Hello,
In a Nov. 18/04 Microsoft column on the topic of file corruption in Outlook
Express, the author claims that the most common cause of .DBX file corruption
is anti-virus programs that are configured to scan email. The author goes on
to state that to lessen the risk of such corruption, the email scanning module
should be disabled. Would anyone care to comment on the credibility of these
statements.
Thanks,
Dealflow
First, if it’s Outlook Express and avast!, I’ll assume we’re talking about POP (Post Office Protocol) email.
Without knowing exactly what was written, the two things mentioned;
“.DBX file corruption” and “email scanning module”
are not directly related.
Like most email scanners, the avast! “Internet Mail” provider is external to OE. It scans incoming messages before they get into any .DBX file. So while it’s theoretically possible that it could corrupt a message on its way to OE, it can’t corrupt a database file it has no contact with or knowledge of.
On the other hand, an on demand scanner that unpacks the database file and checks every message inside, like the one in avast!, could corrupt an OE .DBX file. But what is suggested: “to lessen the risk of such corruption, the email scanning module should be disabled” will not help.
Therefore, if I was worried about .DBX file corruption, I’d leave the real-time email scanning enabled but exclude OE .DBX (and Outlook .PST, etc…) files from being scanned on demand.
If you do want to check inside them, make a copy of the database file to the desktop and then scan that, taking note of the details of any malware found, and deleting the individual messages later from OE.
I could go on rather boringly in support of the comments from Vladimyr .
Suffice to say that the very best email detection smarts of avast are in the avast Internet Mail provider which scans the email streams as they are in the process of being delivered to your email client and preventing malware from ever making it to the email database. Let me also add that I doubt you will find better scanning of the real time mail stream anywhere else. The entire point of this provider is to prevent any malware ever making into the email database of your mail client and …to quote the old saying … “prevention is far better than cure”.
Though the avast team will not thank me … the avast “on demand” scanning of email databases is, in my opinion, best avoided for the safety of your email database. You are entirely risk free from any malware in your email database unless you choose to activate it. Chances are the other elements of avast (on demand scanner) will intercept malware decoded from your email database should you be foolish enough to try to activate it.
Thanks to both of you for your input and suggestions. I hasten to add that I don’t have any evidence suggesting any form of file corruption has occurred on my computer as a result of using Avast! I merely came across the article in question by accident and found it to be somewhat provocative. Notwithstanding, as a precaution I’ve decided to exclude my Store Folder (which includes all the .dbx files) when performing manual scans in the future.
Best regards,
dealflow