Manual - Cactus Spam Filter
Table of contents
1. Introduction
2. Install and uninstall
3. Starting Cactus Spam Filter
4. Miscellaneous user instructions
5. About the filter
6. Final words
1 Introduction
This manual is intended for Cactus Spam Filter which is free and works on the Windows platform!
2 Install and uninstall
2.1 Install
Just double-click on the downloaded .exe file and follow the instructions.
2.2 Uninstall
Shutdown Cactus Spam Filter and uninstall it through ‘Add/Remove Programs’ under the Control Panel.
3 Starting Cactus Spam Filter
Start it from the Windows Start menu.
4 Miscellaneous user instructions
4.1 This spam blocker works with all POP3 e-mail clients
Cactus Spam Filter has been setup to protect all major e-mail programs, however, if you are using an e-mail client that is not in the list, you will have to add it. Do this by pressing the ‘Add’ button under the ‘Settings’ page. Browse and select the .exe file.
4.2 What to do with e-mail classified as spam
E-mail classified as spam will get a tagged subject, this means that a string (*** CACTUS SPAM ***) will be inserted into the subject line of the e- mail. You can easily set your e-mail client move all incoming spam messages to a special folder. See the e-mail client manual for more details, look for topics on ‘Message Rules’ or ‘Message Filter’, or visit our homepage for instructions.
4.3 Initial training
Cactus Spam Filter offers a feature that will train your filter quickly, instead of having to wait for new e-mails. If you already have a bunch of good and spam e-mails, you can directly train the filter with these e-mails. Here is a step-by-step procedure to do this.
1. If Cactus Spam Filter isn’t running, start it.
2. Click on the ‘Training’ link in the top menu.
3. Click on the ‘Training Folder’ link to open the folder where e-mails are trained on.
4. Open your e-mail program and export all of your e-mails into this folder. If you are unsure of how to do this, please see our homepage.
5. Now click on the ‘Training Arena’ link and train the filter on the e-mails.
4.4 What to do with misclassified e-mails
If the filter accidentally classifies a spam message as a legitimate e-mail, or worse, a legitimate as a spam, it is important to training the filter on those misclassified e-mails. To do this, enter the ‘Training Arena’, find the misclassified e-mails and train them correctly. If you can’t find the messages in the list, please see 4.3 of how to move them there form your e-mail client.
4.5 What to do if the filter is performing bad
| What’s wrong | Resolution |
|---|---|
| Spam detection is low. | If the filter has been trained for a while, but doesn’t detect many spam, you may have to change the spam cutoff value. You do this in the ‘Training Arena’. Try to lower the spam cutoff probability. A common reason for this problem is when the filter is trained on much more spam than good e-mails (e.g. 100 good and 2000 spam). If this is the case try to train it on more good e-mails as well. |
| Too many good e-mails are classified as spam. | Try to increase the spam cutoff probability in the ‘Training Arena’. |
| Spam detection is low and good e-mails are classified as spam. | If you have trained to filter on less than 75 good and 75 spam emails you should wait. However, if you have trained the filter on more e-mails a reason for this could be noise in the training data. The solution is to retrain the filter and make sure that all e-mails trains as spam are actual spam and all good are good e-mails. |
5 About the filter
5.1 Learning
At first, the filter will have no knowledge of what’s spam and what’s not spam, and it will learn from your guidance. After a while the filter has developed and will start to make its own decisions.
6 Final words
We hope that you are satisfied with Cactus Spam Filter, please don’t hesitate to contact us with your comments!