MailWasher Pro - Program Help

MailWasher Pro is an easy to use anti-spam program for Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 and 10. It works by letting you preview all your email at your internet service provider and remove all unwanted email before it gets to your computer.

With an easy to use message table, you can preview all aspects of your email, which along with the inbuilt spam tools, aids you in selecting which email you want to keep. You'll not only save time, but you'll also be protected against malicious spam and email viruses as they are removed before they get to your computer.

MailWasher Pro offers these features

1. Full support for unlimited POP3 and IMAP email accounts allowing you to quickly preview emails from any service provider and almost all webmail providers (Hotmail, Yahoo, GMail, AOL etc)
2. Comprehensive weighted anti-spam tools such as Friendslist, Blacklist, RBL's, community spam filter, custom filters and learning filters to ensure legitimate and spam email is properly recognized.
3. Full preview pane allowing you to see all aspects of your email, including headers and where links actually link to. Emails are shown in plain text to avoid viruses and malicious scripts running automatically.
4. Full searchable recycle bin to retrieve any accidentally deleted email.
5. Customizable look and feel to enhance usability.
6. Quick and easy setup with inbuilt wizards.

There are many benefits to using MailWasher Pro to pre-screen your email before it gets to your computer, below are a few of these.

Save time

MailWasher Pro helps you to manage your email inbox better. By screening out all the junk and removing any other unimportant emails which would otherwise clutter your inbox, its easier to find important messages and get on with your day. MailWasher Pro can quickly preview your email, sort it in to spam and good email, let you cast an eye over it to make sure everything is correct and with one click of the 'Wash Mail' button, all your spam is removed and the good remaining email is downloaded to your computer.

Save money

Deleting spam and unwanted email, or searching for lost emails takes time. MailWasher Pro makes you more efficient by collecting your email and classifying it, then lets you make the final decision before the spam is removed. The result is your inbox only contains your wanted email, not spam, unwanted newsletters and other junk.

Concentrate on your work

You'll find it easier to get on with your work instead of having to deal with spam as a constant annoyance. MailWasher Pro's user interface is transparent and straightforward. All the technical details are handled in the background by the program. What you see is what you get.

Avoid viruses and malicious emails

Because MailWasher Pro only shows a preview of your email in plain text mode, your computer won't catch any viruses by reading your email. Once you've removed the suspect emails, only the good emails are downloaded to your computer.

Never lose an email

MailWasher Pro includes a fully searchable recycle bin, so that in the event you want to retrieve a deleted email you can quickly search for it and restore it back to the inbox.

If you're upgrading from the old MailWasher Pro it will mostly be a seamless process, but you'll want to take a note of the following:

1. MailWasher Pro will not run on Windows 98, Me or 2000. It will only run on Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10 and above.
2. All your contacts, most settings and email account information will be imported.
3. Your existing MailWasher Pro registration key will not work in later versions of MailWasher Pro after 6.54
4. Your filters will not be imported in to MailWasher Pro. Unfortunately they will be required to be re-written due to many changes in the way filters are evaluated and setup.
5. 'Process Mail' is now 'Wash Mail'
6. Spam tools now use a weighted approach to recognizing spam, so instead of just one spam tool making the decision about whether an email is spam or not, all spam tools are evaluated to ensure a more accurate evaluation.
7. User files are now held in a database (as opposed to text files and the Registry) with other settings such as language files for translations held as XML files, all accessible via Help >> User Files or Help >> Common Files.
8. Your old MailWasher Pro 500 digit license key will not work with the new MailWasher Pro as it has a 12 digit license key. You will need to purchase a new license key for MailWasher Pro after 6.54.

There are a number of different sources of help in MailWasher Pro. In addition to this help file you can also access tutorials, the online user forum and Firetrust support.

To get started, your main source of information should be the help file. We have designed it to provide all the information you will need to use MailWasher Pro.

Before contacting support, take a look through this help file and the online user forum.

Displaying the help

The quickest way to display the help is to go to Help>>Help Topics. Most of the settings screens also contain context-sensitive help, which if available will be displayed automatically when you move the mouse over a setting.

Using the user forum

The online user forum is a huge resource which contains a lot of questions and answers from Firetrust staff and thousands of users.

Contacting Firetrust support

Direct email support is available from the Firetrust support team at [email protected]

Tutorials

You'll find several tutorials inside this help file.

Using MailWasher is essentially a three step process.

1. Check Mail
2. Mark unwanted email for delete/training
3. Wash Mail

To begin using MailWasher, here's all you need to do.

When someone sends you an email it is first received by your Internet Service Providers email server. It is held there until you start up your email program, (Outlook, or some other program) which then looks at this server and downloads all your email, spam or not.

What Mailwasher does is to log onto that email server first and download just a small text only portion of each email. This lets you look at each one and see if it is a spam or a real email. You can then choose to delete or keep the email, so when you use your email program to download your email, all the spam has already been deleted.

Normally this is how you would use Mailwasher with your email program,

• Open MailWasher
• Click, Check Mail,
• Mark your email for deletion or keeping,
• Click Wash Mail,
• Then you open, (or Mailwasher Opens) your email program,
• Click Send/Receive in there to check for new mail like normal.

Just leave MailWasher open to collect all your email, and turn off automatic checking in your email program (so it doesn't pick up the email before MailWasher) See turning off automatic checking to see how to do this. This will ensure MailWasher gets all your email first so you can remove the junk before it gets to your computer.

One of the advantages of MailWasher is it allows you to check all your email at the server before it gets to your computer, letting you remove all unwanted email (spam, newsletters, junk, viruses) so they never get to your computer in the first place.

You can buy MailWasher Pro directly online with major credit cards, Paypal, check or cash. As soon as your transaction is completed you will be sent a registration key to continue using it.

MailWasher Pro is an affordable subscription product. Your subscription gives your free updates, support and real-time spam blocking services.

You will be notified from within the software when your renewal is due.

Buy link: firetrust.com

Home page: firetrust.com

Entering the registration key Locate your registration key from the email sent to you, or from the successful purchase page.

Go to MailWasher, then Help >> Registration and enter the 12 digit key in to the registration key box. Click the 'Activate' button.

Action buttons

The inbox screen features three action buttons across the top.

1. Check Mail: Loads your email from either one or many of your email accounts. While email is loading, the Check Mail buttons changes to a Stop button which can be used to stop the loading of your email.

2. Wash Mail: Washing of your email/deleting the unwanted messages. While mail is being washed, the Wash Mail button changes to a Stop button to stop the washing of your email.

3. Mail Program: Your email programs' icon will normally be shown here. This allows you to launch your email program after washing mail, unless it is set to launch automatically.

Message Table

The message table shows a list of your email waiting for you at your internet service provider. Clicking on each email will show a preview of the each message in the preview pane below.

Information about each email is shown in columns:

• The first column on the left indicates when an email is being evaluated or if you have performed an action on it.
• The Classify column lets you interact in three ways to give an email the 'thumbs up' (good) or 'thumbs down' (spam) or no classification.
• Classifying a few emails to begin with will help MailWasher to learn your preferences and it becomes accurate very quickly.
• The Delete column lets you select which emails to mark for delete with a check mark/tick.
• The Status column indicates if an email is a Friend, Good, Spam or marked by a filter.
• The rest of the columns are information about the email's sender such as who the email is from, the subject, when it was sent etc.
• You can drag and drop columns with your mouse to re-order them to suit your preference.
• Right clicking on the column headers shows a menu to turn on or off columns, or to group by the column you have right clicked on.
• Clicking on one of the column headers sorts by that column. Holding down the shift key and clicking another column sorts secondarily by that column.

Preview Pane

The preview pane shows the body of the email in plain text format. Plain text is used because displaying html (colorful) email can be a security risk.

As well as showing a preview of the body of the email, there is the View Email Info link which takes you to an area to show more information about the email such as information about the sender, the raw source and spam tools evaluation.

General

This shows general information about the email such as who it is from, what email client was used, the character set, links and attachments. It provides a good quick overview of the email so you can quickly gauge if it is genuine. Clicking the more info link next to the domain will show information about the owner of the domain.

Source

Shows the raw source of the email

Spam Tools

Shows a breakdown of how the spam tools were triggered in evaluating the email.

At the right of the Preview Pane, Previous and Next buttons are used to cycle through each message and below this, is a link to change the evaluation of the email to Mark as spam or Mark as good. Next to this is the link Mark for Bounce to let you send a 'This email address does not exist' message back to the sender. Also, there are buttons Quick Reply for replying to emails from within MailWasher and Quick Forward for forwarding emails from within MailWasher.

The View in HTML button will let you view the email in HTML. By default MailWasher shows all email in plain text, or attempts to parse the HTML as display it as HTML, but by pressing the View in HTML button, you can see the HTML version. If you further click the Show Remote Content checkbox, any external images will be displayed.

Tell a friend

The tell a friend option pops up a window to allow you to send an email about MailWasher Pro to selected people on your friends list. This link can be removed via the View menu.

Quick Display

The quick display menu gives you many options to change the look of MailWasher, from increasing the size of the text, changing colors, themes and the layout.

Search Inbox

Features 'search as you type' technology to help you find emails quickly. You can search by 'From' and 'Subject' and the relevant emails will be displayed as you enter search terms.

