[Spambayes] Problem with SpamBayes folders

[Dejonghe, Manuel]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bob Arthur [mailto:robert6 at cox.net] 
> Sent: Mittwoch, 22. Oktober 2003 04:03
> To: spambayes at python.org
> Subject: [Spambayes] Problem with SpamBayes folders
> 
> 
> I installed version 8 last week and everything was fine until tonight.
> For some reason when I clicked on the Junk folder I got a message that
> the folder couldn't be found.  So I (probably wrongly) 
> decided to delete
> the questionable Spam folder (forget its name) and uninstalled
> SpamBayes.  I reinstalled it thinking the two Spam folders would be
> re-created.  During install I was given no installation 
> options.  Now I
> have the program installed but filtering is disabled because the two
> folders are missing.  
>  
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bob Arthur [mailto:robert6 at cox.net] 
> Sent: Mittwoch, 22. Oktober 2003 04:03
> To: spambayes at python.org
> Subject: [Spambayes] Problem with SpamBayes folders
> 
> 
> I installed version 8 last week and everything was fine until tonight.
> For some reason when I clicked on the Junk folder I got a message that
> the folder couldn't be found.  So I (probably wrongly) 
> decided to delete
> the questionable Spam folder (forget its name) and uninstalled
> SpamBayes.  I reinstalled it thinking the two Spam folders would be
> re-created.  During install I was given no installation 
> options.  Now I
> have the program installed but filtering is disabled because the two
> folders are missing.  
>  
> What can I do at this point?  I assumed that by uninstalling 
> the program
> I'd also delete any configuration files but apparently that is not the
> case.  I really like this program and hope you can get me back on the
> right track.
>  

As far as I read on this mailinglist so far, it's fairly not enough to
uninstall spambayes if you plan to reinistall it for a brainwash. You
should have (DON'T DO IT NOW!) deleted all files (including
configuration- and database-files within C:\documents and
settins\<username>\application data\spambayes) and settings within the
registry.
DON'T DO IT NOW ! This would delete all settings and already trained
messages. I'm pretty sure you are able to recover it all "by hand". To
brainwash SpamBayes is probably only useful if you are stuck with
Spambayes itself and other (less lethal) measures did'nt work either.
i.E. When it does not respond anymore to clicks on the toolbar, if it
simply doesn't filter anymore or something like that, altough you
already checked it's not simply a deactivated outlook-addin (outlook
itself is able to deactivate addins).

Anyhow, it's most probably easier to reconfigure spambayes yourself by
on one hand using the reconfiguration wizard (which may be not included
in your version. I know version 007 didn't, but 0081 does.) or one the
other hand havinig some work:
- ensure there are the folders you need: some of the installation guides
recommend "Spam" and "Possible Spam". I do not know WHY it's recommended
that way, but I'll always take these names until I really NEED other
names.
- sort / filter at least 5 ham and 5 spam manually.
- train spambayes on these messages
- enable filtering by specifying the folders you created previously
- should be done !

Unfortunately, this does not solve your initial problem of unavaiable
folders. It may reappear at any time, so it is possibly important for
you to NOT delete the spambayes database anymore, or to back it up so
you don't need to retrain every time it happens.

good luck, Manuel