Copyright: Copyright © 1997-99, High Mountain Software
Citation: Copyright © 1997-99, High Mountain Software


Why SpamEater?

Along with the greater use of the internet over the last couple of years, an unfortunate result is the proliferation of what we've come to know as spammers. Like postal junk mail, the mail from these spammers invades your email box. The volume of spam (email from spammers) is frequently much higher than postal junk mail has ever been.

SpamEater was written out of frustration. I found that I was getting +100 email messages daily, of which the vast majority were spam. I was getting tired of downloading them and sifting through them in my inbox and hitting the delete button. I'd tried using the remove instruction found in many of them, but found that all that did was confirm my email address as valid and get myself on even more spammers email lists! Trying some other tools that generated email messages to postmaster@domain.com was also found to be ineffective in the majority of cases, and generated more bounced messages than it solved since most spammers anymore use false header information in their messsages and bogus domains.


What does SpamEater do?

SpamEater will connect with your ISP's (Internet Service Provider) mail server (via POP3) and check each email message found there - prior to your downloading with your email client program (such as Eudora, Inbox, Exchange, Outlook Express, etc). It compares the information in the message with your valid email addresses (since most spammers, it seems use the TO field of the message as something other than your address), and against an extensive listing of known spammers (currently over 15,000 are included with SpamEater). If the message is found not to be to one of your valid addresses (which you define), or if a match is found against the list of known spammers, then the message is deleted from the mail server. You can then connect with the mail server using your email client program and download only those cleared messages. All spam will be gone!


Initial Setup
SpamEater Pro and Standard Configuration

Setting up SpamEater is simple. The first time you run SpamEater, choose the File | Preferences option from the menu to bring up the Preferences dialog box. This is a standard tabbed dialog box where you can configure SpamEater with the options you desire.

Server Profiles:

The Server Profiles tab is where you define the information (profiles) for the mail servers that you want SpamEater to check mail on. You can define an unlimited number of mail profiles in the Pro version (the standard version is limited to a maximum of 1 profile). Click the Add New button to add a new profile. Enter the information in the dialog box and click Ok to save.

You can change the displayed profile by selecting them in the Profile Name combobox. To edit or delete a profile, select it in the combobox and then click the Edit or the Delete button.

You can have SpamEater automatically check your mailboxes at specific intervals if desired. Set the number of minutes between checks (1-99), and then choose whether you want to check only (logging of mail found will be done), or to check and eat any spam found. Set the number of minutes to 0 to disable this option. If disabled, checking will only be done when you manually initiate it.

Addresses:

The Addresses tab is where you define all of your valid email addresses. Note: If you want SpamEater to check for valid email addresses then you MUST define ALL of your valid addresses here! If you do not, then you run the probable risk of loosing valid mail! All mail will be first scanned for a match against these addresses. If a message is not to any of these addresses, it will be assumed to be spam and deleted from the server.

Enter an address in the upper text box and press the Add button. To edit an address, just select it in the list box, it will then appear in the text box where you can make your changes, and then press the update button to save the change. To delete an address, just select it in the list box and click on the Delete button.

Address Checking Type: You have three options when it comes to having SpamEater check for valid email addresses in incoming mail:

•	Disabled - no checking for valid email addresses will be done. For a message to be rejected and eaten, it will have to contain a match against the known spammers list.

•	Check Mail For Valid Address - this option will approve messages if they are found to contain one of your configured addresses anywhere in the message headers.

•	Strict Checking - with this option, SpamEater will scan your messages for your configured address, and one of them must be located in the message's TO: header line to be approved.

Spammers:

The Spammers is where the spam filters are defined and maintained. SpamEater comes preloaded with over 15,000 spam filter entries. Using the same methods for editing, adding, deleting as with your valid addresses above, you can edit, add, and delete from this listing also. These are the search strings that SpamEater will look for in messages in your mailbox. Any message containing any of these text strings will immediately be rejected. You do not need to enter complete addresses - partial addresses are quite acceptable.

By default, all scanning for spammer matches is case sensitive. You can, by clicking the Advanced options button, tell SpamEater to use case insensitive searches. While this help to keep the size of your spammer file down (not having to duplicate entries just due to changes in case), the trade off is in processing time that is required to convert everything prior to looking for a match. Test have found that it more efficient to include more entries into the spammers list rather than to toggle on case insensitive searching. However, the option is available for those that wish to use it.

