BlackMamba v1.1

Semi-automatic Spam filter

License:  GNU GPL
Author:    Ashwin Jayaprakash (ashwinjay@rediffmail.com)
Website:  http://www.JavaForU.com

Instructions


Installation:
Installation of BlackMamba is very straight-forward. Just unzip the BlackMamba_1.0.zip to any directory, say "C:\Program Files". Make sure you have a Java Runtime (JRE) version 1.4 or above, by typing "java -version" at the command prompt. If you don't have one, you must download and install it from Sun MicroSystems. It is free!

Running:
If you have the right JRE, then double click the run.bat file in the directory where you installed BlackMamba. You should see BlackMamba successfuly running on your computer. For Unix/Linux users, running run.sh at the console should start it.

Usage:

BlackMamba is not an eMail client like MS Outlook or Netscape Mail. It only helps you peek into your mail server before you read the entire mail in your favorite mail client. You cannot send mails from BlackMamba. For that, you have to use your mail client.

Here is how you have to use BlackMamba:

  1. Make sure you do not have your favorite mail client (MS Outlook, Eudora, Netscape Mail etc.) open. If it is, shut it down.
  2. Start BlackMamba.
  3. Login to your mail server, fetch your mails, delete the mail you don't want to read.
  4. Logout and exit BlackMamba.
  5. Open your favorite mail client and use it to download and read the filtered mails.


When you start BlackMamba on your computer, you should see this:

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Login to your Mail Server:

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The first time you launch BlackMamba, you have to configure your Mail Server:

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The Alias is just a name under which BlackMamba will refer to your server settings. You can have any number of accounts/servers configured.

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Specify all the details. The server port is 110, by default for all mail servers. If it differs in your case, then, specify the correct port number. The Login is the your login name you use to connect to your mail server and so is the password.

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If you have configured multiple accounts, then choose the one you want to connect to from the drop-down list and click "Connect".

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If you have successfully logged in, then you will see a screen like the one below. The left-hand bottom corner shows the total number of unread mails in your server. After connecting, BlackMamba does not download any of the mails. You have to start downloading by clicking the "Fetch" or "Fetch All" buttons.

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"Fetch" downloads mails, 10 at a time. "Fetch All" downloads all your mails at once.

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When you start BlackMamba for the first time, it cannot recognize who among the Senders is a Spammer and who is not. That's because the Address book and Spammer lists are empty. So, it puts all the mails into the Possible Spam category. You will notice that the icons in the first column with the Smileys, describes where and why BlackMamba has classified your mails.

The "Legend" at the bottom describes the Smileys and their meanings. To add your friends' addresses to your Address Book, select the mail and right-click your mouse. Click "Add Sender to Address Book" from the popup menu.

So, the next time you login to your server or when you click "Refresh" and "Fetch" the mails again, the mails from your friends will go to the "Mails" bin.

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As your mails are being downloaded, BlackMamba provides statistics about how many mails you have on your server, how many are Spam, how many of them are Possible Spam and what percentage of your mails you have downloaded/previewed - in the Statistics panel.

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You can check the mails you want to delete and click the "Delete" button. This does not actually delete the mails from the server until you click "Logout" or "Refresh".

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The next time you login, your friends' mails will be classified correctly, provided they don't send mails with Spam subjects. That is, if their subject contains some words or patterns that match anything in the "Spam Subject" list. Or, if they send large attachments.

The Senders are color coded. Senders in your Address Book are in Black. Senders neither in your Address Book nor in your Spammer list will be in Gray Italics. Spammers will be in Red Italics.

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