VISTA Home Premium system with up-to-date version of Thunderbird and newly downloaded/installed copy or AVAST.
When Thunderbird attempts to read any POP email account I get the error dialog:
Alert
An error occurred with the POP3 mail server. Mail server pop.xxx.yyy.net responded:
If I turn off AVAST on-access-protection all email accounts work via Thunderbird…
If I turn off Firewall I still get ALERT error dialog.
No other AV installed or running.
Any solution?
Your thread title includes “AVG” and you mention that you have a newly installed version of avast.
Did you uninstall AVG before installing avast? If you did not they are likely to conflict and cause problems like the one you are seeing.
If you did remove the previous antivirus before installing avast then …
Do you use a firewall, if so have you granted Internet access permission to ashMaiSv.exe (the avast Internet Mail provider)?
Sorry about the title typo - strike AVG and put in AVAST. Too many changes today.
All older AVs have been uninstalled.
Firewall not the issue - I tested with firewall turned off.
Thanks.
In Thunderbird is this account using port 110 to connect to the server? Is the security setting for the POP account in the “Server Settings” set to “Never”?
Are you using any spam filtering software with this account?
In Thunderbird is this account using port 110 to connect to the server?
Yes
Is the security setting for the POP account in the “Server Settings” set to “Never”?
Yes
Are you using any spam filtering software with this account?
No
I restored an earlier C: partition, uninstalled AVG, installed AVAST.
Can now receive and send email via Thunderbird.
I guess the av/email gods are no longer angry.
For sure, remains of AVG could due to malfunction of avast, most specially, the email scanning.
As an extra assurance please check that the avast Internet Mail provider is showing you the subject line of the mails it is scanning when you run Thunderbird to download your mail.
Thanks for the suggestion.
The AVAST Home version Internet Mail provider does not, by default, show the subject line of the mails it is scanning - had to manually turn it on.
Also, it’s hard to see, since the Thunderbird pops up its dialog over the AVAST message. Decide to turn off the Thunderbird alert for now.
I did not mean to suggest that you turned on the detailed information in the mail scanner - the information is shown by default in the “Last scanned” field of the Internet Mail provider as shown in the attached image.
By rhe way it is a good idea to have the sensitivity of the Internet Mail scanner set to High. This costs prectically nothing in resources on your system but, at this setting, will alert you if you have the misfortune to be infected by an email spambot that could use your system to send huge numbers of spam emails.
Dose The Internet mail scanner need to be set on “high” for all email, of just Thinderbird ?? Thanks
To detect an email spambot infection the Internet Mail provider need to be set to high sensitivity whatever the email client is (or even if an email client is not used - spambot infections can happen even if you do not use an email client).
Alan,
I take it that when you refer to a spambot infection, you are talking about the type of infection that turns one’s pc efffectively into a spam server. I and possibly many other users have been using the default Normal setting for the Internet Mail shield (in the case of Outlook express), not knowing that protection agains this type of infection required the High Setting. Have I missed reading something, or should this type of information be made more prominent. Thank you for making the point. 
The infector could be detected by Standard Shield. So, I think it’s possible to get warned by this infection if avast virus database is prepared for it. The mail scanner is a second layer of protection when the first lose the battle.
I agree with the more PROMINENT !!! ;D
I have recommended this frequently and our most prominent helpers here, Tech and DavidR, have recommended it more frequently.
We have only the same abilities here as any other avast user.
i just mention that i have identical circumstances – Vista-32 Home Premium, AVAST, and Thunderbird – and I have never experienced a problem in almost a year.
nweissma
The information posted by avastrb seems to give a strong indication that the problem was most likely caused by conflict with a former antivirus (AVG) which when fully uninstalled cleared the problem.
There can be other causes for this problem - can you provide us with more details of your error? Server (if public), port you are using to receive your mail, spam filter if used etc.
alanrf -
I assume that your request for more info was in response to my orig post. If so, that config is long behind me and I can’t provide any additional info.
But as a note, on my second (successful) attempt to replace AVG with AVAST my uninstall procedure was (1) use the normal AVG uninstall, (2) go through the C: files and remove all remnants of AVG in the file system, and (3) go through the VISTA Registry and remove all AVG entries there. After that AVAST was installed and all was well.
avastrb
Sorry about that, I was referring to the the post from nweissma which I misunderstood it as a new error report and was asking for details of it.