The Advanced options also allow you to specify where you want SpamEater Pro to scan for spammer filters in the message header. You can choose to have SpamEater only look in the To, From, and Subject header lines, or to have SpamEater look in all header lines. Naturally, the later will require more processing time, but will provide a more thorough filtering of spam from your mailbox. You can also specify to reject messages where the email addresses in the TO or FROM header lines contain symbols. (symbols that are not included in the rejection check are <, >, ., @ as they are used in valid email addresses).

By clicking the Qwik Filters button, you can enable, disable, delete, add, and edit the Qwik filter strings. These are common items found in headers of email and are used for Qwik scan checks (along with address checks, if enabled) and checked first before the more extensive main spammers list.

Startup:

If the Start SpamEater Pro minimized in tool tray option is enabled (checked), then when you run SpamEater, it will automatically minimize itself to your tool tray (next to your clock) and remove itself from the task bar. You can double click the tool tray icon to restore the main window, or you can single click (or right click) the icon to display a menu of the SpamEater functions.

The Start SpamEater Pro automatically when logging into Windows will automatically run SpamEater when you log into Windows. If you enable this option and the one explained above, then you can have SpamEater start automatically and minimized into your system tool tray. This in conjunction with the automatic checking feature and the notification features allows for virtually hands-free processing!

The Check for spam on SpamEater startup option will have SpamEater check your mailbox for spam using the Auto Check setting on the Server tab whenever your first run SpamEater Pro.

Notifications:

SpamEater Pro will also notify you when there is new (and optionally cleaned) mail waiting in your mailbox. You can have it popup a messages, and/or play a wav file, and/or start your email client software for you (with normal, maximized, minimized or minimized and inactive startup). When configuring your email client software, the Parameters and Start In fields are optional. The notification portion of SpamEater uses smart notifications. You will only be notified once for your messages. You would only again be notified when the number of messages waiting in your mailbox changes. For example, if you have 4 messages on a run, then SpamEater would notify you. Then, the next run there were still 4 messages, you would not receive notification again. But, if the next run showed 5 messages, another notification would be sent.


Running SpamEater

After Initial Setup, to process you mailbox, first make sure you are connected to the internet, and then you can choose one of three options to check the mail on configured servers. They are both located under the Actions menu option and through the two buttons on the main SpamEater window. They are:

•	Check and Eat Spam: This will check your mailboxes on each configured server for spam, and delete any messages found to be from spammers.

•	Check Only for Spam: This will only check your mailboxes on each configured server for spam. No messages will be deleted from the server with this option. This should be used mainly for testing purposes. If you want SpamEater to actually delete messages that are detected as spam, then you must choose the Check and Eat Spam option as noted above.

•	Check and View Headers: This will check your mailboxes on each configured server for spam, and then you will be shown a list of the message headers. See the section on Interactive Checking for more information on viewing headers.

•	Qwik Scan: This option will check your mailboxes on each configured server for spam. This option only does a check for valid addresses (if so configured) and then scans the message headers for spam using only the Qwik Filters. The more exhaustive scan is not run using this option.

All actions taken are logged to the file Spammers.Log in your SpamEater directory/folder. You can use the View Logfile option on the Actions menu to see what actions have been taken. To increase the amount of information logged, click on the Verbose Logging option on the Actions menu. When checked, additional information is logged to help debug problems and to see more of what is occuring during normal operations. (This file can grow to a large size quickly and the increased logging requires additional processing time and resources, so it's best to only use verbose logging if you are experiencing difficulties, or fine tuning your configuration. Normal operation should be with verbose logging off.)

Retrieving your email and using SpamEater is a simple two step process. First, run SpamEater and choose the Check and Eat Spam option from the Actions menu to clean your mailbox. Then run your email client program and retrieve your email (now cleaned from spammers) as normal. If you find that you are still getting some mail from spammers, then it's probably due to that spammer not being listed in the known spammers list. You can add them at any time using the Preferences dialog box. Just run it and add their email addresses to the list of known spammers. If you are running SpamEater Pro, and have your mail client software configured to retrieve your mail on startup, then you can configure SpamEater Pro to start your mail client software after it has cleaned your mailboxes and if there is mail left to retrieve. See the Setup section for more details on configuring these options.