Spam Tools Sidebar

The spam tools sidebar has two views. Lists: Shows compacted Friends list, Blacklist and Filters views. When an email is selected in the message table it will be highlighted in one of these spam tools if listed. Evaluation: This view shows the spam/good classification score for an email by each of the spam tools. The total classification score is shown at the bottom with a guage to show email evaluated as spam, good or neutral.

Status bar

The status bar is the strip along the bottom and displays the following:

• The Check Mail status - how many emails have being checked from how many accounts
• The Evaluation status - how many emails have being evaluated. This includes a STOP button to halt the evaluation
• A trash bin icon - shows how many emails are marked for delete. This is useful to know if emails out of view are marked for delete
• Envelope icon - if emails are hidden, an envelope icon is shown to represent these. Click to show and hide hidden emails.
• Mail Check Interval - When MailWasher last checked for email.

Action buttons

The recycle bin shows two action buttons, one for restoring any selected email and one for deleting all the emails in the recycle bin.

Message grid and preview pane

Like the inbox, the recycle bin includes a message grid to show a list of deleted messages and a preview pane.

Search

Features 'search as you type' technology to help you find deleted emails quickly. You can search by 'From' and 'Subject' and optionally only show emails within a date range

General Settings

The General Settings area is separated in to four areas

• Application, for settings like the display language and how MailWasher behaves on startup and when it's minimized
• Checking Mail, for settings related to when email is checked, what to do when new email arrives and how much of the email to preview.
• Notifications, for control over how you are notified of new mail in MailWasher.
• Washing Mail, for actions to be determined after washing mail.
• Performance, for increasing the performance on slower computers.
• Updates, how often MailWasher checks for updates of new versions.

Accounts

The accounts screen lets you add/remove and import your email accounts

Spam Tools

The spam tools screen gives you access to all the spam tools and the ability to adjust the weighting of each when evaluating your email.

• Friends list - List of email addresses you consider legitimate
• Blacklist - Lists of email address you receive unwanted email from
• Filters - Create your own custom filters to catch spam or mark legitimate email
• Origin of spam - Use these external blacklists to catch spam from known spam sources
• FirstAlert! - Firetrust's real-time signature based filter for catching known spam
• Learning - Train MailWasher to recognize which emails are legitimate and which are spam
• Spam Ratings - Assign weighting to each spam tool, so for example the friends list has more influence. You can also select to auto-delete emails based on certain criteria.

Display Options

These settings let you configure how screens are displayed for Inbox, Recycle Bin, Event Log and Alerts.

Recycle Bin

These settings are used to control how long messages are kept in the recycle bin and how they are restored.

The Event Log is hidden until you experience a problem, then it is used to notify you of any errors or problems with the mail or your service provider. In most cases the Event Log will show you the recommended course of action to resolve the problem.

Optionally you can choose to always display the Event Log via the menu View >> Always Show Event Log

The General screen is split in to six sections

APPLICATION

• Language: The drop down box allows you to select the display language and will instantly change once selected.
• Font: Lets you change the font the user interface is shown in.
• Launch MailWasher when Windows starts: Automatically launches MailWasher when Windows starts. No splash screen is displayed if this option is selected.
• Minimizing: Minimize MailWasher when X clicked: If this is enabled, when you click the close X button at the top right of the Window, MailWasher will either minimize to the System Tray or Task Bar depending on the option selected below this.
• Minimize MailWasher when mail program launched: If the mail program is launched manually or after Washing Mail, MailWasher will minimize if this option is selected.
• Start MailWasher minimized: MailWasher will start minimized when executed.
• Restore MailWasher Hotkey: Allows you to customize the shoftcut key to minimize or restore MailWasher. To change the Hotkey, click inside the field and press the desired combination of keys on your keyboard, then press the Save button.

CHECKING MAIL

• Check default accounts when MailWasher starts: Select this to automatically check your default accounts when MailWasher starts. You can add or remove an account from the default group in the general account settings.
• Display balloon notification when new mail arrives: A balloon notification in the tray pops up when new mail arrives.
• Play sound when new mail arrives: Option to play a sound when new mail arrives.
• Periodically check mail every X minutes: Select this option so that MailWasher will periodically check default mail accounts at the timed interval.
• If you manually check an account that is not in the default group then MailWasher will include this account in the default check so long as it still has messages in the list.
• Don't check mail between: Specify the amount of time between automatic checking of your default accounts. Trying to check accounts too often, such as every minute, may result in login failures as not all email servers can cater for constant checking. Note the time is in 24 hour time format (hh mm)
• Spam Throttle: Set the number of lines of each email for MailWasher to download. 50 is a good number to get accurate results when Classifying emails as Good or Bad. If you use FirstAlert a minimum of 80 lines is recommended, 200 is probably best.
• Check Throttle: Set the maximum number of accounts MailWasher can check simultaneously. Setting to ALL will check multiple accounts faster but can be prone to errors if many accounts are on the same email server.

NOTIFICATIONS

• New Mail Notification: Change the icon MailWasher uses to show when there is new mail.
• Display balloon notification when new mail arrives: If this is checked, a balloon pops up from the system tray and indicates how many new email messages there are.
• Play sound when new mail arrives: If checked, will display the default new mail sound. If you want to play a different sound, click the browse button and choose the new WAV file.
• Don't notify me if mail is spam: If checked, MailWasher will not notify you if new mail is spam.
• Play sound when error occurs: If an error occurs, the default Windows beep will be heard.

WASHING MAIL

• Minimize MailWasher after Wash Mail: MailWasher will minimize after you press the WASH Mail button.
• Email program: Select your email program from the list and MailWasher will use this to open after a wash mail. Alternatively if your email program is not listed you can select 'Use other application' and browse for your email application. A further option to open a webpage to open Hotmail or GMail for example.
• Launch after Wash Mail: Your selected email program will be launched, if it not already running after you Wash Mail.
• Use default email program icon: By default MailWasher will use the icon from your email program, but if you prefer to use a plain icon, check this option.

PERFORMANCE

MailWasher may run more slowly on older computers with a single core. The performance settings may be tweaked to optimize your experience with MailWasher.

UPDATES

• Automatically check for update: If checked, MailWasher will periodically check for a later version. If there is a new version, the latest features will be displayed and you'll be prompted to update your current version.
• Download to: The location where the new version will be downloaded to, which will then automatically run and install.

The Accounts screen holds details of your email accounts to be checked in MailWasher.

MailWasher supports both POP3 and IMAP accounts. Your email settings and account type will in most cases be imported in to MailWasher when you set it up, otherwise you will need to ask your email provider for your email settings if you do not know them. Many webmail providers offer access via POP3 or IMAP such as Outlook.com, Hotmail, Yahoo, GMail.

The quickest way to set up MailWasher is to click the Auto Detect Account button. A setup wizard will appear and ask you to select which email account settings to import in to MailWasher. Alternatively you can click Add Email Account to set up your email account manually.

General Tab

• Account description: Enter a personal description for your account. The Account description allows you to easily distinguish it from your other accounts. For example "Work", "Home" etc…
• Email Address: Enter your email address used for this account e.g. [email protected]
• Include in default mail check: Check this option to include this account in the default mail check.

Incoming Tab:

• Server Type: Server type used by your incoming mail server, if you are unsure please consult your email providers documentation, although most accounts are POP3.

• Server address: Enter the address of your incoming mail server e.g. mail.mailserver.com, if you are unsure please consult your email providers documentation.

• Username: Enter your username for this account, if you are unsure please consult your email providers documentation.

• Password: Enter your password for this account, if you can't remember your password then using MailWasher might not be as fun as you think.

• Remember password: Select this option if you want MailWasher to store your password.

• Store cached emails: Check this option to store all checked emails in the database, this allows for quicker searching and reloading of messages MailWasher has already seen.

  It is recommended that when using MailWasher with an IMAP account this is enabled. It's pretty awesome on POP accounts too if you tend to download the same messages over and over…and over.

• This server requires a secure connection (SSL): Select this option to use the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) for this account. Only select this option if your email provider supports SSL.

• Download read e-mail: (IMAP accounts only). This option is off by default, so IMAP email accounts will only show un-read emails on the server.

• Use secure authentication: Select this option to use secure authentication (APOP) for this account.

• Use RETR instead of TOP: This option will download the entire message instead of the first X lines. Use this option if your ISP does not support TOP (rare).

• Enable PIPELINING: Select this option to enable PIPELINING for this account. PIPELINING allows MailWasher to retrieve emails much faster, although it is not always supported by all email providers. If PIPELINING is not supported by your email provider MailWasher will disable this option for you.

Outgoing Tab:

• SMTP server address: Enter the setting for your SMTP server address to enable bouncing and rescuing of email. Most likely this will be imported, but otherwise you will need to consult your ISP's documentation.
• Server Port Number: This is usually 25, but may be different for encrypted settings. Please ask your ISP or consult your documentation for any other SMTP settings.

The Spam Tools screen shows settings for each of the spam tools in MailWasher and comprises:

Friendslist

The Friends list is where you can add your friends email addresses so their mail is recognized as a Friend.

