MailWasher is a spam filter for Windows that lets you examine incoming email on the mail server and remove unwanted messages before your usual email program retrieves them. It supports POP3 and IMAP accounts, including services such as Gmail and Outlook.com. MailWasher Free screens one email address, while MailWasher Pro brings multiple accounts into the same message list.
Washing mail on the server
MailWasher checks the server and retrieves a small text portion of each message for review. Its message table shows information such as the sender, subject and sending date alongside the program’s classification. You can mark messages for deletion, correct their classification and then use Wash Mail to remove the selected messages from the server. The remaining mail stays available to your normal email application.
This process depends on MailWasher checking mail before another application downloads it. MailWasher can open your chosen mail program after washing, connecting the screening stage with the application you use to read and answer messages.
Pro’s full preview pane provides more ways to inspect an uncertain message. It displays plain text by default, with separate information about links, attachments and the message source. Seeing the actual destination of a link helps distinguish its address from the wording displayed in an email. HTML views are also available, including one that leaves external images unloaded.
Friends List, blacklist and learning filter
The Friends List identifies familiar correspondents, while the blacklist identifies senders whose messages you want removed. You can add an address from the message list instead of typing it manually. Pro also supports address patterns with wildcards, allowing a list entry to match a group of similar addresses.
These lists contribute to MailWasher’s evaluation alongside its other spam tools. A familiar sender’s address does not prevent the message content from being checked.
Classification also trains the learning filter. Marking a message as good or spam supplies examples of the language used in each category. MailWasher uses that accumulated evidence to assess subsequent mail, so correcting a classification affects more than the current message.
Filtering rules
MailWasher Pro’s custom filters let you define more precise conditions than a sender list. Rules can examine the subject, body, sender, recipients, headers, message size or account. Plain text conditions can match specified wording; regular expressions can match more complex patterns. Several conditions can be combined within one filter.
A matching filter can classify mail as good, neutral or spam, change its displayed color and influence whether it is marked for deletion. The filter’s Test tab can run against current messages or text you enter, giving you a way to inspect matches before relying on the rule.
Spam scores and the recycle bin
Pro combines positive and negative ratings from its spam tools into an overall assessment. Sender lists, custom rules, learning filters and external spam lists can all contribute. The evaluation view shows which checks affected a message, helping explain why it received its classification.
An automatic deletion threshold can send messages straight to Pro’s recycle bin when their combined score meets the chosen cutoff. The recycle bin keeps a message list and preview, with searches by sender or subject and an optional date range. Selected messages can be restored if legitimate mail was deleted.
MailWasher editions
Both Free and Pro support server previews and deletion with POP3 and IMAP. The main edition differences concern account coverage and review tools: Free is limited to one email address, whereas Pro accepts unlimited addresses and adds the full preview pane and recycle bin. Pro’s combined list allows mail from several accounts to be evaluated and washed in one place.