SpamEater License

You should carefully read the following terms and conditions before using this software.  Your use of this software indicates your acceptance, in total, of this license agreement.

SpamEater - Standard is released as FreeWare for non-commercial use. You may freely distribute SpamEater, provided that ALL distribution is only in the original package as released by High Mountain Software.

SpamEater Pro is released as ShareWare. You may evaluate it at no charge for a period not to exceed 30 days. At the end of this period, you must either register it, or remove it from your system. You are free to use SpamEater - Standard at no charge for as long as you wish.

Governing Law

This agreement shall be governed by the laws of the State of Colorado.

Disclaimer of Warranty

THIS SOFTWARE AND THE ACCOMPANYING FILES ARE RELEASED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES AS TO PERFORMANCE OF MERCHANTABILITY OR ANY OTHER WARRANTIES WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. NO WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE IS OFFERED.

Good data processing procedure dictates that any program be thoroughly tested with non-critical data before relying on it. The user must assume the entire risk of using the program.  ANY LIABILITY OF THE SELLER WILL BE LIMITED EXCLUSIVELY TO PRODUCT REPLACEMENT OR REFUND OF PURCHASE PRICE.

Your license in no way implies ownership of the software. Ownership remains entirely with High Mountain Software. Purchase is limited to licenses to use the software.


Registration

You can register SpamEater Pro using the following methods (for information on upgrading to a new version, please see the Upgrading help topic):

•	Run SpamEater Pro, choose Help | About and click the Register button. Follow the instructions to generate your registration.

•	You can register online using your credit card or FirstVirtual through the Kagi service and through GetSoftware. See our web page at http://www.hms.com/register.htm for links to these online registration services for our software.

•	Be sure to check our web site at http://www.hms.com/register.htm other possible registration options. We are currently working to add more options to make it as easy and convenient as possible to register your copy of SpamEater Pro.


Contents

Click on the following links to jump to a particular help topic of interest in the SpamEater help file.

What's New?

Why SpamEater?

What does SpamEater do?

Initial Setup

Running SpamEater

Interactive Checking

A Quick Word to the Wise

Updating Known Spammers List

Frequently Asked Questions

SpamEater License Agreement

Getting Support

SpamEater Pro Version

Registering SpamEater Pro


What's New?

27 December 1998 - Version 2.6.1

•	Filtering can now be set to scan only the message To:, From: and Subject header fields for offenders. (user requested addition)

•	Filtering can now be set to reject messages where any of the To: , From: or Subject fields are blank. (user requested addition)

•	New option added to reject messages that contain symbols (other than <, >, _, ., @) in the email addresses found in the To:, or From: header fields.

•	Security update: POP3 profiles file is now fully encrypted rather than just having the passwords encrypted. Now all information if encrypted that is stored in the file.

•	New spammer list optimization option added to remove filter entries where the name portion of the email address is 100% numeric (all characters are between 0 and 9). These addresses are typically randomly generated and therefore the likelyhood of hitting on them again is extremely unlikely.

19 December 1998 - Version 2.6.0

•	Added support for spammer list optimization.

•	Added Qwik filter settings for very common matches in spam

•	Moved option for viewing headers off of the Check button and onto a new Action menu item.

•	Added Qwik check option on Action menu. This item will do address matching (if configured) and then check only the Qwik filter items (configured under Preferences | Spammers).

•	Added button to jump to web site on the About box.

•	Removed bitmaps from help file - too much unnecessary bulk associated with doing this.

•	New registration key system installed

29 October 1998 - Version 2.51

•	Updated spammer list update to use the HTTP protocol to retrieve the update file rather than the FTP protocol as in previous version due to the elimination of ftp access to our site.

•	Fixed a bug where nothing would happen when clicking the Cancel button on the update spammers list window.

•	Fixed a bug that would cause the menu items and buttons for checking spam to do nothing after doing a spammers list update.

