MailWasher Pro - Quick Start Guide
Using MailWasher is essentially a three step process.
- Check Mail
- Mark unwanted email for delete/training
- 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.
Download
Download MailWasher Pro from here.
Install
Double click on the downloaded file and the installation will begin. It is a very easy installation and when finished will ask if you want to start the program file. If you click ok, MailWasher will start and ask if you want to import your existing email account or manually add one. Once this is done, MailWasher will check that account for email.
Note: If you have all Windows updates installed for Windows XP and Vista, the installation will be seamless. Otherwise you may be prompted to install .Net 4
When you run MailWasher for the first time, the Setup Wizard is displayed which will attempt to import your email account settings and configure MailWasher for first use.
Any email accounts found are displayed for you to select to import.
Select which email account(s) you wish to import by checking the checkbox associated with it and click Next.
The checked/selected email accounts will be imported in to MailWasher. If no email accounts are detected, you will be taken to manually setup your email account.
MailWasher will also recognize contacts lists from your email program and prompt to import them to make up your Friends List.
Click Next
You'll be prompted to select the default email program you use.
The final step asks you to turn off automatic checking in your email program so MailWasher can check the email without conflicts. See turning off automatic checking to see how to do this. This must be completed to enable MailWasher to check your messages before they are downloaded by your email program and deleted from the server.
Manually adding one of your email accounts to MailWasher is easy.
If MailWasher does not find any existing email accounts on your computer, it will ask you to manually enter your email account information.
Otherwise, Go to the Settings screen>>Accounts
This brings up the Email Account Settings screen to add the relevant information. Enter a description of the email account (Eg. Work or Home) and your email address. Select the check box, Include in default mail check. Click Save.
MailWasher will attempt to automatically add in your email settings, then you only need to enter your password. Click Save
If your settings are not automatically added, please consult your internet service provider or your email program for the correct settings.
The final step is to add your outgoing mail server address, otherwise known as the SMTP Server Address.
Please consult your internet service provider or your email program for the correct SMTP settings. Click OK to finish.
Next, please turn off automatic checking in your email program so MailWasher can check your email independently.
Use the instructions provided in the link below, which are for the most common email programs, to disable the automatic checking of emails. This must be completed to enable MailWasher to check your messages before they are downloaded by your email program and deleted from the server.
Check Mail
Click Check Mail to instruct MailWasher to check your default email account(s) for new messages. MailWasher then displays the headers of any new messages in the message table. If you have more than one email account you want to check separately, click the down arrow next to the Check Mail button, and select the account you want to check.
Stop
Click Stop to stop downloading messages, and click stop again to stop evaluations of email if applicable.
Wash Mail
Click Wash Mail after you have finished checking your email, to action the requests that you have made. Messages you have marked for deletion are deleted from the message server and any other specified actions are implemented.
Mail Program
Click Mail Program to launch your default email client in a separate window, without closing MailWasher. If your email client is already open, the email client window displays. To change these settings, select Settings > General > Washing Mail > Launch after Mail Wash
The preview pane is located below the message table, and displays a preview of the content of a selected message. This allows you to view the first few lines of a message, before downloading it.
MailWasher previews messages in plain text, as opposed to HTML. HTML can carry viruses and other scripts that can run when viewed. Although HTML is easier to read and better to look at, it is potentially harmful to view HTML messages if you are unsure of where they have come from.
The tabs at the top of the preview pane shows the current message view settings - Plain Text view or View Email Info, along with Quick reply, Quick Forward, Previous, Next, Mark as good, Mark as spam and Mark for Bounce.
To turn the preview pane on or off, select View > Preview pane.
View Email Info link
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.
To view the Filters sidebar, either click View > sidebar or use the shortcut keys of [Ctrl + [F7]].
This section of the main work area comprises of two tabs, Lists and Evaluation
Lists
The Lists section is comprised of
- Friends List
- Blacklist
- Filters
Friends List
The Friends List contains the email addresses of people whom you always want to receive mail from. While other spam tools are used to evaluate the email even when it is termed as a friend, it is given more weight as a legitimate email.
Blacklist
The Blacklist gives you an easy way to banish spammers from your inbox. Once an address is added to your Blacklist, the next time you receive an email from that address, it is automatically marked for deletion (unless the content of the email is good). The Blacklist is an effective tool against email from mailing lists that you may have unwittingly signed up for (or been submitted to) and from companies who take no notice of your unsubscribe requests.
Filters
Filters allow you to define what MailWasher tags as spam like email or legitimate email. You can specify certain words or combinations of words or use Regular Expression filters that automatically trigger a categorization from MailWasher.
Evaluation
The Evaluation section lists all the spam tools used in the evaluation of the email and a score for each. These individual scores are used to make a total score. This total score indicates if the email is spam, good or undetermined.
