ORION MK. V  I've tried many spam filter tools over the years. SpamSieve continues to remain the most reliable and effective, yet unobtrusive tool there is. Easy to uninstall or reinstall if there are issues as well.  
(Version 2.7.7)

DONPERREAULT  SpamSieve the best email filter/spam application on the market! Couldn't do email without it.  
(Version 2.7.7)

RON BELL  To set the record straight, my problem with the plugin not loading in Apple Mail under SpamSieve 2.7.7. has been fixed. It appears to have been associated with my use of Xslimmer, not with any fault in the plug-in. I should note that the developer responded to my inquiry in less than 15 minutes. Great program, great support.  
(Version 2.7.7)

RON BELL  SpamSieve is a terrific spam filter--i couldn't live without it! ... which is a problem, because version 2.7.7 generates the following message with Apple Mail:

"Mail has disabled the following plug-ins:

SpamSieve

Contact the makers of these plug-ins for versions that are compatible with Mail 4.1 and Message 4.1."  
(Version 2.7.7)

RBUGAJEWSKI  Greatest spam filter on earth!

SpamSieve is a plugin for a lot of different desktop mail clients. Most of them already have a spam filter, so what’s the point? SpamSieve is simply the best and most effective solution out there. I use this application with the built-in Mail.app since a couple of years and I have no more spam in my several inboxes.

I’m a heavy mail user and it’s astonishing how much time you can safe with this seemlesly smart and functional piece of software. And this for just a couple of bucks.  
(Version 2.7.6)

BEIGE  I just came back from vacation and had 7300 emails, 99.9% of it was spam. Spamsieve caught almost all of it (about 10 remained) with no false positives. Nuff said.   
(Version 2.7.6)

MOUSEE  I've been using this software for years and it is working in the background, doing a great job. It catches 99.9% of spam messages, and rarely sends a valid one to the spam box. Stability is great and so is the ease of use.

Upgrades have been coming when needed, and the developer is not charging for them unless a major one is released. Great policy, thanks!  
(Version 2.7.6)

RONL  Thanks Michael for keeping this updated.

Definitely the best spam filter out there for the Mac.

I recommend it to anyone that will listen.

Kudos for your excellent tech support also.

Easily 5 stars.

A must have!  
(Version 2.7.6)

KOMTOM  One of the best programs I ever had. It's like magic how SpamSieve filters out almost every Spam without making mistakes...  
(Version 2.7.5)

SEIKA7  SpamSieve has been updated to version 2.7.5. This is a free update that includes the following changes:

Made various accuracy improvements.

Fixed a problem where Apple Mail (running on pre-release versions of Mac OS X 10.6) could freeze at launch if you had a rule involving address book groups.

Rewrote the Setting up a Spam Filtering Drone instructions.

Added Why does the Spam mailbox appear empty when there’s a number beside it? to the frequently asked questions.

Updated the Automatically Deleting Old Spam Messages instructions to include Entourage.

The search fields are now scrollable.

The Apple Mail plug-in is better at detecting when SpamSieve’s Dock icon is hidden.

Worked around a problem where Mail could crash if you had installed two copies of the SpamSieve plug-in at the same time.

Fixed a bug that could cause SpamSieve to freeze when applying a whitelist/blocklist rule involving certain regular expressions.

The crash reporter works better with pre-release versions of Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard).

Fixed a bug that could prevent SpamSieve from launching.

Updated the Dutch, Japanese, and Korean localizations.

http://c-command.com/blog/2009/07/29/spamsieve-275/  
(Version 2.7.5)

YAZSOFT SUPPORT  I get very stressed out and paranoid when I'm checking my email on a machine with out SpamSieve. This utility is a true blessing and one powerful spam-buster!!! Never check email without it.  
(Version 2.7.3)

MISHA  I've been using SpamSieve for years—it's the best solution out there for Mac users, and Michael keeps improving it.

I only wish that it was easier to transfer configurations and corpuses to other Macs. Right now it's a fairly tedious process of copying a few different things over (Preferences, Application Support, the app itself, and any scripts that you have changed). .Mac syncing or something similar would rock!  
(Version 2.7.3)

ZIGGY29  SpamSieve is the best consumer-grade, easy-to-use spam filter I've ever used, bar none. I've done system/network administration on Unix, Mac and Windows systems, and for the end-user there is simply not a better spam filter I've ever seen. Once trained, it catches well over 99% of the spam and virtually never records a false positive.

I've compared the spam filters in both Apple Mail and Microsoft Entourage, and while both of those are competent (though sometimes lacking), SpamSieve just gets better and better at identifying and quarantining spam as you use it more.