27 September 1998 - Version 2.50:

•	Added support for command line parameter for SpamEtrP.exe to allow for quick checks and exiting. This allows you to start SpamEater Pro from another application or a batch file, check (and optionally eat) for spam and then terminate. Note that you do not need to have auto-checking selected in the SpamEater Pro preferences for this option to work. Using this command line parameter forces an autocheck to occur. The mode for the check (check only or check and eat) depends on your preference setting. To use this option, just as the parameter 'quick' to the SpamEater Pro command line. Example:

SpamEtrP.exe quick

•	Added ability to specify the port which SpamEater will use when checking mailboxes. This allows for use behind a firewall or proxy.

•	By user suggestion, I've added a Find function to the Known Spammers tab in the SpamEater preferences. You can do exact or partial searches on the list of known spammers.

•	Support added for multiple POP3 accounts. You can define an unlimited (limited only by memory and disk space) number of POP3 mail account to check. These will all be checked one right after the other when forced manually or with the time interval based checking.

06 September 1998 - Version 2.20:

•	Updated ftp update feature and help file links to reflect changes required by the move of our internet domain to new servers.

•	Added the ability to now update the spammers list with local text files as well as through the automated ftp updating (ftp updating feature only active in the Pro version).

16 August 1998 - Version 2.12:

•	Finally resolved the problems some people were having with the registration system expiring their evaluations prior to 30 days. This will require that all currently registered users contact support@hms.com for a new key, prior to upgrading to this release. You should automatically recieve one in your email, but if not, then please send email to support@hms.com and include your current serial number and pass phrase key.

•	Optimized the code in a number of areas. Result: faster processing, more efficient memory utilization and better cpu utilization thereby freeing cycles for other processes.

13 July 1998 - Version 1.85:

•	Removed splash screen to speed the loading of SpamEater and to reduce the file size (user requested)

•	In the preferences dialog box, you can now use hot keys to move from tab to tab. Pressing CTRL-PGDN will move to the next tab, and pressing CTRL-PGUP will move to the previous tab. (user requested)

•	Double clicking the tray icon now restores the taskbar button. (user requested)

•	Passwords are now encrypted (if you are upgrading, you'll need to be sure to re-enter your password for your POP3 server. Otherwise you'll get an authentication failure when you try to connect and check the messages in your mailbox).

•	Fixed problems with the minimize on start (Pro version) and some bugs in the minimizing to the system tooltray and redisplaying of the main SpamEater screen.

•	When redisplaying the main screen (via the tooltray icon's popup menu, or dbl clicking the tooltray icon), it is now brought to the foreground, in front of all other windows.

•	You can now configure SpamEater Pro to automatically check your messages when it first starts. (user requested)

•	Added listing of INI file entries to Help file (user requested)

13 June 1998 - Version 1.80: There has been a lot of interest in SpamEater with the last release! We've received many great comments, reviews and suggestions for enhancements! Many of which are included in this new release as detailed below. Thanks to everyone for your interest!

•	Fixed some minor problems with minimizing to the system tray, and removing from the task bar.

•	The SpamEater icon in the tooltray is now animated when checking mailbox.

•	Removed the Show Splash Screen option from the menus and freed memory used by the splash screen shown on startup. This was done to reduce the memory requirements of SpamEater.

•	Reduced splash screen display time to 2 seconds to speed startup.

•	The Action menu items Check only for Spam and Check and Eat Spam now show a dot beside the currently active item when processing to show which type of checking is being done.

•	Buttons added to main window to access the Check only and Check and Eat functions without having to use the menu.

•	Updates to the spammers listing will now be done and these updates will be made available on the web site for download. Click here for more details on this.

•	The Acceptable Email Addresses and Known Spammers list boxes are now sorted to more easily find a particular entry.

•	Increased timeout period for connecting to server from 15 to 60 seconds

•	Added option for Strict To: header line matching on valid email addresses. This means that your defined valid addresses must be included on the message's To: header line to be considered a good message. USE CAUTION WITH THIS OPTION! Many mailing lists do not include your address on the To: header line. If you enable this option, then you risk the deletion of these otherwise valid (non-spam) email messages!

•	If SpamEater is already running and an attempt is made to run it again, then the originally running instance is restored (if minimized) and brought to the front.

Created SpamEater Pro, which adds additional functionality to SpamEater - Standard. The Pro version currently contains the following enhancement over the freeware Standard version:

•	Automatic checking of mailbox at user specified intervals of between 1 and 99 minutes. The checking mode can be in either of both supported modes.

