Hi,
every time I start the computer, Avast tells me that “Port 25 is already in use, specify another port value” for the outgoing SMTP mail protection.
this is before I start up my email client (OE6).
why would port 25 be unavailable already? (I had AVG still running when I installed AVAST, but it’s uninstalled now)
thanks for any pointers…
Garbanzo 
Try using a different port number.
garbanzo,
Firstly, you cannot arbitrarily change port numbers in Avast. The .ini file must be changed, and then your email client profile matched accordingly.
What Avast is telling you is that you have another program which is using Port 25. This is not uncommon.
However, Port 25 is normally reserved for Simple Mail Transer.
Do you still have AVG installed? Avast and AVG cannot be on the same computer. Both run resident. You must uninstall AVG for Avast to run correctly.
AVG monitors email also, and has most likely “trapped” port 25 for its own use.
techie
garbanzo, if you’re using Windows 2000 or XP, you can find out which application is listening on port 25 by running this tool: http://www.sysinternals.com/files/tcpview.zip
Hope this helps,
Vlk
thanks folks. I uninstalled AVG when it was obvious that the 2 were’nt happy together. Still got the “port 25 busy” message when I booted up.
So, I’ve simply changed the AVAST settings to not do the mail. I don’t have a clue what’s taking over port 25. There must be a system process that logs onto POP3 (ie, in XP, it tells me before I log on if I have new email messages).
I’ve had TCPview for a while. So I fired it up. Not sure if it’s “process” or “local address” that I am looking for, but there’s no port 25 listed at all. Local TCP’s start at 1033 and “Process” listings start at 356 (ie, “tcpsvcs.exe:356”).
Netstat -an (in the DOS screen) reports 25 as an active connection, but does not list the app using it. It just says, “0.0.0.0:25” to “0.0.0.0:0” Listening.
That’s the extent of my technical know-how and my visionary perspective at this wee hour.
garbanzo
Do you have the latest version of TCPView?
Anyway, what you’re looking for is the Local Address column. You can sort it. Additionaly, you won’t see the number 25 because TCPView knows about this port and will display the word “smtp” instead.
So basically, what you’re looking for is something like
:smtp
in the Local Address column. That will be your process.
Thanks
Vlk
garbanza,
There are 2 ways we can try to fix this:
Follow VLK’s advice and look over the TCP report and see if any other instance of STMP is listed.
Then, I would run MSCONFIG and go the Startup tab.
Review the list for any program that you are not familiar with.
Also, what email client do you use?
Is it set to load with Windows?
Although Netstat is useful, it does not give you a clear picture of who is using what.
TCP is nice, but unless you know how to interpret the data, you still don’t know what your looking at.
I had a nice Port scanner program somewhere that I will have to find for you.
Anyway, try the above and let us know.
techie
This would drive me crazy. I would HAVE to know what other system was taking over my default port number.
garbanza,
Ok, here are my picks for Port Scanners that you can try and they are all Freeware
Super Scan from www.foundstone.com
This is a highly effective program, but a bit on the advanced side. Takes a bit of learning.
Active Ports from www.ntutility.com
This is a straightforward, easy to use program that tells you what you want to know. Nice interface.
Local Port Scanner by www.jpsoft.dk
Nice program. Again, it tells you only the basics but that is all YOU want right now.
AntiyPorts by www.antiy.net
Simple and easy to use.
All of the programs are equally effective. Pick what you feel you can work with.
Now, you can pick one and find out “who” is using Port 25. Then we can figure out what to do about it.
Let me know.
techie
???
Have just discover this other world of Ports.-Avast talks about Port 25, as this discussion mentions. Have used one of these port finders, and yes port 25 is open. Have just read some info on this on another site, but still in the dark-how do I remove, change this port usage, or do I have to print out reams of instructions, and read past midnight.
Hope for some help, love AVast. Thank you.
PetaK…
I am trying to run ihatespam but avast dominates port 25. The only way I can get ihatespam to work is to stop the process manually because telling avast not to touch my Outlook Express directly doesn’t work.
Anybody have a solution to this?
Anybody running Ihatespam wanna offer some help here?
-Jazhawk
jaz,
Avast normally uses Port 25 which is the common port for email.
However, you can try resetting Avast POP3 to 26 and SMTP to 111.
The Avast .ini file will need to correspond to these ports as well.
I have not used IHateSpam but you can try the settings above to see if they will work for you.
You can’t really tell Avast not to bother with OE if it has been configured to scan the email.
Shutting down Avast is not a good idea just to use IHateSpam. I would really try another anti-spammer that does not use the email port.
Good Luck
techie
There was another user of this spam program on the forums that was unable to get it work with Avast. He switched to SpamPal.
Techie 101
I’ll give it a shot because I need the protection and I’m trying to keep spam at bay. When Cox switched me from cox.com to cox.net, the spam floodgates opened. I’ve never used my cox.net email addy ANYWHERE on the net, but spam is rolling all of a sudden.
They claim they are not responsible for it but that response was expected. They lie!
Anyway, I’ll keep you posted but I may need to holla back at you in case I have problems.
@Culpeper
I downloaded Spampal but I’ll need to check it’s background and success rate before I install it. The best part is it’s free. But that also means they don’t have to really be accountable for a poorly functioning product but again, thanx for the heads up.
-Jazhawk
No problem! SpamPal has it’s own support forum. I’ve been using it for a long time. So much so, that I now just let it delete messages flagged as spam.
Yeah, that was me, I hate spam would not work. I eventually gor on the phone with sunbelt (makers of ihatespam) and there was no way to make it work. So with that beiing said, I did a refund on the program and now use spampal. Much better in the long run. 30 day return on ihatespam if ya bought it, i would suggest a return on it.
fyi:Spampal works great,been using it now for about 2 months, i can honestly say that 98 percent of junk is filtered. And I do lots of submissions and stuff, so lots of junk. Spampal takes it all and puts it into the spam box. Its an awesome program and i highly reccomend it.
Thanx for the endorsement datagg. I’m going to load er up in a few minutes.
I’ll keep you posted.
-Jazhawk
I’m having the same problem (with port 25 being used).
It only seems to affect outgoing messages though, so that’s not too bad. But still, it would be nice to get it all straightened out.
I’m running W2K, with Outlook 2003 and SpamEater.
The confusing thing is that even though the documentation says to change your mail client settings to point to 127… mine still has the original settings in there, and it’s working fine (and yes, incoming mail gets scanned—I tested it).
So both, Outlook and SpamEater point to my original mail servers, and Avast gives me an Outlook plugin info when I start up Outlook.
So - what’s the best thing to straighten things out here?
Should I point Outlook and SpamEater to localhost? Or leave Outlook alone (because of the Avast plugin) and only change SpamEater? Or do I need to use a different port number altogether?
P.S. Looks like IIS was the culprit…
It automatically starts an SMTP process as a sub-service, and that one was hogging port 25.
Once I disabled the process, avast started fine.
I just switched over the SpamPal and avoided Avast altogether. SpamPal works pretty well so far and the best part of it, it’s free.
-Jazhawk