At the $20 price point it would be even more compelling. But for those of us who would get dozens of spams day after day, every day, the $30 price point is still worthwhile in terms of reduced aggravation and lost productivity dealing with massive waves of junk e-mail.   
(Version 2.7.2)

RODPAINE  As others here have expressed, this little application does an excellent job of snagging SPAM and its learning feature works very well. I am using it with an older version of Eudora Pro under OS X 10.4.11 and it has served me well for a long time.

FWIW,

-Rod  
(Version 2.7.2)

UETLI  excellent Spamfilter.  
(Version 2.7.1)

SILVASURFER  As a registered user I have been using this app now for close to 18 months and nothing comes close to it for spam catching & protection. No it won't solve all your spam issues (what does?) but it is the best mac program out there. Recommend to all my friends who have switched and or bought new macs and they are very impressed. Constantly update, good documentation and a responsive developer.

A must have app for you Mac!  
(Version 2.7.1)

FRYE  I've been using this for a while with Entourage, and as others have said, it is simply the best protection you can find for your inbox. Between my service provider stopping spam at the source (so I never have to see it) and SS stopping the ones that trickle through, it is truly a time-saver. Like many people I have different email accounts for different purposes, so spam can and does get unruly. SS is the only solution I've found that makes a difference.

While it is difficult to set up (you definitely need the help guide), once done it basically runs on its own. I think the price is a little steep, and would recommend the developer charge $19.99, but I can also understand wanting to get compensated for the blood and sweat that went into creating the application. I think at a lower price point, they could sell even more copies, which in turn will take an even larger bite out of the spam inundating inboxes everywhere.  
(Version 2.7)

EDMUND51  Found this application via a google search.

I just convert from PC to mac and had a similar product.

I can't tell you how much well it works.

I have multiple web pages that had my email address listed on them. On any given day I receive somewhere around 500 emails only 30 or so are not spam.

After I installed SpamSieve 99.99% of the junk goes in the spam box.  
(Version 2.6.6)

F451  I have so tried so many of these applications throughout the years, but SpamSieve is the definitive spam filter application. Excellent support, and application.  
(Version 2.6.6)

GARY30  I used to use SpamSieve and it is a great product worth 5 stars. I have a public email address on my website and various other email boxes that go back to 1994. So SpamSieve has been essential.

However, recently I had to go out of town for an extended period of time and wanted to be able to access all my email from a single service with a web interface if needed. I selected gmail and arranged to forward all my email accounts (except for a free yahoo account) to the gmail account. Result: Zero spam and complete transparency as far as the senders are aware. I could have literally not told anyone I was gone and could have received and replied to all email using the original "Sent To" addresses for my replies.

Not that there is anything wrong with SpamSieve, but one less program to run is one less to deal with and upgrade. So far, gmail has a perfect spam rejection/wanted email acceptance record.  
(Version 2.6.6)

DOC RENAUD  The best, still the best !

Catch ALL spam, and never a single false positive. Absolutely amazing !!!

Yes, take the time to set it up (not a big deal, really) and you are greatly awarded.

And no, I'm not the son of the developer.  
(Version 2.6.6)

RONL  The BEST!

Since I have a website with a public email address... every spammer, bot, etc. has me on their email/spam list it seems.

Once it's set up it's rare for anything to get through.

And the tech support is as great as it gets!  
(Version 2.6.5)

RICRIC  This is an amazingly effective spam control utility. It beats Intego personal anti-spam hollow and, doesn't ask for an extra license fee each year.   
(Version 2.6.5)

ZOOPLANCTON  i just purchased this a few days ago to help get back MY personal domain email that my ISP "can't do anything about" that's been spam bombed.

someone hacked into their system and now there are spams being sent out with MY domain name to thousands of email accounts... weeeee...

anyway, i bought and put to work SpamSieve this past friday, and it has redirected over 3,000 spams and returned emails that were being bounced back to me. (that weren't sent from me)

the application is amazing, and is easy to set up.

i've gotten control back to my domain email and am very happy.

100+ thumbs up to michael for developing this app.

thank you and death to all spammers.  
(Version 2.6.4)

DONPERREAULT  Indispensable application for handling spam. IE: When I went on vacation I neglected to keep my Mail application & SpamSieve running on my Mac at home. Therefore, I was inundated with spam, making it impossible to check my mail with my iphone because I has so much spam.   
(Version 2.6.4)

VICTORB  Why use this when Intego's Personal AntiSpam is available?

I've been using Personal AntiSpam for some time now and it's beautiful. Kills all types of spam and is so easy to use!  
(Version 2.6.4)

RONL  Buy it... it's a no brainer!

This is an app I would not want to be without.

Email would be a spam nightmare without it.

Virtually no spam gets through SpamSieve's filters.