Blacklist

The Blacklist gives you an easy way to banish spammers from your inbox, as it is an effective tool against email from mailing lists that you may have unwittingly signed up for (or been submitted to), or from companies who take no notice of your unsubscribe requests.

Filters

Filters allow you to define what MailWasher Pro tags as spam, neutral or good email. You can specify certain words or combinations of words that, if they appear in the Subject, Body, From, Too, CC, Received, header, return path, or the entire message, they, will trigger an automatic categorization from MailWasher Pro.

Origin of spam

Origin of Spam is usually known as Real Time Blackhole Lists or RBL's. These public external blacklists keep a record of where spam is sent from. MailWasher accesses these and returns back information about the origin of the email - if it comes from a sender of spam, or not.

FirstAlert!

FirstAlert! is Firetrust's own external database of actual known spam messages, gleamed from spam reports and honey pots, or spam trap email addresses. When users check their email, it is also checked against FirstAlert! and if a message is matched, it is given a spam score.

Learning

Learning or Bayesian Statistics are used by MailWasher to help recognize spam and good email, based on email you train as spam or good. After a short period of training, the learning filter becomes very accurate.

Spam Ratings

Spam ratings are used to determine if an email is spam or good. Each spam tool is given a spam rating (a positive or negative number) and a resulting total spam score is computed to determine if an email is good, neutral or spam. You can select MailWasher to auto delete emails based on their spam rating.

Spam Reporting

Most ISP's, Governments and external blacklists give an opportunity for users to report spam. MailWasher lets you easily report spam to these organizations so they may take action against senders of spam.

Options

Most spam tools have options to hide the email and automatically delete an email if it is matched by that spam tool.

The Display setting screen lets you configure settings related to the display such as:

General

• Tray Icon: Select which icon to show in the system tray, either the soap or the classic plug hole.
• Enable font smoothing: Font smoothing looks better on Windows Vista and 7, where as Windows XP users may prefer to disable this.
• Enable custom window border: Selecting this removes the default Windows border and replaces it with a custom border.
• Window color: If a custom window border is selected, the border color may be changed.
• Mail Preview: Show the email header and/or action buttons on the preview pane.

Inbox

• Show the spam tool sidebar: The Spam Tool sidebar can display a summary of your Friends List, Blacklist and custom Filters. It can also display a summary of which different Spam Tools have flagged the email as either good or spam, which can be expanded for more information.
• Display unread emails in bold: Select this option to have MailWasher display unread emails in bold text.
• Mark selected emails as read after X seconds: Automatically mark emails as read after the specified time. MailWasher will automatically mark the email as read when you move off the selected message.
• Mail grid columns: You can enable or disable, and change the order of the column headers in the inbox.
• Delete column icon: Choose between the classic checkbox or trash can to show the delete column icon.

Recycle Bin

• Show the spam tool sidebar: The Spam Tool sidebar can display a summary of your Friends List, Blacklist and custom Filters. It can also display a summary of which different Spam Tools have flagged the email as either good or spam, which can be expanded for more information.
• Mail grid columns: You can enable or disable, and change the order of the column headers in the recycle bin.

Event Log

• Mail grid columns: You can enable or disable, and change the order of the column headers in the event log.

Alerts

• Show warning when opening a web page link: Show a warning popup when clicking on a link in the email preview. Click to enable or disable the warning.
• Show mail program settings warning: This warning prompts you that some changes may need to be made to your email program to continue when setting up accounts.

The Recycle Bin setting screen gives you general options and restoring email options.

General

• Store deleted emails for X days: Enter a number of days or move the slider to change the number of days messages are held in the recycle bin before they are purged. The maximum is 60 days.

Restoring

• Fall back account to restore emails: Select the account which is to be used to restore emails to in the event your selected account cannot restore the email.
• Automatically add sender to Friends List: Select this option to add the sender to the Friends List when their email is restored.

You can sync your MailWasher settings to the mobile version of MailWasher.

MailWasher Mobile

• Apple: iTunes Appstore
• Android: Google Play Store
• Windows Phone: WP8 Store

This process requires you to setup a Firetrust Login, a unique combination of an email address and password which then allows you to sync your settings from Desktop PC to Phone/Tablet, and to login to any other device and have your settings and email accounts always available anywhere.

1. Go to Settings >> Sync
2. First create a Firetrust Login by pressing the Create Login button. Enter your email address and a Password. Don't forget these as you'll need them to sync to another computer or the mobile version.
3. After creating a Firetrust Login, select Mobile on the left.
4. Select which Email accounts you wish to sync. Select if you would like to sync your Friends and Blacklists.
5. Press the Sync button.
6. Login to your mobile device with the same Firetrust Login as created above and all your settings will appear on the mobile device.

The Spam Tools section list all the available spam tools inside MailWasher to help identify spam and good messages. Each spam tool is given a spam rating (a positive or negative number) and a resulting total spam score is computed to determine if an email is good, neutral or spam.

The good filters consist of:

• Friends list: A list of your friends email address and domanis. Default score +50
• Filters: You can create a good filter and give it a score between +1 and +200
• Learning: As you train messages as good, MailWasher will automatically assign a score of +1 to +200 for the email based on it's content.

The spam filters consist of:

• Blacklist: A list of email address and domains from people you don't want to get email from: Default score -50
• Filters: You can create a spam filter and give it a score between -1 and -200
• Origin of spam: External blacklists called Real Time Blackholes (RBL's). Default score -50
• FirstAlert!: Firetrust's real-time honey pot of actual spam messages: Default score -80
• Learning: As you train messages as spam, MailWasher will automatically assign a score of -1 to -200 for the email based on it's content.

Neutral or undetermined emails are determined by a total score between -50 and +50.

You can quickly see the total score of an email by clicking on the sidebar in the inbox and highlighting an email. The sidebar shows those spam tools which have been triggered along with their score and a total score at the bottom. A gauge also shows where the emails total points are over the range of points.

Auto Delete

When an email reaches a certain points value, you can set MailWasher to auto delete that email so it is sent directly to the recycle bin.

The Friends list is where you can add your friends email addresses so their mail is recognized as a Friend.

Note: Other spam tools will still be utilized to determine if an email is spam, even if the email address is on the friends list. This is because many legitimate email addresses are used to send spam, so while the email address may be legitimate, the content may not.

Adding users to the Friends List can be achieved by the following:

1. Right click on the Inbox message table and a menu will appear which will let you add the selected email address to the Friends List.

2. Go to Settings >> Spam Tools >> Friends List and add an email address manually.

3. Go to Settings >> Spam Tools >> Friends List and add an email address wildcard. A Wildcard is used to match a range of similar email addresses. You may include the following Wildcards.

   • + will match 1 or more unknown characters
   • ? will match any one character
   • * Will match zero or more unknown characters

   Example: *@hotmail.*

You can also import your contacts lists from various email programs. Go to Settings >> Spam Tools >> Friends List and click the Import button.

Options

Include expiring unused email addresses so the list doesn't become too large. Hiding emails in the email grid from those contacts on the friends list, so undetermined and spam emails are easier to spot.

The Blacklist gives you an easy way to banish spammers from your inbox, as it is an effective tool against email from mailing lists that you may have unwittingly signed up for (or been submitted to), or from companies who take no notice of your unsubscribe requests.

Once an address is marked for your Blacklist, the next time you receive an email from that address, it is automatically marked for deletion.

Note: Other spam tools will still be utilized to determine if an email is spam or good, even if the email address is on the blacklist.

Adding users to the blacklist can be achieved by the following:

1. Right click on the Inbox message table and a menu will appear which will let you add the selected email address to the blacklist.

2. Drag and Drop an email in the inbox on to the blacklist in the sidebar.

3. Go to Settings >> Spam Tools >> Blacklist and add an email address manually.

4. Go to Settings >> Spam Tools >> Blacklist and add an email address wildcard. A Wildcard is used to match a range of similar email addresses. You may include the following Wildcards.

   • + will match 1 or more unknown characters
   • ? will match any one character
   • * Will match zero or more unknown characters

   Example: *@hotmail.*

Options

Include expiring unused email addresses so the list doesn't become too large. Hiding emails in the email grid from those addresses on the blacklist, so these emails are not shown so as to make it easier to read your legitimate email. Auto delete any emails matched by the blacklist

Filters allow you to define what MailWasher Pro tags as spam, neutral or good email. You can specify certain words or combinations of words that, if they appear in the Subject, Body, From, Too, CC, Received, header, return path, or the entire message, they, will trigger an automatic categorization from MailWasher Pro.

Filter options allow you to construct plain text filters, build more complex filters using regular expressions and block emails in certain languages.

Actions on filters allow you to set the spam score, choose the filter display color and override fixed settings when a filter is triggered.

