Is SpamFoo really working? It doesn't seem so to me...

6/28/2026 at 9:53 AM

Maybe it should be enabled somewhere ? Is that an addon, a marketplace item ? I'm a bit lost on how it's integrated. Can't find much infos in the doc.

I thought it would be listed here but nope:
https://help.smartertools.com/SmarterMail/Current/Topics/Installation/Addons
Neither here:
https://help.smartertools.com/SmarterMail/Current/Topics/Installation/SpamVirusIntegration

Sébastien Riccio

System & Network Admin

https://swisscenter.com

Matt Petty Replied

6/28/2026 at 10:07 AM

Employee Post

Try looking for entries of "[SpamFoo Client]" in the delivery log, see if you notice any errors or indicators of issues. You can also try looking for the running process "spamfoo-client" running on the machine. If neither of those are the case there is a debug log id (also set in the troubleshooting area) you can add '20251120' to the debug log id's list and another log will show up with a lot more information, I'd restart after flipping these logs on incase there are things logged only during spinup that may indicate an issue.

Also just so I can start a list of things, if those seeing issues can also include some information about your environment like what OS, is is a fairly 'default' install or any other interesting details, could start to find correllations.

Matt Petty

Senior Software Developer

SmarterTools Inc.

www.smartertools.com

Gabriele Maoret - SERSIS Replied

6/28/2026 at 12:26 PM

windows 2022 with standard installation. All other Spam Filters are wotking fine.

I see a lot of theese errors in DELIVERY LOG:

[2026.06.28] 10:11:05.651 [SpamFoo Client] ClassifyTabs: _testConnectionTask=running, ActiveServiceCapabilities=False

[2026.06.28] 10:11:14.268 [SpamFoo Client] Re-attempting start of SpamFoo in 19,4009434 seconds.

[2026.06.28] 10:11:14.269 [SpamFoo Client] [18565882] Error: Could not start SpamFoo.

[2026.06.28] 10:11:29.296 [SpamFoo Client] Re-attempting start of SpamFoo in 4,3731705 seconds.

[2026.06.28] 10:11:29.301 [SpamFoo Client] [18565885] Error: Could not start SpamFoo.

[2026.06.28] 10:11:38.684 [SpamFoo Client] Test connection to SpamFoo Daemon failed after 5 attempts.

[2026.06.28] 10:11:38.684 [SpamFoo Client] ClassifyTabs: after await, ActiveServiceCapabilities=False

[2026.06.28] 10:11:38.684 [SpamFoo Client] [presidente@prolocolentiai.it] Error: Classification error: SpamFoo service is not available.

[2026.06.28] 10:11:38.684 [SpamFoo Client] ClassifyTabs: after await, ActiveServiceCapabilities=False

[2026.06.28] 10:11:38.684 [SpamFoo Client] [info@legatoriaprimia.it] Error: Classification error: SpamFoo service is not available.

[2026.06.28] 10:11:38.795 [SpamFoo Client] Attempting to start SpamFoo Daemon @ C:/Program Files (x86)/SmarterTools/SmarterMail/Service/SpamFoo/bin/spamfoo-client.exe [WD: C:/Program Files (x86)/SmarterTools/SmarterMail/Service/SpamFoo] [DataDir: C:/Program Files (x86)/SmarterTools/SmarterMail/Service/SpamFoo/data]

[2026.06.28] 10:11:38.797 [SpamFoo Client] SpamFoo Daemon Started.

[2026.06.28] 10:11:38.797 [SpamFoo Client] TestConnectionToSpamFoo

[2026.06.28] 10:11:38.798 [SpamFoo Client] ClassifyTabs: _testConnectionTask=running, ActiveServiceCapabilities=False

[2026.06.28] 10:11:40.687 [SpamFoo Client] ClassifyTabs: after await, ActiveServiceCapabilities=False

[2026.06.28] 10:11:40.688 [SpamFoo Client] [segreteria@prolocolentiai.it] Error: Classification error: SpamFoo service is not available.

[2026.06.28] 10:11:40.794 [SpamFoo Client] ClassifyTabs: _testConnectionTask=running, ActiveServiceCapabilities=False

[2026.06.28] 10:12:13.875 [SpamFoo Client] Test connection to SpamFoo Daemon failed after 5 attempts.

[2026.06.28] 10:12:13.875 [SpamFoo Client] ClassifyTabs: after await, ActiveServiceCapabilities=False

[2026.06.28] 10:12:13.875 [SpamFoo Client] [info@legatoriaprimia.it] Error: Classification error: SpamFoo service is not available.

