Hiya,
Is there any easy way (yet) to get Avast! to check my incoming Gmail messages on Thunderbird?
About 6 months ago I tried following instructions for using Stunnel but after a picosecond or two my mind started boggling (not that it takes a lot for that to happen).
John Latter
Don’t hold your breath waiting for this to happen.
You may already be aware but at the end of 2005 GMail added virus scanning of attachments (sent and received) to their service.
As explained before GMail uses an SSL connection. The whole point of that is to prevent anyone reading the traffic between your mail client (Thunderbird) and the mail server (in just the same way that SSL is used to ensure that your online banking or credit card transactions are secure). avast! is never going to be in the business of trying to intercept that.
STunnel is not exactly the most simple tool to set up but, as I think you know, it will still allow you to run the SSL connection to GMail but terminate it inside your system and then pass the (no longer encrypted) mail stream inside your system to avast to be scanned.
There is another option that is simpler, it works - I have tested it with my GMail account and Thunderbird. This is a free program called FreePops. FreePops specializes only in the receiving of mail, it does not support sending of mail - it assumes you will use standard SMTP services.
FreePops works by using normal web transactions (http and https) to access email accounts via their Web interface (for Hotmail, Yahoo, GMail, Juno, Netzero, Lycos and a host of others). It then converts the webmail to a POP3 stream that can be passed to your mail client and scanned by avast along the way.
FreePops is very easy to install (it has no GUI interface) and the setup simply requires a small change to the Thunderbird settings for the GMail account and two entries in the Customize section of the avast Internet Mail scanner. It also has a user forum that is just as helpful as this one.
You can find it by an easy scan for FreePops. If you care to try it and need any further assistance with it click on my userid and send me a message.
Thank you for an informative and comprehensive reply Alan!
Freepops certainly sounds easier to set up than Stunnel but do I really need to do anything if Gmail are now scanning attachments?- or can virii (is that right for the plural of virus?) be sent in the message body?
Thanks again,
John Latter
As far as I know GMail have not divulged the provider of their virus scanning software so it is a little difficult to judge its thoroughness. They are at least scanning attachments (and incidentally advise that they will not permit .exe files in attachments even if they are included in a .zip file). They should probably do the same for .vbs files. As to whether a virus can be contained in the body of a message - possibly - but I would defer to the experience of the avast team if they wish to comment.
However, given that GMail are now scanning I would suggest that implementing extra solutions to have the mail scanned again by avast is unnecessary effort provided that you always treat mail from those you know with caution and from those unknown to you with the most extreme caution. Saving any questionable attachment to disk and scanning it with avast before opening is always a good step to take.
I’ll leave things as they are then Alan. Even if Freepops is easier to implement than Stunnel, I usually make a hash of things so there’s no point in my ruining the day before its barely begun.
John
I understand.
And from a different perspective - I am thinking of heading off to sleep yesterday.