And the tech support is as fast and efficient as any software I've ever used and I've been at this on a Mac for around ten years now.  
(Version 2.6.4)

DOC RENAUD  As I'm sick and tired to receive the usual crap like "petite Iesbiian teeins getting nasty on carpet mules", "hot chick suspended and pumped by machine began pecks", "Best Career USA!" and so on, as mail.app can't do a proper job filtering this crap, as Junkmatcher doesn't seems to works anymore, at least not properly, I've decided to give SpamSieve a try.

And it's like a breathe of fresh air. Yes, you have to configure it properly, following the simple provided instructions and train it for a while, but after that you can forget about the stuff I mentioned above.

It's so efficient, in fact, that I totally forgot about it. Until my 30 days trial period ended today and received the very interesting "cute blonde cheerleader poses on a bench wrong edge" mail.

Spammers really should be aligned against a wall and gunned. After all, some people are alive only because it's illegal to shot them. Until then, there is a perfect and legal tool to fight them. It's called SpamSieve !

I registered immediately. After that 30 days of peace, I can't imagine living without it again.  
(Version 2.6.4)

GAMMO  Spam is a pain when you get lots of emails - I used to be a "Junkmatcher" user because it works, but SS works better.

Minimal training issues - just click on a menu choice!

One word of advice - before you begin with SS, build up some spam mail - it will help you "train" ss much quicker than doing it the way I did it.  
(Version 2.6.2)

ANDIMON1  This is an excellent plugin for the Apple Mail application. Mail can't catch the tricky junk mail, but after training SpamSieve to do the job, my inbox is clean with only wanted mail. The price is just a tad high, but worth it if you get tons of junk email, especially if you have multiple accounts filter together in a single app. The only gripe I have is that it required an icon to sit in the dock, taking up precious pixels I have on screen. There should be a preference option to make the application invisible, yet active. The only way to change this now is if you change the package contents, which is a hassle and required you to redo the changes after every update. Switch this up, and you have a golden application.   
(Version 2.6.2)

ORION MK. V  Still a few days left from the demo version expiring, but I must say SpamSieve is the best "trainable" junk/spam filter I've tried for either Apple Mail or Entourage. JunkMatcher was great when it was in active development for Mail, but it seems to have been abandoned.

I'll buy it in a day or two... $30 seems a bit steep until you figure the time it saves in weeding through junkmail.  
(Version 2.6.1)

NJRONBO  Two things you must know. First, I am a owner of a web-based business that is subjected to hundreds of spam mail per day -and- I have been a PC user for the past 15 years.

During my latter PC years as the spam situation spiraled out of control (I received 200 messages per day if not more) I turned to FIRETRUST MAILWASHER PRO. It was a superb software that let you look at all your email in advance and then gave you the opportunity to SAVE or DELETE any message prior to downloading it to your email program.

When I finally became fed up with PCs and became a Mac user three months ago, I tried MAILWASHER for Mac. Their macintosh version was kind of buggy, leading me to have to spend a lot of time wading through lists of mail and selecting which was GOOD and which was BAD.

Recently, I stumbled upon a review of SPAMSIEVE in one of the Mac magazines. It was rated unusually high and although I don't particularly care for unreliable filters that are embedded in an email program, I decided to give it a try.

One thing I have to warn all of you is that SPAMSIEVE does take about 15-20 minutes to initially set up, and you really need to take the time to READ the manual located off HELP on the upper toolbar. You should also watch the VIDEO that is referenced in that help manual. This is not a program you can set up in mere seconds and expect to always work like magic (though mine pretty much did!)

I installed the Apple Mail plug-in and then read the manual and watched the video that carefully explained how to properly train the email you receive. With the dozens of emails I receive in a clip, I was able to train it rather quickly. I told SPAMSIEVE which mail was GOOD and which was BAD. It's very important during this process to train more BAD mail than GOOD (Spam mail should be in the 70% range during training). It sounds a bit complicated at first, but trust me, if you devote yourself just 15-20 minutes to READ and LEARN you will be greatly rewarded.

My overall email experience has completely changed since using SPAMSIEVE. I can download 200 messages at once and SPAMSIEVE will properly place all the GOOD mail in the INBOX and the SPAM in its own separate folder. Within 200 messages, SpamSieve may improperly flag 1 or 2 emails. When it does, you simply train it not to the next time.

I can't believe how well this software works. It makes running my business a hell of a lot more efficient with less time devoted to weeding out spam mail.

This program gets 5 stars all around *except* for ease of use. This program does take a bit of effort to learn (though it's very easy to do so).

This is the miracle software you have always wanted for your spam problems.  
(Version 2.6)

PERPLEXITY  I use it in combination with PowerMail. Fast bayesian engine, powerful, responsive interface, no redundant daemon, what do you need more?