The bounce feature is a tool which bounces an email back to the sender that indicates your email address no longer exists.
On the preview pane of each email, you'll see a link 'Mark for bounce'. Clicking this link will change the color of the email text to grey, and when you press the 'Wash Mail' button, the message will be bounced back to the sender so they receive a message that your email address does not exist. You can also use the 'B' key on your keyboard to mark an email for bouncing.
If the sender receives your bounced message, they should take you off their email list and not send you any more email. This is more likely to happen for companies who regularly clean their lists, but more often than not, will not work for spammers who mostly use fake email addresses.
MailWasher keeps a copy of each deleted email in the recycle bin so you can search, view and restore email.
To view the Recycle Bin click the Recycle Bin tab or use the keyboard command of [Ctrl + [R]].
By default, deleted emails are shown using todays date. Select the drop down to choose a different period of time and use the search box to narrow down the results.
To set up your options for the Recycle Bin, please see Settings >> Recycle Bin
To restore email, select an email (or multiple emails by clicking and holding down the CTRL key) and press the Restore button.
The restored email will be delivered to your email account for you to download to your email program.
Note: The spam Throttle (Settings >> Checking Mail) has an effect on how much of the original email is restored. If you set the spam throttle to 20 lines, only 20 lines of the original email will be restored. If the spam throttle is set to 200 lines, the first 200 lines of the email will be restored and so on.
MailWasher allows some basic customization to change colors, text size, placements of elements and other changes.
It's easy to change how things look via the Quick Display link at top right.
Zoom
Options to make either the main buttons (Check Mail, Wash Mail, Mail Program) larger or smaller, and make text in the message table larger or smaller for better readability.
Colors
Adjust preset colors for spam, good and undetermined email. The selected and unselected colors are pre-determined.
Brightness
Adjust the opacity of the colors in the message table.
Layout
Choose from preset configurations or customize your own so that you can change the elements and position of the preview pane and buttons.
Grid
Toggle between horizontal or vertical lines in the message table. Toggle between a 3D or flat look for the message table headers. Toggle between showing column headers and toggle between showing the 'Group by' header.
MailWasher makes it easy to search for email in the inbox and the recycle bin. Click the 'Search inbox' on the inbox tab (the search box is enabled by default in the Recycle Bin) to open the search box. As you type entries in to the search box (either From or Subject), found emails are shown in real time.
Note: While the search window is open, you cannot 'Wash Mail'. This prevents mail being deleted when it is not displayed. Click 'Close Search' to enable 'Wash Mail' again.
The event log is used for displaying all events which MailWasher undergoes along with any problems encountered and suggested fixes.
When MailWasher encounters an error such as a problem with an incorrect password, a notification icon will show in the Event Log tab. The error is clearly shown along with a suggested fix.
Sorting your emails in to groups is a handy way to categorize and view related email. For example you could group by your email accounts, or by status (spam, good, or unknown) or combine the two.
Example: Group by columns
Right click on a column and select Group by and your emails will be sorted by that group. Eg. Group by status and now you have all your emails in spam, neutral and good groups. You can expand and collapse these groups to make everything more readable.
Another way to group emails is to go to Quick Display and check Show grouping bar. A grouping bar is shown above the column headers. This lets you group by more than one column and all you need to drag and drop each column in there to group by it.
Another example is you could hide emails you've read by grouping them. First you need to activate the 'read' email column. You do this by right clicking on the column header and selecting 'Read'. The 'Read' column displays and shows which emails you've clicked on and which emails you haven't clicked on. Right click again on the Read column header and Select 'Group by Read'. All your emails will be grouped in to read and unread emails.
MailWasher can be easily translated in to different languages.
By default MailWasher will load the standard English language file first, and if another language is selected under Settings >> General >> Application then MailWasher will load this language file over the top of the English text.
This ensures that all items/fields in MailWasher have some text, in case the selected Language file has some missing translations.
The list of languages available is determined by the Alias.xml file in the Languages sub-folder.
Code: Select all
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
- <LanguageAliases>
<Alias Filename="Language.xml" Display="English (US)" />
<Alias Filename="LanguageUK.xml" Display="Proper English" />
<Alias Filename="LanguageGE.xml" Display="Deutsch" />
<Alias Filename="LanguageFR.xml" Display="Français" />
</LanguageAliases>When you switch languages, MailWasher reads in the text of the new language and outputs any missing strings to the .txt file. This allows anyone translating the software to easily identify areas of the language file that still needs to be translated. MailWasher also writes any missing English strings to the selected XML language file adding the tag Translated=False. This allows you to search the XML file for the Translated=False string to easily find the missing strings, once the string has been translated you can either alter Translated=False to Translated=True or simply remove the text entirely.
