Friday, November 30, 2007
Get Ready for .NET 3.5 with the .NET 3.5 Framework Posters
Check it out - MSFT has given us the latest posters for the .NET Framework (available here). If you plan on getting ready/migrating to .NET 3.5 and Visual Studio 2008, you'll want to get in on this while available.
Link: .NET 3.5 Framework Posters
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Spambayes with Outlook 2007 - How to Configure Spambayes to Work on Windows XP/2003 and Outlook 2007
I did it! I'm sooooo happy :) No more of the crap Outlook 2007 junk mail and I don't have to deal with how crappy my ISP's spam filter is anymore - I *finally* configured SpamBayes successfully for Outlook 2007 (running on Windows XP and Windows 2003).
If you're tried to use Spambayes in Outlook 2007, you've likely gotten the "Cannot load Spambayes add-in" error:
- There was an error initializing the SpamBayes addin. Please restart Outlook and try again
- Com add-in load errors
- ImportError: DLL load failed
- The Spambayes toolbar shows up but doesn't work
- Registered: SpamBayes.OutlookAddin Registration complete. (but it doesn't really work)
- Outlook experienced a serious problem with the 'spambayes' add-in. (and then disables the Spambayes add-in)
I tried re-installing Outlook 2007, I tried reinstalling Spambayes but nothing worked :( I finally found a couple of places on the web that point to solutions for Outlook 2003 that, if I applied them to Outlook 2007, they finally worked. Here's what you need to know:
- First,you want to visit the Spambayes FAQs and particularly you want to read the one about turning off DEP protection (here)
- Second, you'll want to download the latest release of Spambayes - as of this writing, it is 1.1a4 (available from sourceforge here)
To get it to work:
- Install Spambayes using a default installation
- Before launching Outlook 2007, add Outlook to your DEP protection
- On Windows XP/2003, right click on My Computer and select Properties. Click the Advanced tab and then the Settings button under the Performance panel. Click the Data Execution Prevention tab and then add the Outlook executable to the list.
- I think this is all you need but, as a precaution, I also added the Spambayes com register exe: \Program Files\Spambayes\bin\outlook_addin_register.exe as well but I don't know if that mattered
- Launch Outlook - did it work? It should but, if it doesn't, allow Outlook to disable Spambayes and restart Outlook. Go to Tools -> Trust Center -> Add-Ins and look for "Manage" at the bottom of that page.
- Select "Com Add-Ins" in the drop down and hit the Go button
- Remove the Spambayes Add-in and add it back (found at \Program Files\Spambayes\bin\outlook_addin.dll)
Did it work? Worked for me and that makes me oh so happy! Boo MSFT for releasing such a crappy junk mail engine with no improvements. Boo Microsoft for making Outlook 2007 actually worse for junk mail than Outlook 2003. Boo Spambayes team for not upgrading/updating the website to work with Outlook 2007. Yay Spambayes team for totally rocking in every other aspect lol.
I hope this helps you - drop a line and let me know if it does or doesn't work for you.