No reporting, but I reported every spam message I received in 2006 with other software and it didn't change jack. So we don't need reporting!

I love email again :)  
(Version 2.6)

FOULGER  Best thing since sliced bread. I am totally surprised if a spam slips through, it is so unusual. Same with genuine messages in spam box. For me, an essential piece of software.

Wouldn't it be great if someone could invent a backfire virus that infects only spammers!! Food for thought. Best form of defence is attack!  
(Version 2.6)

PALADINO  Just wondering, if one's email servers already have effective spam filtering included, would there be any reason to use something like this with one's email client?  
(Version 2.6)

SIMWAH  The website claims a 30 day full-function trial, however, upon launch, I am advised that I have '0 days or 5 launches, whichever is longer'.

I don't feel the 4 launches I have left will give me adequate time to evaluate this application prior to considering purchase.  
(Version 2.5)

RUMINEO  I agree totally with BUEGELFREI, this software is completely effective. Spamsieve has made my life much easier.  
(Version 2.5)

BUEGELFREI  Insanely effective anti-spam plugin. I'm almost afraid to praise it publicly for fear of leading spammers to study it.

For years now I've scanned my junk mail box once a day for the odd piece of non-spam, but SpamSieve might make me lose the habit. It's been more than a month since any legit accidentally got tagged as spam. That means that my bleary eyes scanned 1745 subject lines in February for no reason whatsoever.

(For the statistically minded, a total 3 pieces of spam managed to get past SpamSieve in the same period).

One more thing to love about this plugin: it works with multiple email clients, so when you finally abandon Eudora for something else, you can take SpamSieve's settings with you.

Highest marks.  
(Version 2.5)

MOEP  Incredible program.

I was getting desperate with all my image spam up to the point where I considered setting up my own Linux/Spamassassin/FuzzyOCR Mailserver to get rid of all the image-spam that the Mail.app Junk-Filter just ignores. Then I tried Spamsieve... and it's flawless.

Trained with roughly 600 emails total, it now filters 100% of all spam with zero false positives on the second day of use.

Together with the LSUIElement "hack" it's also just about invisible and very easy on the system resources.

The only minor things that I'd like to see changed would be tighter integration with Mail.app (maybe integrate it into the Preference pane? that'd be awesome!) and a different icon, but that's a matter of taste. Both - comic and photorealistic - icons don't really go with the OSX UI in my eyes, but that's matter of taste. And my icon is hidden anyway, so who cares!  
(Version 2.5)

WILMA  A fantastic program -- I wish I'd known about SpamSieve years ago! Very easy to set up and train -- within 20 minutes I had set up and trained the program to 97% accuracy, and within two days to 99%.I use it with Eudora 6, and it's seamless, with a super-easy intuitive interface. It's also robust -- I get 100 spams per day; a developer friend filters 3,000 per day in Eudora and Mail.

Tip #1: For maximum accuracy, keep the training emails around 65% spam as recommended in the (good) documentation.

Tip #2: Sort the folder where SpamSieve puts spams by spam score. Once you have SpamSieve trained, you can ignore everything except the lowest-scoring items. I train SpamSieve with these (so it continues to improve) and trash the rest without looking at them.  
(Version 2.5)

GETSOMESAUCE  Wonderful program. You can get $5 off by using the following coupon code through January 12, 2007:

CPN5030706819

Note: You need to enter the coupon code in the transaction screen once you click the "Checkout" button to get the $5 discount.

The developer is simply incredible, responsive, and very diligent.  
(Version 2.5)

FAHJR56  I just want to say I think spamsieve is GREAT, very easy to set-up and it dose a better job then apples junk mail at least so far and the tech support simply terrific, I had a question about something I wasn't quit sure about with set-up so I emailed spamsieve@c-command.com and I swear I had my answer within minutes about 5 to be exact.

My final evaluation is spamsieve is well worth the price, I only wish I heard about it sooner.

If you want a GREAT moderately priced spam filter then get spamsieve, even if it wasn't so inexpensive I'd still want to have it the price is just an added bonus

I can't say it enough GREAT GREAT GREAT..........Five Stars*****  
(Version 2.5)

PSXD  The feature I was missing is back. Mr. Tsai was very helpful. Thank you very much!  
(Version 2.5)

PSXD  I'm a registered and happy user. Just downloaded the new version, too early to have an opinion, but what's become of the possibility to hide Spamsieve in the dock and access its features through the message menu in Mail ? I miss it...  
(Version 2.5)

CHAOSCLOWNZ  I must say, Bravo. SpamSieve is FINALLY my invaluable tool to combat spam. I am a web designer, and have numerous emails, and numerous websites. On average, I get 500 spam emails a day. I have filters on my server which block out half of those on average, it's a light filter to only kill the obvious spam. Anything that is semi-questionable gets sent to my inbox, and SpamSieve does the rest. After about a month of learning my entire inbox, every day I check, all the spam messages are in the spam inbox, and all my good ones are in my inbox, with no errors. At $25, this is a great bargain, and I love a company that realizes we're not all full of money for software.   
(Version 2.4.4)

RICHARD TAYTOR  SpamSieve does indeed work well in marking spam; however, I have found that when it does make mistakes, it usually errs on the wrong side, marking good mail as spam when it should be the other way round. (Note: These result were obtained after executing the training procedures described in the manual.)