Adding New Languages : To add a new Language file into MailWasherPro Beta you need to edit the Alias.xml file found in the Languages subfolder in the data directory to specify the new language, then restart MailWasher and select the new language. MailWasher will then create the new language file and reads in the text of the new language and outputs any missing strings to the .txt file. This allows anyone translating the software to easily identify areas of the language file that still needs to be translated. MailWasher also writes any missing English strings to the selected XML language file adding the tag Translated=False. This allows you to search the XML file for the Translated=False string to easily find the missing strings, once the string has been translated you can remove the text Translated=False entirely.
For example, adding this line to the Alias file
<Alias Filename="LanguageEV.xml" Display="Elvish"/>And following the above steps to restart MailWasher and select the new Language to display, will create a new LanguageEV.xml file which will be a full copy of the default English file, with every string that requires translation carrying the Translated=False tag. Appropriately the LanguageEV.txt will also display corrections required.
Hot keys allow you to use the keyboard to create actions in MailWasher. This can sometimes be faster than using the mouse.
| Key | Description |
|---|---|
| [ARROW UP] | Move up one message |
| [ARROW DOWN] | Move down one message |
| [PAGE UP] | Move up one page |
| [PAGE DOWN] | Move down one page |
| [ESC] | Exits preview |
| [DELETE] | Marks for Delete |
| [D] | Marks for Delete |
| [B] | Marks for Bounce |
| [R] | Marks for Report |
| [+] | Adds to Friend's List |
| [-] | Adds to Blacklist |
| [ENTER] | Preview |
| [SPACE] | Preview |
| [F5] | Check Mail |
| [F6] | Process mail |
| [C] | Clear message list |
| [F7] | Launch email application |
| [F8] | Display Accounts window |
| [CTRL + [F6]] | View Preview pane |
| [CTRL + [F7]] | Show/Hide Friend's and Filter Sidebar |
| [CTRL + [A]] | Select all |
| [CTRL + [S]] | Show Settings window |
| [CTRL + [T]] | Show/Hide Evaluation Sidebar |
| [CTRL + [Shift] + [M]] | Maximise |
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:
Go to spamcop.net and scroll down to Register for the Free Reporting Service. Enter your name or nickname and email address. Press Send Authorization Email to complete the signup process.
Subsequently, SpamCop e-mail sends a confirmation email to the e-mail address you provided. This email contains a username and password. Log in using the username and password you received via mail. 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:
Enter the name of the service (such as SpamCop)
Include the email address you received from the spam service provider.
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.
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.
Click Save
You will return to the previous screen.
Now go back to the MailWasher Inbox. 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. 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.
Hiding emails is useful if you want to hide emails from the preview screen to emphasize other emails.
For example, you can hide all emails from those on your friends list, so only spam and undetermined emails are displayed. This makes it quicker to go through your spam emails. Alternatively, hide emails in the email grid from those addresses on the blacklist, filters, origin of spam or First Alert, so these emails are not shown so as to make it easier to read your legitimate email.
An envelope icon is displayed at the bottom of the preview pane showing how many emails are hidden from the mail grid. This icon can be toggled to show or hide the hidden emails.
Spam tools with the ability to hide emails are:
- Friends list, under options
- Blacklist, under options
- Filters, under the Action tab
- Origin of Spam, under options.
- First Alert!, under options
Each spam tool has the option to only hide the email if the email is not marked for delete, therefore if the email is marked for delete, it will be shown.
Sometimes you just don't want to hear from some people again, spammers or otherwise. Each spam tool in MailWasher has the ability to auto-delete email. Settings » Spam Tools.
There's four ways to achieve this, the first being the easiest.
In each Spam Tool options, you'll see an option to auto-delete. For example, in the Blacklist, go to the Options tab and select Auto delete blacklisted emails. This will automatically delete any email if the sender is on your blacklist. This option also exists for other spam tools such as FirstAlert and Origin of Spam.
Being specific about what emails you want auto deleted: You can set up a filter to mark certain emails or subject lines, or content to have a high spam score. When this score is exceeded, and you have turned on auto delete Settings » Spam Tools » Spam Ratings, the email will be deleted automatically.
Being general about what emails you want deleted, ie. all email addresses in the blacklist: Set the Blacklist to have a high spam rating Settings » Spam Tools » Spam Ratings and turn on auto delete for this high level.
Alternatively, you could create a filter with the action to Auto Delete based on certain criteria. See Program Help » Spam Tools » Using Filters for more information about writing filters.
If you do find you're losing legitimate email, you can always search in the recycle bin and rescue it.
You can sync your MailWasher settings to the mobile version of MailWasher.
MailWasher Mobile
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.
Go to Settings >> Sync
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.
After creating a Firetrust Login, select Mobile on the left.
Select which Email accounts you wish to sync. Select if you would like to sync your Friends and Blacklists.
Press the Sync button.
Login to your mobile device with the same Firetrust Login as created above and all your settings will appear on the mobile device.