[2026.06.28] 10:12:13.875 [SpamFoo Client] ClassifyTabs: after await, ActiveServiceCapabilities=False

[2026.06.28] 10:12:13.875 [SpamFoo Client] [segreteria@prolocolentiai.it] Error: Classification error: SpamFoo service is not available.

[2026.06.28] 10:12:13.987 [SpamFoo Client] Attempting to start SpamFoo Daemon @ C:/Program Files (x86)/SmarterTools/SmarterMail/Service/SpamFoo/bin/spamfoo-client.exe [WD: C:/Program Files (x86)/SmarterTools/SmarterMail/Service/SpamFoo] [DataDir: C:/Program Files (x86)/SmarterTools/SmarterMail/Service/SpamFoo/data]

[2026.06.28] 10:12:13.990 [SpamFoo Client] SpamFoo Daemon Started.

[2026.06.28] 10:12:13.990 [SpamFoo Client] TestConnectionToSpamFoo

[2026.06.28] 10:12:13.990 [SpamFoo Client] ClassifyTabs: _testConnectionTask=running, ActiveServiceCapabilities=False

[2026.06.28] 10:12:15.874 [SpamFoo Client] ClassifyTabs: after await, ActiveServiceCapabilities=False

[2026.06.28] 10:12:15.874 [SpamFoo Client] [presidente@prolocolentiai.it] Error: Classification error: SpamFoo service is not available.

[2026.06.28] 10:12:15.994 [SpamFoo Client] ClassifyTabs: _testConnectionTask=running, ActiveServiceCapabilities=False

[2026.06.28] 10:12:49.027 [SpamFoo Client] Test connection to SpamFoo Daemon failed after 5 attempts.

[2026.06.28] 10:12:49.027 [SpamFoo Client] ClassifyTabs: after await, ActiveServiceCapabilities=False

[2026.06.28] 10:12:49.027 [SpamFoo Client] [presidente@prolocolentiai.it] Error: Classification error: SpamFoo service is not available.

[2026.06.28] 10:12:49.027 [SpamFoo Client] [info@legatoriaprimia.it] Error: Classification error: SpamFoo service is not available.

Gabriele Maoret - Head of SysAdmins and CISO at SERSIS

Currently manages 7 SmarterMail installations (1 in the cloud for SERSIS which provides services to a few hundred third-party email domains + 6 on-premise for customers who prefer to have their mail server in-house)

Gabriele Maoret - SERSIS Replied

6/28/2026 at 1:14 PM

I upgraded a second server that is on Windows 2019. Same issue...

The SpamFoo service isn't working

Gabriele Maoret - Head of SysAdmins and CISO at SERSIS

Currently manages 7 SmarterMail installations (1 in the cloud for SERSIS which provides services to a few hundred third-party email domains + 6 on-premise for customers who prefer to have their mail server in-house)

Sébastien Riccio Replied

6/28/2026 at 1:33 PM

At least you got the services responding after the upgrade.... You lucky fellow!

Sébastien Riccio

System & Network Admin

https://swisscenter.com

Brian Bjerring-Jensen - VonBjerring GmbH Replied

6/28/2026 at 3:05 PM

I aint touching this shit.....

Staying put.

Gabriele Maoret - SERSIS Replied

6/29/2026 at 12:57 AM

I disabled SpamFoo because it wasn't working...

Perhaps the cause is a System Locale issue (I use Windows Server with Italian settings...), as explained here:

SpamFoo bug (more of an edge case, when system locale is not English)

But we don't know for sure and I prefer NOT to have systems with unknown bugs running on my servers

Also: I'm very concerned about reports of MANY false positives (for those who have managed to get it to work... see here: SpamFoo bug (more of an edge case, when system locale is not English)) perhaps caused by the same (or similar...) language issue (perhaps that it ONLY works good with (US) English emails?...) which could lead to major customer dissatisfaction issues...

Gabriele Maoret - Head of SysAdmins and CISO at SERSIS

Currently manages 7 SmarterMail installations (1 in the cloud for SERSIS which provides services to a few hundred third-party email domains + 6 on-premise for customers who prefer to have their mail server in-house)

D

Douglas Foster Replied

6/29/2026 at 3:38 AM

@Brian

I don't have to be an employee to be offended by your insult and vulgarity. It adds nothing to the conversation.

