Avast & Thunderbird

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

I have just come off a Mozilla forum asking a question re Thunderbird security.

The following is a response i have received and wish to know what people make of this. Do you agree?

“Do you really trust Avast that much? Letting it intercept your SSL connection to the server is a silly idea. By doing that you give up any control to which server you connect. And you basically give them your password as well. Beyond that, what benefit to you think you get when having Avast scanning your email?”

Is there a benefit to Avast scanning my mail via Thunderbird and does it compromise password security?

Forum can be found here - https://getsatisfaction.com/mozilla_messaging/topics/preventing_hackers?utm_content=reply_link&utm_medium=email&utm_source=reply_notification#reply_12015378

2
Is there a benefit to Avast scanning my mail
it depends...... does your mail provider do virus scan on the mail server? who is your mail provider?

and as far as i know you enter the mail password in your mail client… not in avast!

3

I use Outlook mail (previously hotmail), and various other IMAP accounts. Since i create websites i have various email addresses e.g. myname@mydomain.com. My hosting company provides Antivirus & Spam protection, but to what level i don’t know.

4

well microsoft protect all msn / hotmail / live mail / outlook mail accounts with Trend Micro antivirus scan
and i think the spam filter is microsofts own

the other accounts you have, you may contact your mail provider for info

yahoo use Norton antivirus and spam filter
Gmail use postini spam virus filter, with two AV engines from Authentium and McAfee

5

Then it is starting to sound like i would be better off bypassing Avast during the Thunderbird setup.

6

I trust avast! 100% and have for going on 12 years now!

Microsoft says, you do not need antivirus protection for Outlook. I don’t believe them, but they said it.

7

if you want to test your account…

http://www.emailsecuritycheck.net/
http://www.aleph-tec.com/eicar/

if any antivirus vendor was not to thrust… that would be the end of that company
i cant say i have ever heard about any story like that… exept for the IObit case

8

justinlee, are you using cloud and online services of Avast! 7 / 8 ?
if answer is yes then your privacy concern doesn’t matter anyway

9

Yes, i am using them.