Setting up a filter

1. Go to Settings >> Spam Tools >> Filters and click the Add Filter button. A dialogue box appears and lets you enter the name and choose the appearance of the filter when it is triggered, such as font and background color.
2. Choose the Filter type, either Spam, Good or Neutral.
3. The next option is an AND OR operator meaning an email can match any one of the rules (Any = OR) or must match all of the rules (All = AND) ie.
   • Any means it matches 1st rule OR 2nd rule OR 3rd rule etc
   • All means it matches 1st rule AND 2nd rule AND 3rd rule etc
4. Next, click the Add Rule button or the drop down arrow next to it to select Standard Rule, Language Rule, Spam Tool Rule or Files Type Rule.
5. Choose from the first box which part of the email you want to filter on, such as the Entire Message, or just the Subject Line.
6. Next, select the condition Contains, Does not contain, or Is.
7. Next, select what type of filter you want to use, Plain Text or Regular Expression - Reg Ex

Plain Text Filers

Plain Text filters are easy to write, but its easy to make mistakes with them. eg. A Plain Text filter to match the word sex would also match sextuplet and sextant, which may be an unintentional match. This is why it is much better to use Regular Expression filters with the pipe | (see below).

Regular Expression Filters Regular Expressions filters are difficult to write but offer greater flexibility and accuracy. eg. A filter to test if an email address is valid looks like:

^([0-9a-zA-Z]([-.w]*[0-9a-zA-Z])*@(([0-9a-zA-Z])+([-w]*[0-9a-zA-Z])*.)+[a-zA-Z]{2,9})$

MailWasher uses the regular expression engine from regexlab.com if you want to read up on how to create a simple Regular Expression filter.

Some simple regular expression filters are illustrated as follows:

• [Vv]iagra|VIAGRA: would catch upper and lowercase variations on the first letter of the word Viagra, and Viagra all in capitals,
• [Rr]eplica.*([Rr]olex|models|bags|watch): would catch upper and lowercase variations on the first letter of the word Replica and Rolex along with combinations of these with the words models, bags and watch.

Using the pipe | to separate words is a much more computationally efficient (and faster!) way to construct filters instead of creating separate rules for each word.

Language Filters

If a Language filter is chosen, choose from the list of character sets to match.

Spam Tool Rule

This option lets you delete certain file types which you may wish to block.

You can combine various rules by again clicking the Add Rule button.

File(s) Type Rule

The spam tool rule is used to give you more control over how email addresses on your Friends and Blacklists are used. For example you could create a rule where if the Sender is on my blacklist, then auto-delete this email.

You can combine various rules by again clicking the Add Rule button.

Actions

You can override the fixed settings and choose a higher or lower spam score for your filter by visiting the Actions tab. Other options here include controlling if the email is marked for delete or not, or auto-deleted.

You can also hide emails in the email grid if matched by the filter, so these emails are not shown so as to make it easier to read certain aspects of your email.

How will I know which filter tagged an email?

Click on the spam side bar and select 'Lists', click on the email which has been marked by your filter and the filter used will be highlighted in the filter box.

Origin of Spam is usually known as Real Time Blackhole Lists or RBL's. These public external blacklists keep a record of where spam is sent from. MailWasher accesses these and returns back information about the origin of the email - if it comes from a sender of spam, or not.

By default, two blacklists are turned on by default in MailWasher, SpamCop and Spamhaus and you can add more if you wish.

Options

Only keep matched IP addresses for X days. Hiding emails in the email grid from those addresses on RBL blacklists, so these emails are not shown so as to make it easier to read your legitimate email. Auto delete any emails matched by this filter.

FirstAlert! is Firetrust's own external database of actual known spam messages, gleamed from spam reports and honey pots, or spam trap email addresses. When users check their email, it is also checked against FirstAlert! and if a message is matched, it is given a spam score.

FirstAlert! is enabled by default and is included as part of your license.

Options

Include expiring unused email addresses so the list doesn't become too large. Hiding emails in the email grid from those addresses caught by FirstAlert, so these emails are not shown so as to make it easier to read your legitimate email. Auto delete any emails matched by this filter.

Learning or Bayesian Statistics are used by MailWasher to help recognize spam and good email, based on email you train as spam or good. After a short period of training, the learning filter becomes very accurate.

In the Inbox screen, the column Classification shows thumbs up or thumbs down. Clicking the thumbs up icon means you think the email is good, while clicking the thumbs down icon means you think the email is spam. Clicking a colored thumbs up or down icon again will cause it to change to neutral.

These actions of determining if an email is good, spam or neutral help build up a body of good and spammy words inside emails. To begin with after training only a few emails, the accuracy may not be great, but after training around 20 emails of good and spam content, the accuracy should be very high. As you train more emails, the accuracy becomes higher and the training will largely take care of itself.

In Settings >> Spam Tools >> Learning there are various options for changing the settings, but consult the Bayesian Technical Information first.

The Spam Tools section list all the available spam tools inside MailWasher to help identify spam and good messages. Each spam tool is given a spam rating (a positive or negative number) and a resulting total spam score is computed to determine if an email is good, neutral or spam.

The good filters consist of:

• Friends list: A list of your friends email address and domanis. Default score +50
• Filters: You can create a good filter and give it a score between +1 and +200
• Learning: As you train messages as good, MailWasher will automatically assign a score of +1 to +200 for the email based on it's content.

The spam filters consist of:

• Blacklist: A list of email address and domains from people you don't want to get email from: Default score -50
• Filters: You can create a spam filter and give it a score between -1 and -200
• Origin of spam: External blacklists called Real Time Blackholes (RBL's). Default score -50
• FirstAlert: Firetrust's real-time honey pot of actual spam messages: Default score -80
• Learning: As you train messages as spam, MailWasher will automatically assign a score of -1 to -200 for the email based on it's content.

Neutral or undetermined emails are determined by a total score between -50 and +50

You can quickly see the total score of an email by clicking on the sidebar in the inbox and highlighting an email. The sidebar shows those spam tools which have been triggered along with their score and a total score at the bottom. A gauge also shows where the emails total points are over the range of points.

Auto Delete

When an email reaches a certain points value, you can set MailWasher to auto delete that email so it is sent directly to the recycle bin.

Most ISP's, Governments and external blacklists give an opportunity for users to report spam. The characteristics of these messages are then usually analyzed after a complaint is sent to the administrator of the network where the spam originated. As a result, spammers networks may get blacklisted to prevent their messages being delivered. Most administrators will therefore make every effort to prevent spammers utilizing their networks for sending spam.

Spam reporting in MailWasher can be found in Settings >> Spam Tools >> Spam Reporting

Generally speaking, to report spam, you must first sign up to create an account with a provider before you can report to a blacklist.

Spamcop is used as an example of the registration process:

1. Go to spamcop.net and scroll down to Register for the Free Reporting Service.
2. Enter your name or nickname and email address.
3. Press Send Authorization Email to complete the signup process.

Subsequently,

1. SpamCop e-mail sends a confirmation email to the e-mail address you provided.
2. This email contains a username and password. Log in using the username and password you received via mail.
3. After logging in you can then report spam you receive via the website or by using MailWasher. Use the special spam reporting email address given by Spamcop.

Once you've created your Spamcop account, you can continue reporting directly from MailWasher.

First, make sure that the column Reporting is visible in MailWashers inbox. You do this by right clicking on the column headers and in the pop-up list, select the Reporting item.

Then go to Settings >> Spam Tools >> Spam Reporting and click Add Service.

In the following screen:

1. Enter the name of the service (such as SpamCop)

2. Include the email address you received from the spam service provider.

3. Choose one of your accounts to send spam reports. You would usually use the same account for which you have signed up to the service.

4. Edit the properties of the icon for this service, as it will appear in your inbox. You have choices of background color, text color and letter.

   Tip: You can pick a unique icon for each service, but if you have multiple services designated with the same letter, these services will be treated by MailWasher as a group. This means with the click of the one icon, a spam report will be sent to all members in this group.

5. Click Save

You will return to the previous screen.

1. Now go back to the MailWasher Inbox.
2. Beside each message identified as Spam or Neutral, in the Reporting column the icons of one or more services that you have created is shown.
3. When clicking on one or more of these icons, these icons show a check mark and when you Wash Mail, these message are sent to the spam reporting service(s).

Important: Please follow the instructions of the service to finalize the report.

If you keep suffering from the same spam in your inbox all the time or you want to take a more aggressive line against spam, you can set MailWasher to auto delete spam so you never see it. The result of this is that spam is sent straight to the Recycle Bin, but you may also find that the occasional legitimate email is also sent to the Recycle Bin.

When an email reaches a certain points value, you can set MailWasher to auto delete that email so it is sent directly to the recycle bin.

For example, if the auto-delete spam score is set to -125 and the total spam score of a particular spam email is -130, then the email will be deleted and moved to the recycle bin.

You can also use specific filters to give certain emails a higher spam rating.

See also, other ways to auto delete spam at Program Help >> Quick Start Topics and Tutorials >> Auto Delete Spam

User files such as settings, recycle bin, friends list, blacklist, etc are accessible via Help >> User Files

This directory contains the database of stored messages, recycle bin, friends list, blacklist and general settings.

Logs are also stored here and are useful for debugging problems.

Please see the next chapter Technical Information for more information.

System Requirements

Compatible with Windows 32 and 64 bit Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 and 10 Needs .NET 4 (If you have all your Windows updates you'll be fine)

Programming

The user interface is written using the .NET 4 platform and Windows Presentation Foundation The engine is written in C++

Process Details

The MailWasher runs as MailWasherPro.exe The user interface handles all the regular settings and controls and passes commands to the the engine which handles all the grunt work, downloading, evaluating the emails and access to the database.

