In Avast AIS, 5.0.507, set up a virus alert via SMTP. Set the SMTP settings to something reasonable, but use port 465.
I’m using:
Server Address: mail.iinet.net.au (but also have reproduced this using a Yahoo server, so its not server specific).
Port: 465 (the key to hit the bug)
From address: Whatever@ozemail.com.au
SMTP Authentication: checked
User Name: username
Password: password
User name and password can be real, or fake like above - the bug happens either way.
Click OK to ensure the settings get applied (else a test seems to use previous settings - bug #1).
Re-open the settings and click the “test” button for the SMTP address.
Avast locks up (bug #2). Even end task does not help here (I assume since Avast resists forced shut down attempts), so a reboot is the only option. I’ve hit this about 10 times on about 5 different machines today, running different operating systems from Windows XP SP3, through to Windows 7 in both 32-bit and 64-bit flavors, so this isn’t my imagination.
If this is not the correct place to log bugs, please let me know where to do it.
The SMTP server I initially wanted to use requires SSL. I’ve since changed to an SMTP server that does not require SSL (port 25) and it’s all good. I think that I probably could have used port 25 for the first SMTP server and Avast would have taken care of the SSL handling for me (it seems to do so with another application I am using… in fact my own application WinReminders), but I think I got thwarted by the apparent behavior where the settings applied for the test do not use the latest changes until clicking OK and then re-opening the settings. i.e., I started with port 465, changed it to 25, then tested before clicking OK, and still got the lock up. I’m guessing that had I clicked OK after changing to port 25, then gone back in and tested, it would have worked with port 25.
Either way I did work around the issue by using a different SMTP server and tested that all my machines (3x licensed, and 2x free Avast) work OK. So the problem is worked around easily enough, but the symptom is not pretty if you do hit it.
Did you test it using an EICAR file or something like that to see if it will really send an alert on detection, or did you test it just by using the test button?
See above: Re-open the settings and click the “test” button for the SMTP address.
I have enough faith in Avast after using it for many years to believe it will send an alert when there is one to be sent; I merely wished to verify that I had entered valid SMTP settings.