Spam Filter Training software

Utilities and tools for networking, routers, setup etc
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Neo
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Spam Filter Training software

Post by Neo » Sun Jul 08, 2007 1:56 am

I have been developing a utility to to automate the process of forwarding emails to an ISP's (PlusNet's) spam training addresses. In theory such a utility could be used for any ISP that utilises a similar process.

Links:
FastForward page
FastForward guide (for version 1.0.5)

Downloads:
Version 1.2.8 - Postini header analysis tweaks, spoof email reporting, progress bar and optional confirmation message
Version 1.2.7 - Postini header analysis
Version 1.2.5 - bugfix for attachments in OE

After a fair amount of testing the software in private (thanks to the RT staff who participated), it's time to open the doors to the public :)

Please read the readme file fully (especially the disclaimer) before you use the utility. Also, please consult the dependencies file if you run in to problems, before asking in this thread.

All feedback, comments, suggestion etc are welcome :) Please bear in mind, that it might not be possible to implement every single suggestion ;)

Notes:

This post will be updated on a regular basis during development and links to previous versions will be removed to ensure people are using the latest version.

History:
Version 1.0.14 uses the Redemption Library to send emails for Outlook
Version 1.0.15 uses the CDO.DLL to send emails for Outlook
Version 1.0.16 basic support for Eudora, uses Winsock to send emails for Outlook
Version 1.1.0 - basic support for Incredimail, incorporates many user suggestions
Version 1.1.1 - revamped GUI
Version 1.1.2 - a few bugfixes
Version 1.1.3 - includes illustrated help file, OE image check skip
Version 1.1.4 - includes option to copy email body to the clipboard
Version 1.1.6 - a few bugfixes (wizard working with Eudora)
Version 1.1.7 - improved OE identity handling
Version 1.1.8 - handles signatures in OE and now the "Send as HTML" setting is stored in the INI file
Version 1.1.9 - supports deletion after forwarding and handles multiple email selection in OE and Outlook
Version 1.1.10 - bugfix for multiple selections in OE/Outlook
Version 1.1.11 - bugfix for multiple selections with toolbar in OE
Version 1.2.0 - includes new PlusNet target emails
Version 1.1.9 - supports deletion after forwarding and handles multiple email selection in OE and Outlook
Version 1.2.1 - reverts to DSpam target addresses
Version 1.2.2 - supports sending as attachments and the new Postini target addresses

Future (planned) features:
Support for Eudora (done) and Incredimail (done)
Alternatives to using the Redemption component (done)
Anti-Phishing email features
Attachments
MSWINSCK.zip
Winsock control - if this is not installed on your system then you can download it here. See the dependency file for details.
(51.78 KiB) Downloaded 2814 times
Last edited by Neo on Fri Aug 21, 2009 11:33 pm, edited 19 times in total.
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Post by Neo » Mon Jul 09, 2007 1:57 pm

hatboy wrote:Well I tried it and firstly it can't find any Outlook Express Mail accounts (I have four). How can I make it see them?
Can you browse to "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Account Manager" in the registry and see if the accounts are listed there?
hatboy wrote:Secondly, my firewall component control blocks OE access to the net because FF alters OE. I need you to tell me which components of FF I must add to "component control" for OE in my firewall please?
Which firewall are you using? FFW uses OE to connect to the Net, so it should be a case of granting the modified OE access. If other FFW components are listed in the firewall (such as the FFW exe itself or the WndSpy.dll) then they should allowed access too.
hatboy wrote:Also I thought it would add the buttons to OE and they'd stay there permanently. Why does it re-add therm and remove them every time I open OE?
That is just the way FFW works - it adds and removes them on the fly, but this shouldn't be a problem :)
hatboy wrote:Also what do you make of this:

It can't find my OE accounts even though it sees the overall identity.
See above - the identity and accounts are stored in two different locations within the Registry.
hatboy wrote:It can't find "from" in the email I selected as "not spam".
That will be because it can't find an email account to use ;)
hatboy wrote:Did it send it on, I guess not.
No, because it needs an account to send from.
hatboy wrote:Not exactly an easy setup so far?
Did version 1.0.5 work OK?
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Post by Shotokan101 » Mon Jul 09, 2007 2:06 pm

FWIW - I've got 1.0.14 (what is it with the version numbering ? :lol: ) installed and operational with OE - no exhaustive testing yet but some comments to follow after further OE testing and testing with Outlook "proper" :)
Jim

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Post by Neo » Mon Jul 09, 2007 2:17 pm

Thanks Shoto :)
Shotokan101 wrote:I've got 1.0.14 (what is it with the version numbering ? :lol: )
Version numbering = Major.Minor.Revision - this means that it looks odd if you were expecting a decimal system of ones.tenths.hundreths or something ;)
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Post by Shotokan101 » Mon Jul 09, 2007 2:45 pm