I am compelled to comment now because I notice that it mistakenly marked a good message as spam when it contains a valid "In-Reply-To" header (with matching message still in my outbox). I imagine SpamSieve is not alone in this ignorance; in any case, I believe that a client-integrated spam filter should certainly consider message IDs.  
(Version 2.4.4)

MHMMCCOY  I use Apple Mail on a Mac and suddenly started getting incredible spam (at least 75-100 a day, sometimes more). There's not much out there for Mac spam filters, but after some research, I found SpamSieve 2.4.4. I tried out the trial period, but long before the trial was over, it was working perfectly and I bought it. WOW! What a difference! It is very easy to use and install and "learns" spam e-mails in only a few days.It took almost no effort on my part. I have been using it for about 2 months now, and only caught one e-mail it identified as spam (ironically, from Apple!), and that was early on. It's also cheap! I highly recommend this for anyone using apple mail. I don't even think about spam anymore!  
(Version 2.4.4)

SLADE95816  I usually don't write reviews unless I am on the extreme end of the spectrum about a product, but Spam Sieve is so exceptional in every way that it deserves to have a review which says so.

My feelings about spam are something close to obsessive compulsive; we shouldn't have to pay extra money to weed out unnecessary clatter. And yet, it appears we must. Thus, if I am forced to find a good spam filter, I want the best one for the least amount of money and not a product I'll have to upgrade two years from now when the company goes out of business. When I commit to an application, I'm monogamous for life, so I make my decisions very carefully.

I am a Eudora 6 user and its junk mail filter is not 100% reliable. More importantly, its spam-labeling process, while it allows you to label some email as junk (and some email as not junk), is not transparent which makes it very hard to improve the filters. It's a "cross your fingers" type of approach and that doesn't work for me.

Spam Sieve, however, has already blocked 99% of all my spam in only three days of "training". This is enough to make me buy the program; I mean, come on -- if it's this good in only 3 days, then how good will it be in 3 months? Since it learns over time, I feel confident that $25 is a small price to pay to know I won't have to look at spam in my In Box ever again.

Bonus tracks: Spam Sieve is transparent by showing you how its "corpus" of words is judged: "$40 million" might be used 4 times for spam emails and 1 time for good emails -- so you can delete the term (or not) if you think that's a bad word to use to judge spam. Also, its dock icon closes automatically when you close down Eudora. Oh, and you choose between photo-realistic and cartoon dock icons. Super swanky!  
(Version 2.4.4)

YOXI  I'm very impressed with SpamSieve so far - it get very accurate very quickly.

And since you can set it up to launch/quit when your mail app of choice does, you can make it run dockless if you like (see http://www.yoxi.net/anitya/dockncover.html for instructions - I've got fed up with trying to work around the 'no angle brackets in reviews' thing in MacUpdate!).

Worth every penny.  
(Version 2.4.4)

RONL  This app is incredibly well designed and the tech support is excellent. Without a doubt it is as good as it gets for spam filtering and would be one of a handful of apps that would deserve 6 stars if VT would allow it. One word -- Superb!  
(Version 2.4.3)

PROGRAMHAPPY  Why doesn't this work with Quickmail?  
(Version 2.4.3)

BRIAN PATRICK CORK  I have my company using Apple's Mail App. Each of us averages over 300 emails a day. The majority of our work is of a highly confidential nature. Spam was starting to over come the application's spam filtering capabilities. We had SpamSieve 2.4.2 fully operational after 72 hours. It's capabilities are robust and impressive. It inspires absolute confidence. So far, it is catching every piece of spam. I don't feel that I have to review the spam folder for good emails that were accidentally trapped. This application has paid for itself immediately just with the piece of mind.  
(Version 2.4.2)

ERICB  This is a must-have application for Entourage users. It is *highly* effective, simple to use and completely stable. It's a shame Microsoft doesn't simply give Mr. Tsai a bundle of money to buy him out, but then I suppose it would fall into the pit of Microsoft mediocrity...  
(Version 2.4.2)

GARY WHITE  Excellent Application. As Mail's own Spam filter was no longer delivering I thought I would try this recommended application.