This is breakthrough filtering technology: the sophisticated filtering of A.I. without an A.I. chip, and apparently without even requiring a dedicated server.

Up to this point, the filtering industry has provided too little protection for too much cost, and this community has felt that squeeze very deeply. This is a promising solution to that problem.

Like you, I get frustrated with the volume of SM bugs that seem unrelated to the most recent round of code changes. But I also have a genuine appreciation of how complex email is: multiple protocols, multiple languages, an infinitely large data set with plenty of dirty data to complicate data parsing, and an infinitely complex security problem.

Internationalization is one of the causes of email complexity, and early reports indicate that this product is too US-Centric for your needs at this time. So you are right to delay implementation. But don't wish failure on this initiative.

Brian Bjerring-Jensen - VonBjerring GmbH Replied

6/29/2026 at 4:27 AM

I don't wish failure on the initiative. Quite the opposite. I hope it succeeds. The email industry desperately needs better spam filtering.

What I do object to is how this is being introduced.

Many of us here aren't running hobby servers or test labs. We're responsible for production email systems that businesses rely on every single day. Every new component we deploy has to earn our trust because if it fails, it's our customers and not SpamFoo or SmarterMail, who suffer the consequences.

When a product is presented as "breakthrough technology" while the company behind it is difficult to identify, there's very little public technical documentation, limited transparency about who is actually developing and operating it, and very little real-world operational history, it's entirely reasonable for experienced administrators to ask hard questions.

That's not wishing failure. That's due diligence.

The filtering engine may turn out to be excellent. I genuinely hope it does. But production environments are not the place for blind faith. Trust is built through transparency, documentation, independent validation, and a proven operational track record.

The frustration you're seeing from many of us isn't because we dislike innovation. It's because we're already spending too much time dealing with regressions, unexpected bugs, and customer-impacting issues. Adding another critical service and especially one that introduces external dependencies, raises the bar for what we need to see before recommending it to paying customers.

As administrators, our first responsibility isn't to help vendors prove new technology. It's to protect the businesses that trust us with their email.

Agree?

Daniele (TDBnet) Replied

6/29/2026 at 5:09 AM

I agree with Brian.

Matt Petty Replied

6/29/2026 at 7:23 AM

Employee Post

Simple, then don't turn it on. Put in a VM, experiment, or don't we aren't forcing you to.
It's literally being handed out as BETA/FREE for now, both features as things get figured out.

Also, imo, the documention on help.spamfoo.com is VERY extensive and does a pretty dang good job of explaining how it works and how to use it.

Kinda weird to hear everyone beg for options for the past couple months just to all the sudden be spooked by anything new, that's fair I guess, just wait and see then? You're certainly gonna see a lot of posts about it.

Matt Petty

Senior Software Developer

SmarterTools Inc.

www.smartertools.com

N

Nick Jansen Replied

6/29/2026 at 7:34 AM

For the SpamFoo dashboard is unavailable message: I was getting that on mine at first, but eventually it started working on its own. I just tried to open it again later and it suddenly worked. Maybe it was still initializing. I think it took several minutes on my server, but it's a pretty small server and maybe it takes longer than that on a larger one.

Daniele (TDBnet) Replied

6/29/2026 at 8:16 AM

Mmmmh... I didn't understand: spamfoo is optional or is enforced?

Reading the various posts it seemed mandatory and a replacement for cyren and message sniffer.

So, SM can run as always, also on build 9673?

J

J. LaDow Replied

6/29/2026 at 8:41 AM

SpamFoo is optional and can be disabled - it's treated as an "add-on" so far, and can run without it enabled.

MailEnable survivor / convert --

Tim Uzzanti Replied

6/29/2026 at 8:42 AM

Employee Post

SpamFoo is currently in beta. It is not enabled by default and is only available if you choose to try it. Yes, an installation issue has been identified. Its been offered FREE during the beta.

Tim Uzzanti

CEO

SmarterTools Inc.

www.smartertools.com

Derek Curtis Replied

6/29/2026 at 9:24 AM

Employee Post

Just to clarify a little: SpamFoo Antispam is in beta at the moment and is an available antispam Spam Check option for system administrators just like Cyren, SpamAssassin, etc.

Email Classification, which is also part of the SpamFoo engine, will be a feature that's included, free of charge, for all webmail users moving forward. That, too, is optional and can be enabled/disabled by a system administrator.

Neither is enabled by default.

Derek Curtis

CCO

SmarterTools Inc.

www.smartertools.com

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