•	Automated download and installing/merging of spammer list updates.

•	Optional viewing of message headers when checking mailbox interactively.

•	Optional automatic minimizing of SpamEater to your tooltray when first running.

•	In the new header viewing window, you can choose to delete any given message from the mail server, and you can also highlight any text in the viewing window and have it added to your spammers list with full dupe checking.

•	You can now setup SpamEater to run automatically when starting Windows. If you select this option as well as the minimize on run option, then whenever you start Windows, SpamEater will startup and minimize itself to your tooltray.

•	SpamEater can now be configured to popup a message, play a wave file, and/or start your mail client software when cleaned mail is waiting in your mailbox.

24 May 1998 - Version 1.50: Due to it's size, and apparent bugs, the ActiveX controls (POP3CT.OCX) has been eliminated. The POP3 protocol is now entirely within the SpamEater application. This has resulted in a much smaller application.

SpamEater now only downloads the headers for messages, where in previous versions, the entire message was downloaded prior to checking. This will save a tremendous amount of time in the spam checking process! As before, the headers are extensively checked for valid user addresses and spammer information. What this now means also, is that your POP3 mail server must support the POP3 protocol command TOP. This should not be a problem, as most POP3 mail servers fully support this common extension of the standard POP3 protocol.

Added support for verbose or terse logging levels. To set verbose logging, check the Verbose Logging menu item on the Actions menu. In addition to the normal logging (showing spams found and who they are reportedly from), all transactional protocol information will also be logged. While this is good for debugging purposes, it can lead to very large log files. Note that passwords are not logged, but rather they are logged as secret.

New option added for the checking of valid TO addresses in messages. If the Eat (Delete) messages to addresses not listed above option is not selected, then messages will not be checked for valid TO addresses. Use caution when selecting this option, as many mailing lists do not necessarily put your address in the headers of list messages. If this option is enabled, then you may loose messages from these types of mailing lists.

8 December 1997 - Version 1.01: Added tray icon support. When SpamEater is minimized, it will be removed from the system task bar and an icon will be placed in the system tool tray. Click on the icon to display a popup menu. From the menu, you can restore SpamEater's main display window, start the Setup Assistant, view the SpamEater log file, and display the About Box.


SpamEater Pro

SpamEater - Standard is, and always will remain, a Freeware product. The Pro version adds additional functionality to SpamEater - Standard.

Additional features of SpamEater Pro:

•	Automatic checking of mailbox at specific intervals

•	Automated downloading and updating of updates to the spammers list

•	Ability to minimize SpamEater to the system tooltray when run

•	Interactive mode to view message headers and selectively choose disposition

•	Popup a message, play a wav file, and/or start your mail client software when new cleaned mail is in your mailbox.

•	Start automatically when logging into Windows

•	A hands-free email solution!

•	Check for spam on SpamEater startup

•	Support for multiple POP3 accounts (unlimited number of accounts)

•	Support for use behind a firewall or proxy

•	Quick check command line parameter which allows execution from a batch file and then terminates when check is completed.

•	Find/Search capability for the Known Spammers listing

•	Qwik check filters

•	Spam filter list automated optimization to maintain the accuracy of the list, but reduce the size required, thereby increasing the processing speed when checking messages.

How to get a 30 day evaluation copy of SpamEater Pro:

You can probably download a copy of SpamEater Pro at the same place that you picked up your copy of SpamEater - Standard, or you may have it already (This help file is shipped with both versions of SpamEater). Some known sites that have SpamEater (both versions) available are:

You can also get the latest versions of both versions from our web site at http://www.hms.com/spameater.htm

http://www.bhs.com

http://www.tucows.com and http://www.winfiles.com


Spammers List Updates

Can you update the list of spammers, other than just typing in manually new entries using the setup wizard? Absolutely! Following are the update instruction for both the Standard and Pro versions of SpamEater (automatic http updating requires the Pro version):

Update from local text file:

•	Create a file by simply running Notepad and entering, one per line, the spammer addresses and/or text you wish to search for and filter in the email message headers. You can use any file as long as it is a text file (and ends with the extension TXT) and it contains one text string or address per line, with each line ending with a carriage-return line-feed combination.