It did not take long to install and integrate into my existing Mail.app, and trained the application completely within a couple of days.

1st class application, would recommend to anyone who is having problems with SPAM in their email account.

Apple's Mail Spam filters are ok to a point but did not seem to be picking up some of the smarter SPAM messages I was recieving, and dealing with them.

Love to know if this app works well under the new Intel Mac's and if there is any indication of when it will be ported to a Dual Binary?  
(Version 2.4)

TOM46  This is far superior to the filtering done by Mail. I've only been "training" it a few days and it's already batting almost 100%.  
(Version 2.4)

ANONYMOUS  Nice.

Too bad it's $25.

I like several aspects but it's not worth it when Mail's built-in filter tosses 99% of my spam.  
(Version 2.4)

DON MUNRO  Spamsieve is one of the best things I have on my computer. The only problem I have encountered is that the automatic upgrades don't work unless I am using MS Explorer as the default web engine - clicking on the Download button with either Safari or Firefox does nothing at all, except to grey-out the button.  
(Version 2.3.2)

ANONYMOUS  I had posted earlier that my demo of SpamSieve wasn't filtering. The developer posted here that he'd assist and really did. After some patient emails it was determined that I had so many rules in Entourage above the SpamSieve one that it was negating any filtering. I cleaned that up and now it is working the way it's designed to. I'm so happy now to have all the junk spam email go into the junk folder. It's not only saved me valuable morning minutes but also made it so I'm less likely to lose an important email.

Everyone was right, this is a great program I recommend to every Mac owner who gets junk email.  
(Version 2.3.2)

ANONYMOUS  I'm at the end of my demo for Spam Sieve 2.3.2, using it with Entourage. Running OSX 10.3.4

450 G4 with 1.25 GB SDRAM.

I've heard such good things about SS but...

Why is Spam Sieve doing zero filtering for me? I've trained it with good and bad posts but the filter report shows nothing is being filtered. So I keep getting the same "replica" spam emails as well as all the truly obvious ones that should be filtered.  
(Version 2.3.2)

JASON  Dynamite program. Indispensable, yet I don't even have to interact with it for the most part. Just does its job quickly, quietly and incredibly effectively.

Makes Spamnix for Eudora look like an amateur effort.  
(Version 2.3.2)

ANONYMOUS  After spending the $$$ to buy MS Office 2004, I was (perhaps unreasonably, considering the source) shocked-- shocked!-- to find out how bad Entourage's junk mail filtering is. Compared to Eudora's or Thunderbird, it's practically nonexistent.

The Entourage forum put me on to SpamSieve, and it's made Entourage mail a joy to use. Once I got it figured out (with very quick and friendly help from the developer), it worked like a champ. And since I really do like the rest of Entourage (especially Project), it's made the investment in Office a worthwhile one. Thanks for a great app!  
(Version 2.3.1)

EDENWAITH  Thanks for making this update so quickly! After updating to Mac OS 10.4.1 last night, it didn't want to run SpamSieve, which is not a good thing. Even though I am using Tiger now, SpamSieve still proves to be very useful, and still much better than Mail's built in spam filter, which was marking too many false positives, where SpamSieve probably marks about one false positive about every several hundred (if not every thousand) pieces of junk.  
(Version 2.3.1)

JENDAHL  Outstanding program, outstanding support. Thanks for this quick update!  
(Version 2.3.1)

ANONYMOUS  Still the best Spam catcher on a Mac. On 2.3.1 I was extremely surprised at the speed of the 10.4.1 update to SpamSieve. This is application is the hidden Gem of the OS X.  
(Version 2.3.1)

ANONYMOUS  COULD NOT MOVE TO APPLICATION iStelerate nib COULD NOT BE READ- ERROR.  
(Version 2.3.1)

ANONYMOUS  This is simply an elegant solution for spam filtering on the Mac.

Should be included with the mac Mail application-it is that good!

My only wish is that it would delete the spam before it gets downloaded to the application, but, as a script, this is not possible-this is a minor complaint.

Thanks, Michael-you have made mail on a macintosh fun again

Chris  
(Version 2.3)

ANONYMOUS  Indispensable. It's really the only reason I'm still using Entourage instead of Thunderbird--T-bird's junk mail filter is awful, but Entourage + SpamSieve is damn near bulletproof.

Filtered Mail

1154 Good Messages

4332 Spam Messages (79%)

5 Spam Messages Per Day

SpamSieve Accuracy

121 False Positives

149 False Negatives (55%)

95.1% Correct

Showing Statistics Since

1/1/03 12:00 AM  
(Version 2.3)

ANONYMOUS  This is easily the best solution for spam on the mac shy of setting up a personal IMAP server with SpamAssassin.

