Spamihilator uses two filtering-methods to reach maximum spam protection. By default, Spamihilator scans every new e-mail with the Learning Filter. If this method is not able to classify an e-mail, it will be processed by the Spam-Word-Filter.
There are also several plugins which extend Spamihilator.

The Spam-Word-Filter scans new e-mails for common keywords: So called Spam-Words.
The default installation of Spamihilator has many common spam words predefined. Of course you can add custom spam words. Every keyword has a certain spam-probability. If a word is most likely indicating a spam-mail, its probability should have a value of 100%.

While the Spam-Word-Filter only recognizes common spam words, the Learning Filter also recognizes common non-spam-words, which indicate regular e-mails that should not be deleted. Every word has a certain probability. With the rules defined from Thomas Bayes (English mathematician, 18. century) Spamihilator calculates whether an e-mail is spam or not. This filtering method is also called Bayesian Method or Bayesian Filter.

In addition you can add e-mail addresses to the list of blocked senders. You will find this list in the options dialog.

Usually all e-mails will be downloaded. Messages, that are declared to be spam, will be saved in Spamihilator’s Recycle Bin. You can open it by right-clicking on the Spamihilator icon in your tray. Of course you can undelete messages, view messages and finally delete messages.

Spamihilator takes care of the recycle bin’s content size. Old messages will be deleted automatically.

Yes! The Setup-Wizard automatically configures all accounts. Click on “Start/Programs/Spamihilator/Setup-Wizard” to set up each account.

If the Setup-Wizard doesn’t find one of your accounts you will have to configure it manually. Please read the help files:
http://wiki.spamihilator.com/doku.php?id=en:configclient

Spamihilator only supports POP3 (Post Office Protocol) at this moment. Unfortunately Hotmail and AOL don’t work with POP3.

Spamihilator only supports POP3 (Post Office Protocol) at this moment. You have to configure your Microsoft Exchange-Server to use POP3.

Older versions of Spamihilator (before 0.9.8) do not support SSL. Please disable this feature in your mail client or download the latest program version.

Use the Training Area frequently and mark all messages which are not English as Spam and the other ones as Non-spam. Eventually the program will learn to differentiate between English and other languages and so it will be able to block all foreign mails.

It’s a nice idea to send faked error messages back to the spam sender, so that he might think the respective mail account does not exist or that his own account will get jammed. Unfortunately this is considered counterproductive, for the following reasons:

1. Most spam senders use their mail accounts only once, just to send a few spam mails. After that they delete these accounts. Sending faked error messages would produce further error messages which will be sent back to you.
2. Usually spam senders fake their e-mail addresses or even use the ones of other Internet users. Hence, faked error messages could get into the mailboxes of innocent people!
3. You cannot thoroughly fake an error message. Spam senders could find out that the message is faked and, thus, that there is a real person behind your mail address.

Spamihilator is Freeware and, thus, you can use it on your private computer or on any computer at your company for free. You don’t have to pay anything. You can find more information in the Spamihilator License.

Basically, Spamihilator works with all e-mail clients supporting POP3 or IMAP. The Setup Wizard is able to configure the following programs automatically: Outlook 2000/XP/2003/Express, Eudora, Mozilla Thunderbird, IncrediMail, Pegasus Mail, Phoenix Mail and Opera.

Other mail clients have to be configured manually. Please have a look at the online help.