•	Save the file to your hard drive using any filename you wish and the extension .TXT (for example: spamupd.txt).

•	Run SpamEater

•	Choose File | Spammers List Update from the menu (if you are running it minimized, then click on the icon in your tooltray and choose Spammers List Update from the popup menu)

•	Make sure Local Text File option in Update From is selected and enter the path and filename to the file from above. (You can click the folder button to browse for the file).

•	Click on the Start button.

•	That's it! SpamEater Pro will then merge the entries from the update file into your current spammers list, ignoring any duplicate entries. The new updated list becomes effective immediately!

Updating via http file download (Requires SpamEater Pro):

•	Run SpamEater Pro if you don't have it already running

•	Choose File | Spammers List Update from the menu (if you are running it minimized, then click on the icon in your tooltray and choose Spammers List Update from the popup menu)

•	Make sure you are connected to the internet

•	Click on the Start button (you will be asked to confirm that you are connected to the internet)

•	That's it! SpamEater Pro will then connect to our site, check for an update and if found, will automatically download the update and merge the entries from the update into your current spammers list. The new updated list becomes effective immediately!


Frequently Asked Questions

I am a registered user of SpamEater Pro, but now I can seem to get SpamEater Pro version 2.6+ to accept and validate my registered key. What do I do?

The upgrade to version 2.6+ from previous versions will require a new key. If you are currently a registered user, just follow these simple steps to get your free upgrade key:

1) Run SpamEater Pro

2) Click on Help | About

3) Click the Register button

4) Enter your registered name

5) Copy down the Registration Code value and send it, along with your current registration information (registered name and key) to support@hms.com requesting your free upgrade key. Usually, within 24 hours you will receive a return email message containing your upgrade key and installation information.

Will SpamEater (Pro or Standard) ever support multiple POP3 mailboxes?

Yes, SpamEater Pro v2.5 fully supports multiple POP3 mailboxes. This capability will not be included in the freeware SpamEater Standard release.

Does SpamEater Pro or Standard support AOL (American Online)?

No. SpamEater (both releases) requires the use of the standard TCP/IP POP3 protocol, and further, that the mail server supports the standard POP3 protocol command TOP. These are industry standards that are used by the majority of mail servers on the internet. However, AOL does not support this protocol (along with the SMTP protocol) for it's users to send and receive email. Therefore, SpamEater cannot work with AOL accounts at this time.

How long can I use the Standard version of SpamEater without registering?

Forever! SpamEater - Standard is freeware and will remain so. You are under no obligation to ever register it or upgrade to the Pro version. We do hope that you will like it enough to want the enhanced functionality of the Pro version, and therefore upgrade to it, but you are under no obligation to do so. Enjoy and help rid the world of Spam!

If I register SpamEater Pro, what are the upgrade policies?

Registering the Pro version of SpamEater entitles you to all forthcoming upgrades at no charge. When a new version is released, all you have to do is to download and install the new version. Your registration information for the previous version will be recognized and accepted by the new version.


Interactive Checking

SpamEater Pro now allows you to interactively deal with your mail. To use this option, just choose the Check and View Headers item on the Action menu.After selecting this, SpamEater will connect with your defined mail server(s) and retrieve the headers for all of your messages. Once retrieved, you will be shown the a new window with all of these message headers summarized by To address, From address, Subject and message ID. You can click the column headers to sort the list.  Clicking on a line will show you the checked status of the selected message toward the bottom of the window. If you right-click the listing, you have the options of refreshing the display, deleting the selected message, and displaying the entire headers for the selected message. If you select delete, and the message contains valid addresses and is not from a known spammer, you will be prompted to confirm your desire to delete the message.

Selecting to display the headers for a message (or double-clicking on a line), will then popup a new window with the entire headers for the selected message. Clicking the Delete Message button will remove the message from your mailbox on the server.

You can also select text in the window and then click on the Add Selected button to add the selected text to the Known Spammers list. You will be asked to confirm the addition and shown the text you have selected. Click Yes to add it, or No to abort the addition. When you close this window (by clicking the close button), and have made any additions, you will be asked if you wish to save the additions to the Known Spammers list.