Neo wrote:Thanks Shoto :)
Shotokan101 wrote:I've got 1.0.14 (what is it with the version numbering ? :lol: )
Version numbering = Major.Minor.Revision - this means that it looks odd if you were expecting a decimal system of ones.tenths.hundreths or something ;)
LOL - I got that - I did think originaly that it was in binary but the 4 kind of confused me :wink: - it was the "hop/skip/jump" convention that I was referring to as I never saw a .13 before it went public - but of course as this thread started at .14 I don't suppose it matters :D

Back on topic - You're welcome :)
Jim

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Post by Neo » Mon Jul 09, 2007 6:06 pm

hatboy wrote:The account ID's aren't in the registry where you said by the way. What shall I do?
Hmmm...can you search the registry for them (e.g. search for one of the email addresses used)? Do you know where they are located in the Registry?
hatboy wrote:Another thing that is wrong is that every time the buttons reload in OE they knock off buttons already configured at the other end of the OE toolbar.
When you say other buttons, what buttons are you referring to? Do you mean buttons inserted by other Outlook Express plugins? If so, which plugins?
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Post by brixtonman » Mon Jul 09, 2007 6:14 pm

OK, the email accounts are in the registry in:

HKEY_CURENT_USER/Identities/{longnumberhere}/Software/Microsoft/
InternetAcountManager/Accounts

Buttons such as Reply or Reply All (it can be any) are bumped off the other end of the toolbar when FF launches. It must be that if you ahve a certain number of buttons there already FF bumps one or two off. But with my layout there would still be room for the FF buttons to appear without doing this.
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Post by Neo » Mon Jul 09, 2007 6:25 pm

brixtonman wrote:OK, the email accounts are in the registry in:

HKEY_CURENT_USER/Identities/{longnumberhere}/Software/Microsoft/
InternetAcountManager/Accounts
Ah...I see...OK I'll tell FFW to look there also in the future ;)
brixtonman wrote:Buttons such as Reply or Reply All (it can be any) are bumped off the other end of the toolbar when FF launches. It must be that if you ahve a certain number of buttons there already FF bumps one or two off. But with my layout there would still be room for the FF buttons to appear without doing this.
OK, I will make the buttons narrower and see if that improves things - does it correct itself if you browse through the different folders in Outlook Express? Normally if you click on the 'Outlook Express' item in the Folders tree you will only see a few buttons. Then if you click on a folder, e.g. Inbox, the toolbar buttons should refresh.
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Post by brixtonman » Mon Jul 09, 2007 6:36 pm

As far as I can see once they are bumped off they stay off.

I'll try all this again when the next version comes out. But we've highlighted a few tweaks so I hope that is helpful. :)

I feel that OE should launch FF into the system tray rather than FF launching with Windows. What I'm looking for is to have FF unnoticeable, apart from the two buttons appearing in OE.

You've included an option for FF to close with OE, so it is logical and useful for "open when OE is opened" to be present as well.
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Post by Shotokan101 » Mon Jul 09, 2007 7:37 pm

O.K. - Home again - Time for some Testing and Feedback :D

Outlook Express
-------------------

0) FFW Installs O.K. - finds outlook pretty fast :)

1) First start-up of FFW after installation - OE (better delay timing now) Starts fine and toolbar buttons added o.k. :)

2) Test fetch o.k. - and spam/notspam buttons work fine in both OE and FFW :)

3) Doubleclick on FFW when in system tray tries to "mark as spam" and not "restore" ??? :(

4) Closes o.k. when client closes

5) ADD/REMOVE Prefixes work as "Designed" ;)

6) Reset Setting resets any settings changed from default - presumeably by design and not all settings in the options tab ;)

7) Run setup wizard works o.k. :)


Outlook "Proper"
----------------

0)Ran Setup wizard after the above OE config. and testing - setup wizard found Outlook quickly :)

2) First start up of FFW generated pop-up error "Run-Time Error '429': ActiveX component can't create object" - both pop-up and FFW stated behind Outlook..... :( ...and hen error pop-up "o.k.'d" FFW dies...