I fed Spam Sieve 2000 spams and 50 good emails, and in a month it's allowed a whopping 1 spam.

I currently use SS with Entourage. I turned the dock icon off, as well. It works fine like this.  
(Version 2.2.4)

DMGLASGOW  Simple. Powerful. Effective. Smart. And customer service/tech support that can't be beat. Great job, Michael!  
(Version 2.2.4)

PHILIP  This it best spam solution I've found for the Mac. I use it with Mail.app and it works amazingly well. It's not perfect, but I think it's the best one out there. It's certainly leagues ahead of Mail.app's own spam filters.  
(Version 2.2.4)

ANDY  Cool. Very very very cool. The developer is hyper helpful even to an idiot like me. This is such a help and so accurate. Thanks Michael.  
(Version 2.2.3)

ANONYMOUS  Tried it and found it useless with Mail.app and not very stable. Maybe it is good with a mailer without a spam filter?  
(Version 2.2.3)

DOWNLOAD THIS.  I use this with OSX Mail and it has solved my spam problem ENTIRELY. I have used Junk Matcher. I have used SpamFire. They all failed me ultimately. SpamFire was more work than getting the spam in the first place when it started to screw up. But Spam Sieve took minutes to configure and suddenly its accuracy was dead on the money. If I had to invent an improvement it would be the "revenge" feature on SpamFire, but in the end never having to see another penis enlargement advert is as rewarding as it gets. God bless you SpamSieve developer.  
(Version 2.2.1)

DAVID@POVDE.COM  I really want this program to work but it just isn't. I send a test message to myself and it ends up in the 'spam' folder. So I select "Add Good" from the applescript menu, send another test message to myself and it again ends up in the Spam folder. I am listed in the whitelist but not listed in the block list. What am I doing wrong?  
(Version 2.2.1)

ANDREW ELLISTON  (originally posted as a comment)

SpamSieve is much more powerful and reliable than Mail's junk filter. I get around 3000-4000 spams per day, and around 100-200 good emails per day.

When I installed SpamSieve, it got 99.1% accuracy with 1 false negative immediately. (I first trained it with 500 recent good emails and 3000 recent spams). This is the next day, and the accuracy has climbed to 99.6% and with more false negatives. Things will only improve from here.

This is better performance than SpamAssassin ever gave me, and I gave up on Mail's junk filter long ago. SpamProbe seems to use the same mechanism as SpamSieve for sorting out spam, but SpamProbe (a CLI app) is not as intuitive, doesn't integrate with GUI apps well, and was repeatedly corrupting its own database. SpamSieve is exactly what I was looking for - an excellent Bayesian filter with good GUI integration, good automation, and excellent reliability.  
(Version 2.2)

ANONYMOUS  No, I haven't seen SpamSieve in action, but could anyone enlighten me as to what do we need another junk mail filter for?

Isn't Mail's built-in Junk Mail filter and ev. JunkMatcher all a Mac user needs.

Personally, when my mail client (Mail) notifies me of a message which might be spam, I flag it as such (or mark it as not spam) AND I create a rule within Mail.

On the other hand, my ISP has Sophos' PureMessage installed on server, informing me when I receive a message that might be spam. Result: it recognizes spam always.  
(Version 2.2)

ANONYMOUS  The Whitelist/Blocklist windows do not list specific rules or any other data, except for the dates.  
(Version 2.2)

ANONYMOUS  i can´t test the software with eudora 6.1.1. i got this message:

couldn´t start that application.

-120,{15:1234}  
(Version 2.1.4)

KEN GEE  After reading positive reviews of SpamSieve in MacWorld, I decided to try the demo with Entourage X. At first, I was put off by the number of false flaggings, but after 4-5 days of training, SpamSieve was increasingly accurate. It soon seemed like a no-brainer to pay the relatively low shareware fee. It soon achieved about 98 percent accuracy. The one nagging problem I had was with the SpamSieve applescript rule interferring with an existing Entourage rule designed to move news items to a News folder. After trying suggestions in the SpamSieve documentation with no success, I e-mailed the company (on the Memorial day weekend!) and quickly got a reply fro Michael Tsai, the author. Amazingly, he engaged in an e-mail conversation with me over two days, trying to troubleshoot my problem, and eventually writing and sending me a custom applescript that did what I wanted. The product is so efficient and easy to use, and the support so superlative, you would be stupid to consider any other spam solution for OS X!  
(Version 2.1.4)

DAN SPERANZO  I've been using SamSieve since January 2004. It is remarkably accurate (98.3% accurate by it's own calculations) and has transformed e-mail handling from a dreaded chore to a pleasure. I use it with PowerMail and it's is completely transparent. My one day record of SPAM messages was 134. SpamSieve is worth every penny.  
(Version 2.1.3)

MARCO  I'm using Spamsieve with Entourage under OS 10.2.8 I found it reasonably easy to install, accurate (one false negative out of 80) and easy to use on a day to day basis. Excellent value for money.