Regular Expression Engine

For the Custom Filters MailWasher uses a PERL compatible regular expression engine called DEELX. If you require technical assistance with regular expressions please feel free to ask in the forum, you can also view the syntax of DEELX here regexlab.com

DataGrid and Other

The DataGrid is Xceed Datagrid for WPF There is also use of some Chilkat and EmailArchitects components

User Data Files

Under Help >> User Files >> you will find all the user files, settings and log files. Under Help >> Common Files >> you will find all the language files, some FavIcons and the default user files required if any go missing from the directory above.

User Data Files and their purpose

Files are typically self explanatory, for example RecycleBinSettings.xml is where MailWasher stores the settings for the Recycle Bin. BayesianKnobs.xml, FirstAlertKnobs.xml and RBLKnobs.xml are generated by the engine currently for debugging purposes. Regex.txt is generated by the engine and is a base64 encoded file based on any custom filters.

The cache subfolder

MWP.db3 - This is an SQLite database which contains your Friends List, Blacklist, cached results from FirstAlert and DNSBLs, hash tables for deleted and cached emails and other miscellaneous settings.

All of the .dat files are related to the Bayesian data as explained in the Bayesian Technical Information page].

The crypto subfolder

This stores encrypted email data. It's not stored in the database for faster access.

• 0001 File - Is a Recycled or Cached Message
• 0002 File - Is extra message information for quick access
• 0004 File - Is extra information stored on a message when deleted
• 0010 File - Are messages trained as Spam
• 0011 File - Are messages trained as Good

Common Files and their purpose

The .dat files are backups MailWasher will copy if the user files of the same name go missing. DNSBLServerList.xml is a list of DNSBLs available in the drop down menu for quickly adding a preconfigured server ServerList.xml is a list of various preconfigured settings for different email providers. MailWasher will use these settings by default when manually adding an account. FavIcons are used in the UI to display by the account name, this folder contains the icons for the most common email provider accounts.

MailWasher uses bayesian statistics to determine the probability that an email is spam or good based on your preferences from the training you provide.

The difficulty with any Bayesian is that it requires healthy volumes of email to be classified as good or bad before it becomes effective, there are some tweaks we've added to the current UI under Settings >> Spam Tools >> Learning.

Firstly, the Bayesian engine is designed to return a statistical analysis of an email ranging between 0 and 1. 0 is very good, and 1 is very spammy. A result of .5 is neutral, often referred to as the midpoint.

An email is broken up into a series of tokens, these are words or other recognisable text of the email. As you train emails these are added to a corpus, the tokens within the email are added to a hash file as well as the number of times these tokens appeared. There is one hash file for email you classify as good and one for email classified as spam.

• In a third hash file, tokens have a probability score mapped to them determined by whether the token came from a good or bad email. If a token is found in the spam significantly more, it's probability will be very near the spammy end. e.g. viagra 0.821818
• If a token is found in both spam and good corpuses at a roughly equal amount, it's probability would be back near the mid-point. e.g. html 0.573604

'most interesting' tokens are determined by how far their probability is from the neutral .5 whereas a token whose probability is closer to the mid-point is not considered very interesting.

When an email is checked against the Bayesian it is broken up into these tokens, the 20 'most interesting' tokens are then taken and used to calculate the probability that the email is either spam or good.

MailWasher does at present a fairly standard Bayesian analysis, and converts the Bayesian result into a spam weighting score, which can be coupled with other Spam Tools to come to a final analysis of the email.

On a low Bayesian sensitivity setting

MailWasher will limit the authority the Bayesian can have, so the highest 'weighting' it will apply will be -/+99 and 'Infinite' for a message that has been trained. If the Bayesian evaluates the message between the range of -50 through to +50, and other Spam Tools bring the Total Rating to outside of that range, then MailWasher will automatically train that email as either good or bad.

On a high Bayesian sensitivity setting

MailWasher will not limit the authority the Bayesian can have, so the highest 'weighting' it will apply will be -/+149 and 'Infinite' for a message that has been trained. If the Bayesian evaluates the message between the range of -75 through to +75, and other Spam Tools bring the Total Rating to outside of that range, then MailWasher will automatically train that email as either good or bad.

Minimum word length - Sets the minimum numbers of characters required for the word (token) to be evaluated by the Bayesian. So words like 'of' would be completely ignored. Default is 4

Maximum word length - Sets the maximum numbers of characters required for the word to be evaluated by the Bayesian. Default is 30

Use lower case - By default MailWasher ignores capitalisation when evaluating words, so for example 'monkey' is considered the same as 'Monkey'. Unchecking this option will treat words with different capitalisation separately. Default is checked.

Good token weight - This setting gives more authority to words considered to be good, which in cases where emails have both good and spam words generally means the email will come out as good. Currently the setting is 2.0 doubles their weight. Default is 2.0

Minimum count for inclusion - A word must occur this number of times before it will have its' probability mapped. Default is 5

Certain spam count - If an email has 0 good tokens, and more than the number specified of bad tokens then MailWasher will class as definitely spam and return the Certain Spam Score regardless of the Bayesian evaluation. If this is a negative number this feature is disabled. A typical number to set would be around 10, though if very few emails have been trained as good it may cause false positives and mark good email as spam. Default is -1

Interesting word count - The number of tokens both good and bad that will be considered when performing the final evaluating of the email. A larger number early can cause the Bayesian evaluation to be too authoritative, so currently set to 10. Though 15-25 is a better choice as more emails are trained. Default is 10

Whole words can also be excluded currently by manually editing the mwp_exw.dat file in the Application DataFiretrustMailWasherCache directory. You can open this file in a standard text editor, one word per line.

Whole words can also be included currently by manually editing the mwp_inw.dat file in the same directory. You can open this file in a standard text editor, one word per line. For example as above a word must have 4 characters to be considered, but adding the word 'sex' makes MailWasher consider this word.

Words can also be converted in the mwp_conv.dat file in the same directory, so for example the following would convert all the different variations to a plain 'viagra'

v1agra viagra
/iagra viagra
/iagra viagra
vi@gra viagra
/i@gra viagra

Other files are

• mwp_nswl.dat - This is the non-spam corpus, it is rebuilt every time mail is washed.
• mwp_swl.dat - This is the spam corpus, it is rebuilt every time mail is washed.
• mwp_pmap.dat - This file stores the probability mappings for tokens,
• MWP.db3 - This is the main MailWasher database file, it stores friends list, blacklist, email deleted, the corpus files etc…

Log files are generated when using MailWasher to help with problem resolution and debugging.

The log files can be found at Help >> User Files, then going to the Logs folder. Extended logging can be enabled by checking Log Protocol in Help >> Log Protocol

If MailWasher crashes for any reason, when it next starts you will be prompted to tell Firetrust about the problem. If you elect to inform Firetrust of the problem, it will also send the logs at the time of the crash. This helps in the resolution of any problem.

Logs are broken into subfolders by date.

The files are as follows.

• MWPapi.log – This contains information relating to the main user interface (MailWasherPro.exe) and information it processes from the engine.
• MWPapp_FirstAlert.log – This contains information about FirstAlert
• MWPapp_MWPapp.log – This log file is actions and other information from the engine (MailWasherProApp.exe)
• MWPapp_(account).log – Each account in MailWasher has its’ own log file.

If Protocol Logging is enabled, these files may be created.

• MWPapp_POP3_(account).log – Specific POP3 protocol data relating to that account.
• MWPapp_IMAP_(account).log – Specific IMAP protocol data relating to that account.
• MWPapp_SMTP_(account).log – Specific SMTP protocol data relating to that account.

If MailWasher does crash, a file errors.log will also be generated.

Download this Document here

Written by Jordan Webb © 2016-2017

It is difficult to keep up with the ever-changing strategies and tactics of spammers. However, I believe that MailWasherPro and the use of RegularExpressions in filters give us intended victims the ability to stay in the fight against spammers.

Over the years, I’ve observed the patterns that spammers use and have tried to emulate their creativity in defining effective ways to trap bad guys. I’d like to share my experiences with other “intended victims” of spammers.

• Spam filtering at the mail server level has its limitations because:
  • Spam filtering is based on the methodologies, tools and techniques that an ISP provides its customers – customers have to live with and use what is offered
  • I feel that ISP spam rules are too generalized to keep up with spammer creativity
  • The challenge at the mail server is to adjust the span detection sensitivity-levels so that:
    • fewer bad guys get a false positive (low score) and are sent to a user’s Inbox
    • fewer good guys get a high score and are sent to a user’s Spam Box
  • When you set the sensitivity low enough to allow more good guys to pass through this filter, TOO MANY bad guys also score low enough so that they also pass through this filter and end up in a user’s Inbox.
• Spam filtering at the email client level (Thunderbird and Outlook) is inefficient and by then it’s too late. At this point, one may have a large volume of unwanted messages to deal with and manual deletion is a laborious and time-wasting activity.
  • The tricks spammers use to create infinite numbers of spellings and string-combinations make it difficult to create the kinds of filters needed to block bad guys.
• MailWasherPro operates on messages still on the mail server after the ISP filters have completed but before messages are sent to the email client. This provides more sophisticated filtering options.