Will PM the log file for analysis.
Jim

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Post by brixtonman » Tue Jul 10, 2007 2:07 pm

Hi, what does this mean:

5) ADD/REMOVE Prefixes work as "Designed"

Also, is it difficult to make FF start with OE? How is it all going? Sorry if I seem ungrateful or something. I've no idea how to make a program so really I think you're great. :)

Unless FF launches unobtrusively with OE it isn't really for me you see. It needs to be really easy and I think others will want this too. Is there any way to make the toolbar buttons install without displacing the existing toolbar configuration? Or make those buttons integrate without having to reappear every launch?
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Post by Shotokan101 » Tue Jul 10, 2007 2:31 pm

brixtonman wrote:Hi, what does this mean:

5) ADD/REMOVE Prefixes work as "Designed"

Also, is it difficult to make FF start with OE? How is it all going? Sorry if I seem ungrateful or something. I've no idea how to make a program so really I think you're great. :)

Unless FF launches unobtrusively with OE it isn't really for me you see. It needs to be really easy and I think others will want this too. Is there any way to make the toolbar buttons install without displacing the existing toolbar configuration? Or make those buttons integrate without having to reappear every launch?
Brixtonman - I'll let Neo respond to your questions about how you would like FFW to work but I can responde re: your question about my "prefixes" comment :)

By "works as "designed"" I'm simply referring to the perceived behaviour where you specify a prefix to remove which si the same as the prefix you tell it to add (daft I know but I try things like that :lol: ) so see below for a snippet of Dialogue I had with Neo regarding this in an earlier version....

Code: Select all

Shotokan101 wrote: 
Also - daft one from me as per usual - if you specify the prefix to remove as FW: when Prefix is FW: it doesn't remove it  
 The order is crucial here: 
1) Remove any prefixes in the existing subject 
2) Add the user-defined prefix 
I wanted this option because spam missed by PlusNet's spam filter is often caught by SpamPal which tags the emails. When I forward spam emails to PlusNet I want FF to automatically remove SpamPal's tags 
Jim

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Post by Neo » Tue Jul 10, 2007 3:40 pm

Thanks for the feedback, guys :)
brixtonman wrote:I feel that OE should launch FF into the system tray rather than FF launching with Windows. What I'm looking for is to have FF unnoticeable, apart from the two buttons appearing in OE.

You've included an option for FF to close with OE, so it is logical and useful for "open when OE is opened" to be present as well.
How do you normally start Outlook Express? Have you set it to start with Windows?

You can achieve a similar effect by doing the following:

Option 1
  1. Tick 'Start client on load'
  2. Tick 'Close when client closes'
  3. Tick 'Automatically send to system tray on load'
  4. Create a shortcut for FastForward and change the name to 'Outlook Express'
  5. Change the shortcut icon to the one for Outlook Express
Then when you click on this shortcut it will start FastForward (which will go to the system tray) and Outlook Express.

Option 2
  1. Tick 'Start with Windows'
  2. Tick 'Automatically send to system tray on load'
This will get FastForward to stay in the background until it's needed (when you start Outlook Express).
brixtonman wrote:Also, is it difficult to make FF start with OE?
Well, there are different ways of achieving this, see some of those above. You could run FFW as a background service in Windows, but this would be overkill. I could build another small utility running in the background looking for Outlook Express - then when it sees it has started it will startFastForward, however this is practically the same as the second option above ;)
I've no idea how to make a program so really I think you're great.
Thanks :) Some parts of making a program are easier than others and obviously I like to test each feature as I add it so it can take a while produce each new version ;)
Shotokan101 wrote:OE 3) Doubleclick on FFW when in system tray tries to "mark as spam" and not "restore" ???
Hmmm...works for me :? Perhaps this is to do with the double-click speed settings in Windows, as your double-click is maybe being registered as two left-clicks? I would try it again to see if it's the speed of the double-click ;)
Shotokan101 wrote:OE 6) Reset Setting resets any settings changed from default - presumeably by design and not all settings in the options tab
Yes this is by design - it resets to defaults ;)
Shotokan101 wrote:Outlook 2) First start up of FFW generated pop-up error "Run-Time Error '429': ActiveX component can't create object" - both pop-up and FFW stated behind Outlook..... Sad ...and hen error pop-up "o.k.'d" FFW dies...
This indicates that one or more DLLs failed to register. Can you try registering the Redemption DLL manually? You can use the attached bat file (saved in to the FastForward folder) to do this if you like ;)
Attachments
install_redemption.zip
Install Redemption Batch file
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Post by Shotokan101 » Tue Jul 10, 2007 3:52 pm

Thanks Neo - I'll try those suggestions tonight - although I don't see why even two left-clicks should have that effect.... :?
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Post by Neo » Tue Jul 10, 2007 3:57 pm

Shotokan101 wrote:Thanks Neo - I'll try those suggestions tonight
Great :)
Shotokan101 wrote:although I don't see why even two left-clicks should have that effect.... :?
<Cough> Readme file!? </Cough> :lol:

Code: Select all

Then when you want to mark an email message as spam you can:
    i) Left-click on the little icon in system tray
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