Version 2.2 of SpamSieve is now available.

This is a free update that includes the following changes:

• Accuracy Improvements
  • SpamSieve is smarter about what text to tokenize, it extracts more information from messages, it’s better at detecting invisible text, and it can undo more spammer obfuscations.
  • The Bayesian classifier can leverage the results of SpamAssassin’s heuristic tests. It also assigns better word probabilities and is better at deciding which parts of the message are important.
  • Messages containing Habeas headers are now checked against the Habeas Whitelist. This protects against spam messages that include Habeas headers in order to get through filters.
  • Removed the Import Seed Spam command, as it would reduce accuracy with recent versions of SpamSieve.
• General Improvements
  • Auto-training is more automatic. There is now a single checkbox to enable auto-training and, if it’s on, SpamSieve will try to do the right thing when it processes new messages. That is, it will train itself using messages of the types that it needs to see more of, and it will prevent the corpus from growing unbalanced or overly large. Also, it will update the whitelist using every incoming good message, so that you can have a complete whitelist without bloating the corpus.
  • The rules and corpus windows now have toolbars, and they support iTunes-style filter-searching.
  • The corpus and rules are now scriptable, and SpamSieve now supports AppleScript Kit terminology.
  • Assorted performance enhancements make SpamSieve faster and improve the responsiveness of its user interface.
  • Added Portuguese localization.
• Blocklist and Whitelist
  • Rules support more match fields: From (name), Any Recipient, Any Address, Any Character Set, and Any Attachment Name.
  • The new Import Addresses… command lets you import blocklist and whitelist rules from text files (e.g. address book exports or mbox files).
  • Added default blocklist rules for .pif and .scr attachments and a default whitelist rule for lists.c-command.com.
  • Rules can now match the empty string, e.g. when there is a subject header, but the subject is blank. They can also match absent headers by matching against, e.g. <SpamSieve-Unknown-Subject>.
  • The Text to Match field now abbreviates using an ellipsis if the text won’t all fit.
• Notification
  • Can make a Griffin PowerMate flash when new good messages arrive.
  • Now supports System 7–format notification sounds as well as Entourage sound sets. In addition to the Library/Sounds folders, SpamSieve will now look for sounds installed with Apple Mail, Entourage, Mailsmith, and PowerMail.
  • Doesn’t play the notification sound if you are using fast user switching and SpamSieve is running in one of the background sessions.
  • Notifications that require dismissal (continuous bouncing, PowerMate flashing) are no longer triggered when SpamSieve or the mail program is already frontmost. Thus, you don’t have to deactivate the mail program and then activate it again to dismiss the notification.
• Apple Mail Integration
  • Sets the colors of spam messages to reflect how spammy they are, making it easier to skim the Spam mailbox for false positives.
  • Protects against Web bugs by telling Mail not to load the images from messages that are classified as spam.
  • The Add Good script is better at moving messages from the Spam folder back to the correct inbox, and it will mark them as unread when it does so.
  • The Add Good and Add Spam now work with Mac OS X 10.3.5.
  • The plug-in will look for SpamSieve in the Applications folder, even if Launch Services is confused and says it can’t find it.
• Entourage Integration
  • The Exclude my addresses switch now also applies to the Entourage address book, to reduce the chances of a forged spam getting through.
  • Added new scripting verb add entourage addresses. This will allow you to keep the Entourage addresses in sync by using an Entourage shutdown schedule.
  • Can automatically add the recipients of the messages you send to the whitelist.
  • Sanity-checks addresses that are loaded from Entourage. For instance, if both the name and the address were entered in Entourage’s address field, SpamSieve will now extract just the address, rather than taking Entourage’s word for it.
  • The Add Good script now works with the Possible Spam folder and marks false positives as unread.
  • Messages can have more than one category, so SpamSieve now adds and removes the Junk category from the message, rather than replacing the category. This means that marking a message as junk doesn’t wipe out other categories on the message.
  • Shows a progress bar while importing Entourage addresses.
• Eudora Integration
  • Removed the option to use the full Eudora junk score range; this setting is now always in effect.
• Mailsmith Integration
  • Can automatically add the recipients of the messages you send to the whitelist.
• PowerMail Integration
  • Can automatically add the recipients of the messages you send to the whitelist.
• Statistics and Log
  • The Statistics window shows the number of blocklist and whitelist rules and the number of spam messages received per day. The date sheet has a Now button that enters the current date and time.
  • The log is now stored in ~/Library/Logs/SpamSieve. The Open Log command now opens the log in Console, so that it’s easier to monitor as it changes. To get the old behavior of opening the log in a text editor, hold down Option and choose Edit Log.
  • If the log file grows larger than 5 MB, SpamSieve compresses it, archives it by date, and starts a new log.
  • When SpamSieve makes a mistake, the log records which classifier made the error and what the message’s score was. The log also now records parse errors and the number of messages in the corpus.
• Fixes and Tweaks
  • SpamSieve can optionally show an alternate, more photo-realistic, icon in the Dock.
  • There is a new mailing list for discussion of SpamSieve.
  • Each tab of the Preferences window now contains a help button that will open the corresponding section of the Apple help.
  • Updated to PCRE 4.5 and SQLite 2.8.15.
  • Fixed bug where SpamSieve could crash when generating a message’s identifier if a system routine failed.
  • Fixed bug in EDMessage that could cause crashes when decoding certain quoted-printable messages.
  • Better handling of 8-bit subjects with no specified encoding.
  • Worked around Panther bug that could cause crashes or drawing artifacts on the desktop by no longer trying to draw on the Dock icon when it’s hidden.
  • Worked around OS bug that prevented certain notification sounds from playing.
  • Fixed bug where the selection was not always preserved when editing blocklist and whitelist rules.
  • The Show Corpus, Show Statistics, and Preferences… commands in the Dock menu now bring SpamSieve to the front.
  • The progress window when exporting the corpus sometimes lagged a bit before closing automatically.
  • Fixed bug where SpamSieve would get confused if you entered the empty string as a date.

For more information, please see the SpamSieve Manual.