaller and easier on the eyes...). Alternatively, you can just cut/copy and paste the required bits from the new file to the UserTests file.
Be aware that some of the tests require you to make manual changes to other parts of the UserTests file. I.e. reading the descriptions first rather than just running the lot makes sense.
Strange format
In case you're wondering about the peculiar format of the files in the zips: the current version of AntiSpam has a 'User Test installer'. Don't panic! Manual installation using cut and paste will always remain possible...
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