If you're fed up with SPAM then I also suggest you report spam emails to www.spamcop.net. Spamcop notifies ISP's of email abuse which helps shutdown the spammer networks.  
(Version 2.1.2)

ANONYMOUS  Probably THE most essential program on my harddrive. I have never had one real message be sent off as spam, and since January 1st have had exactly two spam messages sneak through.

And that is despite over 500 spam messages sent to me! (I know... I must really need that enlargement!)

Spamsieve is completely invisible and pretty much idiot-proof too. I use it with Mailsmith, so it's got total integration, but I just can't see it being any less good with other programs.

My email experience has totally changed - spam is no longer a part of my life. I sure wish I could say that about some other crap.  
(Version 2.1.2)

STEVEN  I've been using SpamSieve since version 1.0 with MS Entourage and wouldn't be without it now. I get more junk mail than good and was becoming increasingly frustrated with the typical text-type filters built into Entourage. I do end-up with some good messages caught as spam, but the program makes it wasy to ensure they will not be caught a second time. In all, I'd rather have afew good messages caught as spam than the other way around.  
(Version 2.1.2)

HYPERIZER  This is a great program. Coupled with Mailsmith, it's the perfect combination. And I like the icon ;-)  
(Version 2.1)

ANONYMOUS  Outstanding product; Michael Tsai is to be commended for a simple to install, simple to use product that really delivers on the promise.

SpamSieve is easy to train. I've had zero false positives even though I've trained it with 3x more good messages than spam. This allows a few false negatives through, but this will correct itself as more spam goes through the "autotraining".

Highly recommended. Excellent value for the money.  
(Version 2.0.2)

ANONYMOUS  Can someone help this guy create a decent icon. It may be a good program but. "form over function" thsi is what mac's are all about - otherwise we woudl just use beige boxes.  
(Version 2.0.2)

ANONYMOUS  Yes! This program kicks butt! Works great with PowerMail - the author keeps adding useful features. For example, the new version shows you how many unread (good) messages you have in the dock icon for SpamSieve. It also allows you to play a new mail arrived sound when good mail arrives. This makes PowerMail much nicer to use!  
(Version 2.0.1)

ANONYMOUS  Lastest SpamSieve and SpamFire are both excellent -- can't live without a spam filter tool anymore since the horrible Outlook for Windows virus' began to clutter our mac email boxes.   
(Version 2.0.1)

ANONYMOUS  If you want to go back to 1.3, you can use your old corpus by renaming the "Migrated Corpus.plist" file in ~/Library/Application Support/SpamSieve to "Corpus.plist".  
(Version 2.0)

ANONYMOUS  Note that if you upgrade to 2.0 and then downgrade to 1.3 (if you dislike the eSellerate engine's data gathering, for example), your corpus WILL be erased.  
(Version 2.0)

ETAN  SpamSieve is the best thing that ever happened to email. In a matter of a few hours I have gone from recieving hundreds of spam emails to recieving none.

You got my $25.  
(Version 2.0)

RUPERT STUBBS  After 5 minutes 'training', SpamSieve has been amazingly successful at shunting crap into my Spam box (Entourage). NO false positives after 250 emails (80% of them spam), only 3 false negatives - all for very good reason (mother-in-law just signed up for AOL account (!) and sent email with stupid, garbled header, etc.). One happy bunny.  
(Version 1.3.1)

ANONYMOUS  I love my SpamSieve!  
(Version 1.3.1)

MICHAEL TSAI  Mike: If you're getting 99.5% with Spamfire out of the box, great. I don't think everyone sees that level of accuracy. The point about learning stands. Spamfire learns about new kinds of spam through paid "filter updates"; SpamSieve doesn't need those.  
(Version 1.3.1)

MIKE BARTLETT  The author asserts "Other spam filters get worse over time as spammers adapt to their rules"......it seems that he never heard about Spamfire which doesn't need to 'learn' anything but is 99,5% efficient from the very first beginning :-)  
(Version 1.3.1)

ANONYMOUS  Works incredibly well! It took a bit of training and screwed up a few times, but now it's almost flawless. Seems just as good as the built in spam filter in Apple's Mail program, but Span Sieve works with other clients such as PowerMail.  
(Version 1.3)

SKALLAGRIMSON  As Eudora User I like it  
(Version 1.3)

OBBYYOYO  Good program that gets better and better with each release!  
(Version 1.2.1)