Simple to complex – using a filter to trap a bad guy

Writing regular expressions may seem daunting. However, you can learn to do this one step at a time – i.e. learn about how to create a specific filter and then expand your learning as you combine what you learn next with what you learned before.

• My first use of MWP filters was rather crude in that I created a filter with a large number of rules with text strings to trap bad guys - Example:

  Subject	contains	plain text	viagra
  Subject	contains	plain text	cialis
  Subject	contains	plain text	levitra
  etc…

• Spammers created too many strings for these text rules to be practical, so my first simple use of RegularExpressions in rules was to concatenate these large numbers of rules text into smaller groups of rules using regular expressions to trap bad guys. Example:

  • A single rule witha RegEx expression replaces three separate rules.

  Subject	contains	plain text	(viagra|cialis|levitra)
  etc…

  • The () parentheses indicate a group of “things” to look for
  • The | (pipe character) separates different “things” to look for

• Then spammers got clever by sometimes (but not always) doing character replacements so that regular spellings of “things” would not trap bad guys. Examples:

  • Spammers substitute 0 for o; 1 or l for I; 3 for e, etc.
  • Some variants of Cialis: Viagra, v1agra, vlagra, etc.
  • Some variants of Cialis: cial1s, c1alis, c1al1s, etc.
  • Some variants of Levitra: lev1tra, l3vitra, 1ev1tra, etc.

• My next more complex use of RegularExpressions was to counteract multiple ways that spammers alternated the spelling of bad guys. Examples:

  • The | (pipe character) separates different “things” to look for

  • The [] brackets indicate a series of “characters” to look for

    Subject	contains	RegEx	v[i1l]agra
    Subject	contains	RegEx	c[i1l]a[i1l][i1l]s
    Subject	contains	RegEx	[i1l][e3]v[i1l]tra

  • This checks for i 1 or l in any combination

  • This checks for 3 or e in any combination

• The combination of these three strings into a single rule may seem complex, but it’s just a concatenation of all three strings enclosed in parentheses and separated by pipes

  • This traps all three “things” no matter how they are spelled or misspelled

    Subject	contains	RegEx	(v[i1l]agra|c[i1l]a[i1l][i1l]s|[i1l][e3]v[i1l]tra)

• Compare rule (#5) (above) with this simpler rule (#6) (below) (same as #2, above) that checked only for the correct spelling of the “things”

  Subject	contains	RegEx	(viagra|cialis|levitra)

Some General Comments & Guidelines on Filters and Rules

Remember, a filter can have many rules – of different types.

1. The desired outcome of a filter is to determine whether the filter is TRUE

2. You must make sure set up the filter to execute correctly based on its rules

   • Should a message have to match ANY rule in the filter? – i.e. a message that matches any rule in a filter makes the filter TRUE
   • Should a message have to many ALL rules in the filter? – i.e. a message MUST match ALL rules in a filter makes the filter TRUE

If creating strings for specific “things” with no alternate spellings, then a larger (and more readable) rule would be look something like this:

I have found no real limit to the number of “things” that can be concatenated into a single rule –as long as the Regular Expression syntax is correct. I have also not found that there is a limit to the number of rules that can be added to a filter. Suggestion: Keep things simple – i.e. design rules within filters in ways that make sense to you. If it seems like a specific rule should be in a separate filter, then create a separate filter for it. I would recommend that you create a separate rule (or filter) for more complex situations such as the rule (#5) above. Reason – It will be easier to debug.

• Example: If it makes sense to you to create filters for “Subject”, “From” and “Body” separately, then create separate filters for them.

If you create a rule to check the “Header”, everything in a message header will be checked by that rule. If you create a rule to check the “From”, only the “From” address in a message header will be checked by that rule. And so forth. NOTE that the “Body” is not a part of the “Header”.

• Caution: Beware of the risk of having 2 pipes together “||” in a string.
  • This is syntactically correct, but such a rule would select everything (i.e. make everything TRUE) – and that might cause unexpected behaviors with a rule or a filter.
• I would recommend that you create a separate rule for more complex situations such as the rule (#5) above.

Recommendation: Test your regular expressions as you develop them…

• There are several resources for testing Regular Expressions (RegEx)
  • http://www.regextester.com/ - online testing on this webpage
  • http://regexpstudio.com/TRegExpr/TRegExpr.html - downloadable .exe file
• I have found that their performance is about 95% the similar - There are some slight differences:
  • The online testing program seems to have no size limit to the expression or the string to be tested – but the .exe program seems to have a size limit to both the expression and the string to be tested.
  • I have found two test cases where the online tester finds a match but the .exe program does not – this is a very esoteric RegEx with a very complex test pattern that you probably won’t encounter.
  • I’ve found one test case where the online tester finds no error in the expression but where the .exe tester finds an error in the same expression – Not sure of the reason for this yet or whether this behavior is related to the match/non-match difference or the size limitations in the .exe version.

Download this Document here

Written by Jordan Webb © 2016-2017

I will assume you’ve looked at Primer #01 first. Otherwise many of the steps done here might not make a lot of sense.

I maintain the majority my MailWasherPro filters in an Excel spreadsheet. The older filters were entered and maintained manually. At some point, I will probably re-visit the older filters to determine if any optimizations are possible.

Since I’ve started developing and using the newer Regular Expression filters that check the header, MailWasher Pro is detecting and deleting between 80% and 90% of the bad guys that get by the spam filter checking on the Mail Servers. My automated and semi-automated Regular Expressions have made life much easier. Designing and documenting what I’ve done has taken some time, but I’m delighted to not have to see most bad guys (spam) after MailWasher Pro detects and deletes them.

I’m happy to share what I’ve learned with the MailWasherPro community and I’m happy to receive feedback on what I’m sharing.

1. Another more complex use of RegularExpressions is to deal with a huge number of “fake” domain suffixes that are being used to send out messages. Examples:

   • [email protected]

   • [email protected]

   • [email protected]

   • [email protected] (this is a legitimate suffix, but it’s usually spam)

   • [email protected]

   • Filter looks like this:

     Header	Contains	RegEx	[.](men|stream|party|date|faith|bid|cricket|xyz|win|moscow|pro)[>)/]

   • The brackets at the beginning [.] indicate to look for a period at the start of the sub-string before the “things”

   • The () parentheses indicate the groups of “things” to look for

   • The | (pipe character) separates different “things” to look for

   • The brackets at the end of the substring [>)/] indicates to look for one of these three characters at the end of the sub-string - reason: in a header, an email address appears several times and is followed immediately by one of these three characters where it occurs. We want to find only instances where the “things” in the header are preceded by a period and followed by one of these three characters.

   • You can check for valid domain suffixes at: http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/num/domains.htm

     • I note above that .pro is valid, but it is not widely in use yet

2. Another more complex use of RegularExpressions is to deal with a large number of emails from Dr. Oz where the header data specifies various combinations for Dr. Oz.

   • Examples:

     • dr oz
     • doctor oz
     • d0ct0r oz
     • etc.

   • The Filter looks like this:

     Header	Contains	RegEx	(dr[-_. ]*(o|0)z|d(o|0)ct(o|0)r[-_. ]*(o|0)z)[ ]*

   • The first set of () parentheses indicate sub groups of “things” to look for

     • The first set looks for all the variants of “dr”

   • The first set of brackets [-_. ] indicates to look in the first sub group for separators such as:

     • dr-
     • dr_
     • dr.

   • The asterisk following the right bracket [-_. ]* provides for the case where the dr oz string has no separator

     • dr

   • The first inner set of () parentheses indicate sub groups of “things” to look for

     • The pipe | looks for all the variants of “o” – either:
       • o
       • 0

   • The above combination with the letter “z” following the right parentheses indicates the search for :

     • oz
     • Oz

   • So the entire expression within the first parentheses indicates a search for all variants of dr oz including:

     • dr-oz
     • dr_oz
     • dr.oz
     • dr oz
     • droz
     • dr-Oz
     • dr_Oz
     • dr.Oz
     • dr Oz
     • drOz

   • The next pipe character | followed by a second set of parentheses indicates a similar search for variants of “doctor oz” including the search for all variants such as:

     • doctor-oz
     • doctor_oz
     • doctor.oz
     • doctor oz
     • doctoroz
     • d0ctor-oz
     • doct0r_0z
     • d0ct0r oz
     • d0ct0r0z
     • doct0r.0z
     • and all other possible variants of the 0 for o substitution, with and without separators

   • At the end of the second sub-string , the brackets with the space and followed by an asterisk [ ]* indicate to look for zero or more spaces following the string.

   • NOTE: This rule could have been optimized further since the checking for dr or doctor is always followed by the checking for oz. So the simple check could group the “dr” and “doctor” checks together and have only a single check for “oz”. This optimized version of the rule also accounts for the substitution of a “2” for a “z”.