INI File Entries

While it is not recommended that you modify the following settings manually, the following information regarding the entries in the SpamEater.Ini file is provided by user request. You should run SpamEater and choose File | Preferences to make changes to your SpamEater configuration rather than modifying these entries manually.

Listing conventions:

[Section] - start of new INI file section

keyname=default_value  - keyname (if preceeded by a *, then this key is valid in Pro version only) and it's possible values and default value listed.

keyname - entry eliminated. No longer used by SpamEater and can be removed from the INI file if desired.

SpamEater INI File Description/Listing:

[Config]	; main INI file section

Server=	; POP3 server name to connect to (no default)

Login=	; your login name to the POP3 server (no default)

Password=	; your login password - encrypted - don't change here (no default)

LogLevel=0	; 0 = standard logging, 1 = verbose logging

Unknown=0	; 0 = don't eat unknown messages, 1 = eat unknown messages

*AutoMins=0	; minutes between automatic checking of mailbox on POP3 server

*AutoType=0	; type of autocheck - 0 = Check only, 1 = check and eat

*ToolTray=1	; automatically minimize to tooltray when SpamEater starts

*Update=	; date of the last auto-http spammers list update (no default)

*Prompt=	; prompt to view headers for interactive checking

Strict=0	; strict To: check - valid address MUST be in header To: line

Startup=0	; 0 = don't start SpamEater with Windows, 1 = do start SpamEater

*Popup=0	; 1 = popup message when new cleaned mail is waiting in mailbox

*PlayWav=0	; 1 = play wave file when new cleaned mail is waiting in mailbox

*WAVFile=	; path and filename of WAV file to play for notifications (no default)

*StartClient=0	; 1 = start email client when mail is waiting

*ClientFile=	; path and filename to client email software (no default)

*ClientParams= ; command line parameters for client email software (no default)

*ClientFolder=	; startup/working folder for client email software (no default)

*ClientWin=0	; 0 = normal, 1 = minimized, 2 = maximized, 3 = minimized, not active

NoCase=0	; 0 = case insensitive checks, 1 = case sensitive checks

*CheckOnStart=0 ; 0 = don't check mail on startup, 1 = do check mail on startup

Left=200	; initial position on screen of left side of main SpamEater window

Top=200	; initial position on screen of the top of the main SpamEater window

Width=422	; initial width (in pixels) of main SpamEater window

Height=244	; initial height (in pixels) of main SpamEater window

*NumProfiles=0 ; number of defined mail profiles (no limit)


Upgrading

All registered users of previous versions of SpamEater Pro are entitled to a free upgrade to version 2.6.0. To get your free updated registration information, all you need to do is to send email to upgrade@hms.com and include all of the following information in the body of your message:

From your current version:

•	SpamEater Pro version number (that you are currently running)

•	Registered Name

•	Registration key (serial number)

From the registration dialog box in v2.6.0 (off the About window):

•	Registered Name (enter whatever you wish in the field to have as registered to - should most likely be the same as with the previous registration)

•	Registration Code (after entering your name, this field will be populated - note that you must provide this exactly as shown)


SpamEater Support

SpamEater support is provided via our web site, and email. Any updates to SpamEater will be posted on the web site as they are made available.

Our web site is located at http://www.hms.com

An online FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) is available at http://www.hms.com/support.htm. This FAQ contains many commonly asked questions and answers from SpamEater users.

If you have any problems running SpamEater or have any suggestions for improvements, please send email to support@hms.com. Your comments and suggestions are welcome!


Address Warning
PLEASE NOTE: SpamEater has the power to delete messages on your mail server forever. Once they have been removed from the server, they are gone and cannot be retrieved.

Many mailing lists do not include your email address in the header TO: line. If you get lists of this nature, then you should never use the Strict address checking option! If you do, you will not get those messages from those lists.

Some lists have even been known to not include your address anywhere in the message headers. In this case, you should never use address checking at all.

However, that said, you do have one other option. That is to put the mailing list address in your valid addresses list. Then SpamEater will be able to validate the address, and will consider it to be a non-spammer message. You would then be able to get these messages with your mail client software.

The BEST thing to do when first starting to use SpamEater, or when making modifications to your settings, or your mailing list subscriptions, is to run SpamEater in Check Only mode (and, if using the Pro version) to view the message headers. See the section on Interactive Checking for more details on this feature.