[Spambayes] SpamBayes for Outlook 2000 over IMAP?

[Christian Gilbert]

Hello, I'm a Windows user trying to use SpamBayes for my IMAP account
through Outlook 2000 on Windows 2000.  I've read and re-read the
project site, FAQ, and other docs, and I'm still confused.  I've read
that SpamBayes is great, so I want to make it work.  If anyone can
help clarify, I'd appreciate it.

What I've determined so far.  Please help correct my confusion:

- The SB Outlook plugin does not filter IMAP.

- The SB 1.0.4 Windows install exe does not include "applications
suitable for almost all email clients" like the download page says
under the Windows heading.  It only contains the Outlook plugin.

- So, I need Python and the SB source for Windows.  The 1.0.4 .zip
package does not decompress in WinZip 8.

- FAQ item 1.5 describes the POP proxy and web interface, both of
which I'm afraid to run on a non-NAT'ed machine.

- Something (the "IMAP Filter" section of the readme?) clarified that
sb_imapfilter.py is not a proxy, but connects to the IMAP server
independantly of your e-mail client and scores/filters your mail at
certain time intervals.

- Running sb_imapfilter.py starts the web interface and lets my
machine listen for HTTP on port 8880.

- sb_imapfilter.py does not use the Bayesian database from the Outlook plugin.


Now, the questions, in addition to "Are the above is correct?":

- Can I run sb_imapfilter.py without it starting the web interface? 
Let me configure using interface once, then never run it again; thus
never opening up port 8880 for listening.

- When I first have sb_imapfilter.py connect to my IMAP server, will
it score every message in my Inbox?  Will that erase them all and
recreate them (slightly noted somewhere in the FAQ)?  Will it change
their read/unread status (which I rely on desperately)?

- Does spam sit in my Inbox until sb_imapfilter.py does its periodic
sweep?  Or does sb_imapfilter.py detect new mail as it arrives, score
it, and filter as necessary (elluded to in the FAQ 1.5.8 overview)?

- Each time sb_imapfilter.py checks my IMAP Inbox, will it score only
new mail since its last check?  If so, can I avoid the initial scoring
(and potential delete/recreate and read-status change) by tricking it
somehow?

- Since I don't have cron on Windows, how can I set sb_imapfilter.py
to run periodically?  Task Scheduler?  Leaving a cmd window open all
day?

- Does the web interface really keep full-text copies of all my mail
(suggested in FAQ 1.5.5), even those 1+meg attachments people
sometimes send?  Can I disable that, or is that the only way to train
the system without opening the spam (triggering spammer alerts) and
forwarding it to localhost:8880 (which I'd rather not run)?


All my reading and testing culminated in me running sb_imapfilter.py,
putting my config info in the web interface, then clicking "Save and
Shutdown" and having it do nothing but spin the IE page-loading globe
endlessly.  Killing the python.exe process ended it.

Thanks very much in advance for clarifying my newbie questions.  I
really really did try to RTFM first.
-
CG