   • Filter looks like this:

     Header	Contains	RegEx	(dr|d[o0]ct[o0]r)[-_. ]*[o0][z2][ ]*

3. When you have a series of compound 2-word phrases that are commonly found in tandem and you find multiple instances and combinations of these phrases being used, a rule to catch these phrases would be look something like this:

   • The first word of the phrase is commonly:
     • Asian
     • Russian
     • Baltic
     • Filipina
     • Korean
     • Etc.
   • The second word of the phrase is commonly:
     • Women
     • Escort
     • Bride
     • Honey
     • Lady
     • Etc.
   • So some combinations of the above would be
     • Asian women
     • Asian escort
     • Asian bride
     • Asian honey
     • Asian lady
     • Asian-women
     • Asian_women
     • Asian.women
     • Asianwomen
     • Filipina bride
     • Korean_honey
     • Baltic.spouse
     • European companion
     • Etc.
   • These phrases can be collected in a filter and updated as needed
   • The filter looks like this:

   Header	Contains	RegEx	((asian|russian|baltic|korean|latin|chinese|ukrainian|asia|filipina|filipino|cambodian|vietnamese|ethnic|european)[-_. ]*(Ladi|lady|girl|women|escort|chick|broad|beaut|mate|honey|woman|bride|whore|soulmate|elegant|young|single|wife|spouse|companion))

4. Where you can really optimize your use of Regular Expressions as filters is to use them in tandem with an MS-Excel spreadsheet, where you can write formulas to create the regular expression strings. Once you’ve perfected this, you don’t have to remember how it’s done as Excel does all the work for you. You just edit the formulas and copy/paste the results.

   • When you have a series of compound multi-word phrases that are commonly found in tandem and you find multiple instances and combinations of these phrases being used. This Example uses 5 instances of these phrases. The final generated Regular Expression (in Column G) will check all possible combinations for a total of 125 instances, with separators [-_. ] and without. The phrases do not need to have equal numbers of entries on each side:

     • Type/paste the first part of the phrase into Column A:
       • amazon
       • burger king
       • macys
       • macy's
       • outback steakhouse

   • Type/paste the second part of the phrase into Column D:

     • reward
     • account
     • gift card
     • voucher
     • party planner

   • Let Excel do the work of creating the regular expressions

     • Column A contains the text of the first phrase
     • Column B contains a pipe separator character if Column A is non-blank
     • Column C contains a Regular Expression filter generated by an Excel formula using Columns B and A
     • Column D contains the text of the second phrase
     • Column E contains a pipe separator character if Column D is non-blank
     • Column F contains a Regular Expression filter generated by an Excel formula using Columns E and D
     • Column G contains a concatenated Regular Expression filter from the separate filters in Columns C & F.

   • You setup the formulas once and allow for the number of phrases that you determine – I started out with 35 and then found that I had to go to 70 for each phrase.

   • This example provides for 5 rows of data for each part of the compound phrase. Take care to use the correct cell addresses in Columns C and F and when expanding the formulas.

   • The Column G value is the regular expression to be pasted into a MWP filter

     Column A	Row 1	Amazon
     	Row 2	Burger King
     	Row 3	Macy
     	Row 4	Macy's
     	Row 5	Outback steakhouse
     	Etc.

     Column B	Row 1	=IF(ROW(A1)=1,"|",IF(A2=A1,"*","|"))
     	Row 2	=IF(ROW(A2)=1,"|",IF(A3=A2,"*","|"))
     	Row 3	=IF(ROW(A3)=1,"|",IF(A4=A3,"*","|"))
     	Row 4	=IF(ROW(A4)=1,"|",IF(A5=A4,"*","|"))
     	Row 5	=IF(ROW(A5)=1,"|",IF(A6=A5,"*","|"))
     	Etc.

     Column C	Row 1 Formula	=IF(B1="|",B1&SUBSTITUTE(A1," ","[-_. ]*"),"")&IF(B2="|",B2&SUBSTITUTE(A2," ","[-_. ]*"),"")&IF(B3="|",B3&SUBSTITUTE(A3," ","[-_. ]*"),"")&IF(B4="|",B4&SUBSTITUTE(A4," ","[-_. ]*"),"")&IF(B5="|",B5&SUBSTITUTE(A5," ","[-_. ]*"),"")
     	Row 1 Value	|Amazon|Burger[-_. ]*king|Macys|Macy’s|Outback[-_. ]*steakhouse

     Column D	Row 1	Reward
     	Row 2	Account
     	Row 3	Gift Card
     	Row 4	Voucher
     	Row 5	Party Planner
     	Etc.

     Column E	Row 1	=IF(ROW(D1)=1,"|",IF(D2=D1,"*","|"))
     	Row 2	=IF(ROW(D2)=1,"|",IF(D3=D2,"*","|"))
     	Row 3	=IF(ROW(D3)=1,"|",IF(D4=D3,"*","|"))
     	Row 4	=IF(ROW(D4)=1,"|",IF(D5=D4,"*","|"))
     	Row 5	=IF(ROW(D5)=1,"|",IF(D6=D5,"*","|"))
     	Etc.

     Column F	Row 1 Formula	=IF(B1="|",B1&SUBSTITUTE(A1," ","[-_. ]*"),"")&IF(B2="|",B2&SUBSTITUTE(A2," ","[-_. ]*"),"")&IF(B3="|",B3&SUBSTITUTE(A3," ","[-_. ]*"),"")&IF(B4="|",B4&SUBSTITUTE(A4," ","[-_. ]*"),"")&IF(B5="|",B5&SUBSTITUTE(A5," ","[-_. ]*"),"")
     	Row 1 Value	|Reward|Account|Gift[-_. ]*card|Voucher|Party[-_. ]*planner

     Column G	Row 1 Formula	="("&MID(C1,2,1000)&")[-_. ]*("&MID(F1,2,1000)&")"
     	Row 1 Value	(Amazon|Burger[-_. ]*king|Macys|Macy’s|Outback[-_. ]*steakhouse)[-_.]*(Reward|Account|Gift[-_. ]*card|Voucher|Party[-_. ]*planner)

   • The filter looks like this:

5. Another area where you can really optimize your use of Regular Expressions as filters with an MS-Excel spreadsheet is to simply collect the phrases that spammers use with the separators and use them in a spam filter.

   • Spammers use their well-worn phrases (single-word and multiple word phrases) and sometimes use separators to entice us to develop simple filters that might miss their creative iterations.

   • So stay ahead of the game and when you see enough of those emails with certain phrases show, then add their new creations to the filter(s).

     • For Example phrases like:
     • Weight loss secret
     • Water Filtration System
     • Virtual reality [anything]
     • Hearing loss reversed
     • Hearing loss treatment
     • Toe Nail Infection
     • Wife walked in
     • Wife out of control
     • Girlfriend walked in
     • Etc.

   • Plug these into a simple spreadsheet (Columns A, B, C)

     • Where Colum A contains the text part of the phrase (simple and complex)
     • Column B contains a pipe separator character if Column A is non-blank
     • Column C contains a concatenated Regular Expression filter from the separate Rows 1 through n, where n is your maximum

   • Again, I’ll use 5 rows as an example. I’ve expanded this up to 70 rows for my own use.

   • Use the same procedure as the compound element test, but only Columns A, B & C and past the results from Column C into the filter

     • NOTE: if it is the first instance of a new filter, you need to enclose the results in parentheses and remove the leading pipe |. Remember this!!!!
     • For all subsequent pastes to this filter, go to the end of the filter string, backspace once to position the cursor to the left of the closing right parenthesis “)”, then past the resultant string into the filter.

     Column A	Row 1	Brain enhancer
     	Row 2	(Virtual reality|vr) (goggles|box|glasses|headset)
     	Row 3	(weight|Hearing) loss (treatment|control)
     	Row 4	Toe nail infection
     	Row 5	(wife|girlfriend) (walked in|out of control)
     	Etc.

     Column B	Row 1	=IF(ROW(A1)=1,"|",IF(A2=A1,"*","|"))
     	Row 2	=IF(ROW(A2)=1,"|",IF(A3=A2,"*","|"))
     	Row 3	=IF(ROW(A3)=1,"|",IF(A4=A3,"*","|"))
     	Row 4	=IF(ROW(A4)=1,"|",IF(A5=A4,"*","|"))
     	Row 5	=IF(ROW(A5)=1,"|",IF(A6=A5,"*","|"))
     	Etc.

     Column C	Row 1 Formula	=IF(B1="|",B1&SUBSTITUTE(A1," ","[-_. ]"),"")&IF(B2="|",B2&SUBSTITUTE(A2," ","[-. ]"),"")&IF(B3="|",B3&SUBSTITUTE(A3," ","[-. ]"),"")&IF(B4="|",B4&SUBSTITUTE(A4," ","[-. ]"),"")&IF(B5="|",B5&SUBSTITUTE(A5," ","[-. ]*"),"")
     	Row 1 Value	|Brain[-_. ]*enhancer|(Virtual[-_. ]*reality|vr)[-_. ]*(goggles|box|glasses|headset)|(weight|Hearing)[-_. ]*loss[-_. ]*(treatment|control)|Toe[-_. ]*nail[-_. ]*infection|(wife|girlfriend)[-_. ]*(walked[-_. ]*in|out[-_. ]*of[-_. ]*control)

   • The filter looks like this: NOTE: if it is the first instance of a new filter, you need to enclose the results in parentheses and remove the leading pipe |. Remember this!!!!

