Overview

SpamRazer is an anti-spam engine that filters emails through the use of mail fingerprints, sender reputation, content analysis, and heuristics. This article describes how to refresh broken or corrupt SpamRazer definitions.

Diagnosis

Broken definitions will result in this filter acting in an abnormal manner, either blocking emails which should not be blocked i.e. false positives or when the SpamRazor filter isn't blocking obvious spam.

Ensure that Automatic updates option is selected by navigating to GFI MailEssentials > Anti-Spam > Anti-Spam Filters > SpamRazor. The Update options section under the Updates tab may show the current version of definition updates as N/A.

If enabled, the Administrator may also receive a notification Email stating the last update attempt was unsuccessful.

Solution

The following steps will refresh the SpamRazer definitions which may have become corrupted:

1. Open the Windows Control Panel, choose Administrative Tools, locate Services on the list (Fig. 1.), and double-click it.

1. 
   Fig. 1. Opening the Services window from the Control Panel.

2. Locate and stop the Microsoft Exchange Transport service if MailEssentials is installed on the Exchange server. Alternatively, if MailEssentials is installed on an email gateway or relay/perimeter server, stop the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) service.  
3. Stop the GFI MailEssentials Attendant Service by selecting it from the services list and using the toolbar stop button or the stop link on the top left as shown below. Note that the right-click menu also provides the same options: 
4. Backup the SpamRazer data folder located at ...\GFI\MailEssentials\AntiSpam\SpamScore\Core
5. Delete all the rule files (sc*.bin; sc1.bin, sc2aj5ac49e0.bin.tmp, etc) from the SpamRazer data folder. These include all files except spamcatcher.conf, productid, rkd. 
6. Start the services stopped in Steps 2 and 3 using any of the options available on the Services window.
7. Update the SpamRazer module by navigating to GFI MailEssentials > Anti-Spam > Anti-Spam Filters > SpamRazor and opening the Updates tab. Click on the Download updates now button to force the updater service to download the most recent updates.  

Confirmation

1. Navigate to GFI MailEssentials > Anti-Spam > Anti-Spam Filters > SpamRazor and click on the Updates tab.
2. The Update options section shows when the last update was done and whether it was successful, together with the current version of the SpamRazor definitions which should be showing current date and time as shown below: