Topic: Should I delete Spam Assassin

[k_graham]

Installed Jespers update of Clam antivirus and SpamAssassin. Upgrade to 6.01-1 version from New Zealand.

Clam Antivirus works perfectly using following system.

Turned off warnings to virus senders as was getting bounces. Set up separate user called Virusmail and have all warnings go there, which indicates is working. I delete warnings every few days. I should set a cron job that actually deletes the files that build up as I never try to retrieve the virus infected file anyway but havent done that yet.

I would like SpamAssassin to work similar to above.

I have a junk folder under my name and Spam Assassin turned on. Unfortunately regular mail now goes there not marked SPAM and marked SPAM goes their. How can I have only Marked SPAM go there. Mail also goes to my inbox but it is usually SPAM as well.

The only benefit is that some mail is marked SPAM but as it is mixed in with regular unmarked mail in the junk file folder it is pretty much useless.

Any cure for this or should I give up on Spam Assassin.


Thanks, Ken

[raem]

Make these simple adjustments to your system using smtpfront-qmail and you will receive virtually NO virus infected attachments and signficantly reduced spam messages. I don't run spamassasssin now and the amount of junk email is quite tolerable.

You should still keep clamav installed though, to catch newer viruses.

See

http://mirror.contribs.org/smeserver/contribs/rmitchell/smeserver/howto/Spam%20blocking%20HOWTO%20using%20smtpfront-qmail%20for%20sme%20server.htm

and

http://mirror.contribs.org/smeserver/contribs/rmitchell/smeserver/howto/Virus%20and%20file%20blocking%20HOWTO%20using%20smtpfront-qmail%20for%20sme%20server.htm

Regs
Ray

[patrickthickey]

Ray, as a digression I can report the use of the RBL spamhaus.org "combo address" resulted in a 75% reduction of SPAM to my site. My domain has been live since 1993 so it is reasonably well known as an address to be targeted     My 6.01 server is a server only as I use a hardware firewall.

My only problem with SpamAssassin, which I do use, has been the amount of tweaking necessary to really make it work properly. The GUI is a stab at making it easy but overall the "learning" abilities are not optimized, neither are the settings for thresholds. In order to really make it work efficiently there need to be some "signatures" included as well as a much more granular approach to what is tagged as SPAM and what is deleted, which in turn allows the Bayes filters to learn to a higher degree.

I think there is a misunderstanding that the Bayes filters "learn" in some exotic, mystical way. They do not, but they respond incredibly well to specific tuning.

Out of the box, the excellent "SA for dummies" contrib only gets things to a point, then the SPAM remains at a constant level. Editing .procmail results in much more finely tuned learning. The Bayes filters are really capable of granularity. Unfortunately, they also require more tuning than an out-of-the-box contrib- as herioc as it is! I am not criticizing the SA contrib in any way, just saying if some of you are not overjoyed, it is due to the implementation not being complete.

I would say, in general, the use of mailfront contrib in conjunction with something like Thunderbird's built-in Bayes system would cover over 95% of the SPAM quite easily. Thus, to offload the CPU on the server, it may well be a better idea to not use SA unless you invest the time to learn about it and really fine tune it.

Digression: the most powerful use of SpamAssassin, in addition to other really useful features, can be found at  http://www.barracuda.com.  I've never seen a box do a better job at blocking SPAM, ever. I have no relationship with these people at all other than installing one of their boxes at work and becoming a hero to the user base.

regards,

patrick

[k_graham]

My only problem with SpamAssassin, which I do use, has been the amount of tweaking necessary to really make it work properly. The GUI is a stab at making it easy but overall the "learning" abilities are not optimized, neither are the settings for thresholds. In order to really make it work efficiently there need to be I think there is a misunderstanding that the Bayes filters "learn" in some exotic, mystical way. They do not, but they respond incredibly well to specific tuning.
patrick

Tweaking aside, have you been able to get Spamassasin to only put marked spam messages in the junk mail folder,

Once I can get separation of assumed Junk from the rest then I will worry about tweaking.

In the meantime I will install a list as a 75% reduction in Spam would be a good starting point.

Ken

[patrickthickey]

SA has always properly deposited messages above the low threshold, into the junkmail folder. That is, on a clean build of 6.01.

Yes, install the mailfront RBL list and utilize one approrpiate to your needs. Some are more conservative than others. I use the list provided by spamhaus.org and have yet to miss any mail.

tweaking aside,

patrick

[k_graham]

SA has always properly deposited messages above the low threshold, into the junkmail folder. That is, on a clean build of 6.01.

Yes, install the mailfront RBL list and utilize one approrpiate to your needs. Some are more conservative than others. I use the list provided by spamhaus.org and have yet to miss any mail.
patrick

I installed the same spamhaus.org list this morning and would say spam dropped by 90% today. So at least I have breathing room to figure out whats so wrong with SpamAssassin. According to the panel it is configured to add the word SPAM and it does on some but yet it also puts regular emails in the junk folder without the word SPAM. It seems to me anything it doesn't add the word SPAM to should go to my inbox. This way I just need to check the junkfolder and if it is all junk I can delete it or raise the level or lower as desired.

Anyone can help on this appreciated, otherwise I can certainly see why people simple remove it.

Ken

[d6hq]

We utilise the mailfront RBL checking mechanism along with SA on a server only 6.01 (in a dmz behind a commercial firewall) which acts as a relay to another SME box (also in dmz) which runs clam and handles the mail delivery either locally or on a forwarded basis.