     Header	Contains	RegEx	(Brain[-_. ]*enhancer|(Virtual[-_. ]*reality|vr)[-_. ]*(goggles|box|glasses|headset)|(weight|Hearing)[-_. ]*loss[-_. ]*(treatment|control)|Toe[-_. ]*nail[-_. ]*infection|(wife|girlfriend)[-_. ]*(walked[-_. ]*in|out[-_. ]*of[-_. ]*control))

   • NOTE: If this is not the first instance of a new filter, go to the end of the filter string, backspace once to position the cursor to the left of the closing right parenthesis “)”, then paste the string into the filter.

     Header	Contains	RegEx	(Hire Offshore Developer|Red pottery pot terracotta|TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian|Compare Medicare Plans|Research studies may offer payment|New Fat Burner|CVS by Storm|Penny Pot Stock|Roof is covered|Revolutionary Non-Stick|Scratch Resistant Pan|Medicare Enrollment Period|Election Sale|Become a Wall Street Journal Member|Dear in Christ|Chronic Constipation|Best-boost for you|your loving gun|Borrow from a trusted|crafty psychological trick|3 Things Jesus Said|About How to Cure Disease)|(Brain[-_. ]*enhancer|(Virtual[-_. ]*reality|vr)[-_. ]*(goggles|box|glasses|headset)|(weight|Hearing)[-_. ]*loss[-_. ]*(treatment|control)|Toe[-_. ]*nail[-_. ]*infection|(wife|girlfriend)[-_. ]*(walked[-_. ]*in|out[-_. ]*of[-_. ]*control))

See this Document here

Follow these steps to upgrade your version of MailWasher:

1. MailWasher will automatically check for new updates and prompt you to download and install them, or you can manually update by going to Help >> Check for Updates.
2. Update options can be found at Settings >> General >> Updates, and allows you to set the frequency of update checking.
3. During the update process, MailWasher will shutdown, uninstall itself and keep your settings, then install the new version and run it.

If you have reformatted your PC, follow the steps below to reinstall your registered version of MailWasher.

Download MailWasher, double click the icon to run the installation file and follow the wizard to complete the installation. Enter your license key after pressing 'register'.

If you have purchased a new PC and wish to transfer MailWasher from another computer, there are a couple of options.

1. Export your settings by going to MailWasher >> File >> Export. This will save a file with all your settings. Take this file to your new computer and import the settings via MailWasher >> File >> Import

   Or

2. Manually copy across

You'll need to copy the folders and files at Help >> User Files, over to your new computer in the same location.

The easiest way to do this is to first copy the MailWasher folders and files at Help >> User Files to a thumb drive or CD on your old computer. Then make sure you have installed MailWasher Pro on your new computer and go to Help >> User Files. This will open the new folder. Now close MailWasher (if it's still sitting in the system tray, right mouse click on the Mailwasher icon and click Exit) , then copy the existing files to the new location. Re-open MailWasher and all your settings will have been transferred.

This copying of files may take some time depending on how large the files are, so you may just want to copy all the files in this folder and ignore the sub-folders 'cache', 'logs' etc.

Backups

To create a Backup, point your backup program to the location of the folder at Help >> User Files.

There are a number of different sources of help in MailWasher Pro. In addition to this help file you can also access tutorials, the online user forum and Firetrust support.

To get started, your main source of information should be the help file. We have designed it to provide all the information you will need to use MailWasher Pro.

Before contacting support, take a look through this help file and the online user forum.

Displaying the help

The quickest way to display the help is to press F1. Most of the settings screens also contain context-sensitive help, which if available will be displayed automatically when you move the mouse over a setting.

Using the user forum

The online user forum is a huge resource which contains a lot of questions and answers from Firetrust staff and thousands of users. The forum is located at forum.firetrust.com

Contacting Firetrust support

Direct email support is available from the Firetrust support team at [email protected]

Tutorials

You'll find several tutorials inside this help file.

MailWasher Mobile lets you screen all your email at the server, so you can quickly remove any unwanted email easily. The end result is you're left with only the good email you want in your email program.

Comprehensive anti spam filters are used, along with a Friends list and Blacklists to help identify spam and good emails.

MailWasher Mobile can be downloaded from these links.

• Apple iPhone/iPad: iTunes Appstore
• Android phones and tablets: Google Play Store
• Windows Phone: WP8 Store

When you first start MailWasher you will need to create a Firetrust Login. This ensures you can sync your settings from MailWasher Pro to all of your mobile devices.

1. First create a Firetrust Login by pressing the Create Login button.

2. Enter your email address and a Password.

   You will now be logged in to MailWasher Mobile.

3. Next you will be prompted to add your email account information. The setup wizard asks you for:

   • An Account description/name - This is just for your info. Eg. Home, Work, GMail, Hotmail etc
   • Email address - Enter your email address for this account
   • Email account password - Enter the email address password for your email account

The setup wizard will attempt to setup your email account automatically from this information, and if successful you will be shown the emails in that email account. If unsuccessful, you will be prompted to enter the rest of the email account information so MailWasher can successfully login to your email account for you.

Using MailWasher is simple. When you first view your email, MailWasher shows you a summary listing of your emails with a TRASH CAN icon which is used to mark the message for deletion when tapped. If you tap a message elsewhere, the entire message is displayed. Press the WASH button to remove the unwanted emails checked with the Trash Icon. Those unwanted emails are instantly removed from the server, so you are only left with the emails you want when you go to your email program.

You can add email senders to the Friends list or Blacklist by swiping across an email, and then clicking the person icon for the Friends list, and the blocked icon for the Blacklist. The next time an email arrives from this sender, the email will be marked Green if on the Friends list, or Red with it checked with the TRASH icon if it's in the Blacklist.

To switch between your email accounts, just tap on the Account Name, and you will be presented with a list of your email accounts if you have more than one. The corresponding new message count also appears next to each email account. To view all your email accounts on the same screen, press the ALL Accounts button.

Common Actions

• Pull down - Refresh/Check for new messages
• Swipe across - Add/Remove email to/from Friendslist/Blacklist
• Tap the TRASH CAN icon - Marks the message to be deleted
• Tap an email - Shows the full text of the email
• Tap WASH button - Deletes any emails marked by the TRASH icon
• Tap the account name - Shows your email accounts to select, or to view ALL email accounts in the same screen
• Tap the COG wheel - Takes you to the settings screens

Q: I cannot get my GMail email account to work

A: Gmail has probably blocked your account from being used with MailWasher Mobile, so visit https://myaccount.google.com/ then go to 'Recent Activity' to unblock the app. Also creating an application specific password should help https://support.google.com/mail/answer/1173270?hl=en. For new Gmail email accounts, Google prefers to authenticate your identity via a new method where your username and password are not used. For now, you'll need to enable Gmail for use with less secure apps at https://www.google.com/settings/security/lesssecureapps It's not any less secure but lets you use your email address and password to login as you've always done.

Also, please check your GMail account via your web browser. If you get an email which mentions 'Suspicious signin prevented' in your Gmail account, then it's because you've tried to enter your email account in to MailWasher and because it's hosted at a different location than you normally login with, Google asks you to verify that this sign-in is in fact legitimate. Just follow the instructions in the email from Google to verify this.

Q: I cannot get my Outlook.com email account to work

A: If you log in to Outlook.com, then go to the Settings (the gear icon) >> Options, then to 'Connect devices and apps with POP' and enable POP.

Can you also visit this page http://www.microsoft.com/en-nz/Account/Security/recentactivity.aspx and look at your recent activity to see if there's anything there which needs attention, such as a security warning or wrong password. If you see unusual activity in the US at Amazon, that is our servers.

Q: How do I sync from MailWasher Pro to MailWasher Mobile?

A: First, go to MailWasher Pro >> Settings >> Sync, then click the 'Create Login' button to create a Firetrust Login. A Firetrust Login is your unique login (consisting of an email address and password you create) which lets you login with any of your mobile devices. You can then instantly access your email accounts, and settings and they'll all be in sync. Once you setup your Firetrust Login, then you can start adding your email accounts, or to make it easier, just setup your Firetrust Login in MailWasher Pro (Settings >> Sync) and sync all your email accounts and settings from there.

Then Click on the 'Mobile' Sync Option and select which email accounts and friends and blacklist to sync. Then hit the 'Sync' button.

Then go to the MailWasher app on your phone and login with your Firetrust Login, and you'll find all your info setup already on the phone.

Q: Does MailWasher support IMAP and POP3?

A: Yes it supports IMAP and POP type email accounts.

Q: How many email accounts can I add?

A: You can add all your email accounts.

Q: Why does the new message count seem incorrect?

A: The answer is due to timing. Because MailWasher Mobile is a server side app, then it's only checking every 15 minutes, except: (a). When you setup an account, or login, it will check for new email. (b). When you're using the app, it will check every 3 minutes.

Q: Why do I have to create a Firetrust Login?

A: A Firetrust Login is your unique login (consisting of a username and password you create) which lets you login with any of your mobile devices. You can then instantly access your email accounts, and settings and they'll all be in sync. Once you setup your Firetrust Login, then you can start adding your email accounts, or to make it easier, just setup your Firetrust Login in MailWasher Pro (Settings >> Sync) and sync all your email accounts and settings from there.