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Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

  1. Why does my mail client report a timeout when I get mail?
  2. Why did I receive an error “-ERR: not supported by proxy”?
  3. Why does performance appear to be somewhat slow?
  4. What can I do to improve performance?
  5. What can I do to improve the accuracy of filtering?
  6. Is it possible to update the spam-detecting rules?
  7. SAproxy has suddently started to miss spam. What happened?
  8. Can SAproxy run as a network server?
  9. Can SAproxy run when nobody is logged on to the workstation?
  10. Should I use the included file stunnel.pem or should I create my own?
  11. How to include third-party plugins?
  12. Is the source for SAproxy available?
  13. Can you change certain features of the interface?
Why does my mail client report a timeout when I get mail?

Most likely you are running SAproxy on a Windows 9x/ME system. You should install Razor configuration files, available from my website. If this is not the case, please take the following steps. Close SAproxy, open Command Prompt window, change directory to the folder where SAproxy is installed and enter the following command:

saproxy.exe --debug

Try to get mail. After that send me the file C:\Documents and Settings\{your account}\.spamassassin\pop3proxy.log (Win XP/2000) or C:\.spamassassin\pop3proxy.log (Win ME/98) and I will try to figure out what is wrong.

Why did I receive an error “-ERR: not supported by proxy”?
Your email client has sent either AUTH command or TOP command to the POP3 server. (By default SAproxy does not proxy them because it may cause some email programs to crash). Open Configuration and go to the tab Advanced. Check the option that allows TOP command or (and) the option that allows AUTH command to be proxied. Close the configuration and restart SAproxy.
Why does performance appear to be somewhat slow?
When you get new messages, it takes about 10 seconds to process each message. This is because online tests require SAproxy to contact blacklists (DNSBLs), which experience high traffic and respond slowly. You may disable network tests in the Settings or run SAproxy with --local switch, however, the quality of filtering will drop considerably.
What can I do to improve performance?
You should carefully configure the trusted_networks and whitelist_from parameters in the Settings. Look at the headers of your email and take notice of the Received lines that look similar in all messages. They are probably inserted by the relays of your ISP, therefore, these relays should be excluded from online tests. If the IP address of a relay is, for example, 101.102.103.104, you should add the line
trusted_networks 101.102.103.
Likewise, if all mail from the domain isp.tld can never be spam, you should add the line
whitelist_from *@isp.tld
What can I do to improve the accuracy of filtering?
You can download sa-learn from the project website, which allows you to train the Bayesian classifier manually. The classifier will need at least 200 known spam messages and 200 known nonspam messages in its database in order to kick in.
Is it possible to update the spam-detecting rules?
Yes, but only manually at the moment. You can download sa-update console utility from the project website.
Can SAproxy run as a network server?
Yes, if you start it with the command-line option --listenall. You should also pay attention to the switches --nogui and --localssl which disable GUI interface and force all connections to SAproxy to use SSL. Two major weaknesses of SAproxy as a server are exposure to Internet and increased demand for CPU resources when email volume is high. The former should be addressed by configuring the firewall so that it will block all incoming connections to SAproxy from the outside of the network. The latter means that you probably should consider using the command-line version of SpamAssassin spamc.exe as an external filter of your POP3 mail server instead of SAproxy. The command-line version of SpamAssassin for Win32 is available from the project website.
SAproxy has suddently started to miss spam. What happened?
If you are running SAproxy on Win98/ME system, it is possible that Razor plug-in has stopped working. You should download the new Razor configuration file from my website. If not available, you can do the following: temporarily remove or rename the file C:\.razor\razor-agent.conf, get messages (the mail client will timeout), wait for 15 minutes, restore the file C:\.razor\razor-agent.conf and restart SAproxy.
Can SAproxy run when nobody is logged on to the workstation?
You will need to install SAproxy as a Windows service using tools like NTRunner or Microsoft's instsrv.exe / srvany.exe, see example. The main problem with such installation is that you will not be able to access GUI and if you run SAproxy manually in order to start it with interface, it will automatically kill the instance started as a Windows service. Therefore, after you finish working with GUI, you should quit SAproxy and manually restart its Windows service.
Should I use the included file stunnel.pem or should I create my own?
If you wish to secure all local connections (i.e., run SAproxy with --localssl switch), you should definitely create your own file stunnel.pem. First, download OpenSSL and extract the archive to a folder. Second, create a text file in this folder containing the following lines: 
[ req ]
default_bits = 1024
distinguished_name = req_distinguished_name

[ req_distinguished_name ]
commonName = Host name
0.organizationName = Organization name
countryName = Two-letter country code
Rename the file to openssl.cnf. Third, open the Command Prompt window, change directory to the folder with openssl.exe, and run the command:
openssl req -new -x509 -days 3652 -nodes -out stunnel.pem -keyout stunnel.pem -config openssl.cnf
Enter the requested information. This will create your own file stunnel.pem. You should copy it over one located in the SAproxy folder.
How to include third-party plugins?
Suppose that you want to include ImageInfo plugin. Place ImageInfo.pm and imageinfo.cf into etc\spamassassin folder, then open the plain text file v312.pre located in the same folder in a text editor and add the following line: 
loadplugin Mail::SpamAssassin::Plugin::ImageInfo ImageInfo.pm
This will instruct SpamAssassin engine to load the plugin from the local folder.
Is the source for SAproxy available?
Yes, you can download it from the project website.
Can you change certain features of the interface?
No. I can only edit the perl scripts, but not the .gld files in the resource folder. These files are probably copyrighted, too, unlike the scripts. I cannot even change the name of the application. Therefore, GUI will always be that of SAproxy v1.2 unless somebody writes a new one.