In this way the front end server's only task is to do the RBL check, stamp any spam as such and pass it on - there is no procmail involved so things are generally cleaner and simpler. Having run without the RBL for a period can concur that adding it (spamhaus.org) has seen a 80+% drop in spam generally.

[Lada]

what kind of sport is this? i ve never heard about it and never seen it...
I like - football, tennis, http://www.buy-development-tool.narod.ru figure skating, extreme sports
Dislike - hockey, basketball, car racing, box and all the rest

[stancol]

Speaking of Spam it looks like the form has been spammed. What do sports have to do with spam?

I like the contrib that lets you install ASSP.

http://no.longer.valid/phpwiki/index.php/ASSP%20Anti-SPAM%20HOWTO

After I got it installed and it was running ok I nailed 99% of all spam.

[azche24]

I like the contrib that lets you install ASSP.

After I got it installed and it was running ok I nailed 99% of all spam.

ASSP is good   but the howto's are completely outdated.

If you install ASSP, the you should use the contrib by darrel may
 http://mirror.contribs.org/smeserver/contribs/dmay/mitel/contrib/assp/

and update to the 1.x.10 version.

But Assp blocks almost everything and therefore needs some training and lots of similar mail-traffic to work properly.

OK; i confess: After 2 weeks of hard training in our 10 person office and activating assp i have never seen spam again.  

ASSP even blocks attachments. So CLAMAV has nothing to do now. Only some html-exploits come in and are sorted down to the assp-folder; so nice

[cos]

Hi

I just installed Spam blocking HOWTO using smtpfront-qmail for sme server
Release supported: sme 6.0, by Author: Ray Mitchell -

It's working well but getting some junk from 10-12 addresses so is there any Web Pannel to install to configure these known address or how to block these.i'm new to this. Thanks

[k_graham]

I have a junk folder under my name and Spam Assassin turned on. Unfortunately regular mail now goes there not marked SPAM and marked SPAM goes their. How can I have only Marked SPAM go there. Mail also goes to my inbox but it is usually SPAM as well.

The only benefit is that some mail is marked SPAM but as it is mixed in with regular unmarked mail in the junk file folder it is pretty much useless.

Any cure for this or should I give up on Spam Assassin.

I think I found the reason SPAM was not going properly to junk mail folder see
http://dc.communityprinters.com/smeserver/MakingSpamAssassinWork.htm

Main thing was I was trying to have Proc mail sort [SPAM and apparently thats illegal but sorting SPAM is not.

[rexgaylord]

There isn't anything at http://dc.communityprinters.com/smeserver/MakingSpamAssassinWork.htm

[k_graham]

There isn't anything at http://dc.communityprinters.com/smeserver/MakingSpamAssassinWork.htm

It should be their now it got left out in a hard-drive swap.

Just in case I have added it below this line as well.

 

Spam Assassin doesn't work properly for you

Files marked SPAM are in your inbox or regular files are in your junkmail.

I had the above problems even with Jespers install of Spam Assassin and couldn't understand what I was doing wrong. However on a re-install I noticed a couple items that could be the difference.

1)  in server manager | Security  User Panel Access Global setting I noticed both user panel-procmail and user panel-procmail.org . The .org one is simpler but I suggest turning on the more complicated one. ( This may not be there if you did a upgrade from 5.6 and in that case just make sure you do not search on the left bracket [.

2)  Then set up each user by going to https://yourdomain/user-panel your domain to be replaced by your domain or ip number and it has to be with https.

3)  Previously I had searched on [SPAM and told this to go to junkmail folder but with this user panel I was told this was illegal and so had to enter only SPAM. Previously I had not got the warning of this being illegal so was including the left bracket [ .

4)  Of course SPAM assassin must be turned on in https://yourdomain/server-manager and set to your desired tolerance level and the word SPAM must be added to your message subject for it to filter on the word

 
I also highly recommend using the Spam Blocking Howto and Virus and file blocking HOWTo as this will eliminate 80% of Spam using Spamhaus list and virtually all email viruses so Clam.av has next to nothing to do.

 

Ken Graham

[k_graham]

There isn't anything at http://dc.communityprinters.com/smeserver/MakingSpamAssassinWork.htm

It should be their now it got left out in a hard-drive swap.

Just in case I have added it below this line as well.

 

Spam Assassin doesn't work properly for you

Files marked SPAM are in your inbox or regular files are in your junkmail.

I had the above problems even with Jespers install of Spam Assassin and couldn't understand what I was doing wrong. However on a re-install I noticed a couple items that could be the difference.

1)  in server manager | Security  User Panel Access Global setting I noticed both user panel-procmail and user panel-procmail.org . The .org one is simpler but I suggest turning on the more complicated one. ( This may not be there if you did a upgrade from 5.6 and in that case just make sure you do not search on the left bracket [.

2)  Then set up each user by going to https://yourdomain/user-panel your domain to be replaced by your domain or ip number and it has to be with https.

3)  Previously I had searched on [SPAM and told this to go to junkmail folder but with this user panel I was told this was illegal and so had to enter only SPAM. Previously I had not got the warning of this being illegal so was including the left bracket [ .

4)  Of course SPAM assassin must be turned on in https://yourdomain/server-manager and set to your desired tolerance level and the word SPAM must be added to your message subject for it to filter on the word

 
I also highly recommend using the Spam Blocking Howto and Virus and file blocking HOWTo as this will eliminate 80% of Spam using Spamhaus list and virtually all email viruses so Clam.av has next to nothing to do.

 

Ken Graham