How to Stop Avast from automatically downloading IMAP Email?

General Topics
1

Can someone advise me of a method to stop Avast from automatically downloading IMAP email? I get lots of unwanted emails. I use the IMAP protocol so that I don’t have to bother downloading unwanted emails. I glance at the name of the sender and/or the subject matter and decide what I want to download and read.

Avast is automatically downloading and scanning all the mail that goes to my server. I think it’s a good idea for the program to scan the messages that I decide to download. However, it’s a waste of time and resources to download the messages that I don’t want on my machine in the first place. I only care about less than 1 percent of the message titles that I look at. The other 99 percent I’d prefer to delete from the server without downloading.

I use Microsoft Outlook for reading my email.

Thanks in advance for any advice on how to stop Avast from downloading the unwanted email.

– L. James

–
L. D. James
ljames@apollo3.com
www.apollo3.com/~ljames

2

I don’t use IMAP, but standard POP3/SMTP email and avast doesn’t automatically download anything, avast scans the email that you choose to download.

So I don’t believe it should be any different when using IMAP.

Are you using the avast Outlook/Exchange provider, which is a plug-in for MS Outlook ?
If so avast effectively works within the email client, so that would/should mean the same only email you choose to download is scanned.

So I don’t know (as I don’t use MS Outlook) if in looking at the server an element of the email is actually downloaded.

I suggest you remove your email address unless you particularly like spam.

3

Hi, DavidR. Thanks for the quick input. The Standard IMAP and the Standard POP3 protocols are substantially different and work differently. You’re right; with the Standard POP3 protocol the user decided when to download his mail. Also, when he connects and downloads, he downloads all of it and works with the mail on his local computer.

Using the Standard IMAP protocol, the system downloads only headers. The mail is always stored on the server. The user looks at the headers and double clicks on the messages he would like to read. When double clicking, only the messages that he clicks on are downloaded. The messages stay on the server.

With Microsoft Outlook the messages not downloaded are marked with a symbol. The symbol is removed once the message is on your local computer. When I connect to my mail server, it’s very sluggish, because Avast is looking at the headers that are presented to Outlook and the user, and automatically downloading each of them one by one. This is very timely and a serious waste of resources.

Uninstalling Avast, and I can open and close Outlook very fast because Outlook does not download emails. It just presents the user with the headers. In my case, I’m only interested in one percent of the headers I see. So I double click on the header of interest. None of the other messages are every transferred over the internet to my machine.

Reinstalling Avast, and all the messages are transferred to my machine.

It’s easy to tell the messages are transferred and to tell when they are transferred.

I understand that since you don’t use the Standard IMAP protocol, this might not make a lot of sense to you. But it will make sense to a person that does.

So I don't believe it should be any different when using IMAP.

The difference between POP3 and IMAP is substantial and described above.

Are you using the avast Outlook/Exchange provider, which is a plug-in for MS Outlook ?

I’m not familiar with the Exchange provider. I’m familiar with Exchange. I don’t use Exchange with the email in question, but I do give support to my clients that uses Microsoft Exchange.

The Avast I currently have installed on my machine is the standard free version. I’m anticipating on purchasing it and recommending it to my clients. I want to first become familiar with it’s functionality.

If so avast effectively works within the email client, so that would/should mean the same only email you choose to download is scanned.

So I don’t know (as I don’t use MS Outlook) if in looking at the server an element of the email is actually downloaded.

This is explained above. With the IMAP protocol, a user is presented with headers. The actually email stays on the server. He clicks on the title of the message he wants to read. It’s then downloaded. This is much like looking at topics in this forum with your web browser. You click on the title of the topic you want to read. Then that topic is downloaded to your browser. Only the topics you click on are transferred to your computer. You don’t download the whole forum.

With POP3 you download the whole inbox to your computer. Then you read and process it on your local computer. With IMAP you are presented with the list of topics of each email. You actually read them online. If you’re not connected to the internet, you can’t read them because the inbox is not downloaded to your computer.

However, Avast tries to download the whole Inbox as if you’re using the POP3 protocol rather than the Standard IMAP protocol.

I suggest you remove your email address unless you particularly like spam.

Thanks for the advice. I particularly don’t like spam. I have a very active and thorough spam system. It works well and unwanted emails are not transferred to my computer… at least they weren’t before installing Avast. I’m trying to figure out how to stop Avast from downloading the unwanted Spam and other unwanted items. I person practically has to apply for access to have his emails come to me.

Thanks again for the input and promptness.

– L. James

–
L. D. James
ljames@apollo3.com
www.apollo3.com/~ljames

4

The ‘avast!’ Outlook/Exchange is one of 7 Providers and is specifically for MS Outlook, and if enabled uses an avast plugin (within) MS Outlook. If you aren’t using that then the email traffic would be monitored by the avast Internet Mail provider and that could act in a different way that the avast plugin within MS Outlook.

So if using the Internet Mail provider then the headers coming down would be scanned, so I don’t know if that might be what you are seeing.

There are many forum members also using IMAP without this problem you explain, so hopefully one of those can help further.

5

I use Microsoft Outlook for reading my mail. Maybe you’re saying Avast installs an Outlook plugin. I’m sure it’s a plugin that’s performing the download. The question remains, how to control this component of Avast. The download behavior leaves with the removal of Avast, and it returns when Avast is installed. I would think that learning how to configure Avast would inadvertently affect the plugin component behavior.

So if using the Internet Mail provider then the headers coming down would be scanned, so I don't know if that might be what you are seeing.

Yes. The headers are scanned because they are automatically downloaded. That’s a function of IMAP. All IMAP mail clients download headers. The user looks at the list of headers and pick which email he wants to read. Then he clicks on that header and the email becomes downloaded and to the machine and he reads it.

Just like looking at the topics of this forum. You click on the topic that you want to read (like clicking on a header to read) The topic becomes downloaded to your computer and you read the topic in your browser. The email that you click on becomes downloaded to your computer and you read it with your email client.

IMAP programs don’t normally download messages, just the header. Now there is a behavior with Avast, that it looks at the header that Outlook brings to the user’s list. Then it summons the email as if the user had clicked on it to view it, and it scans the full message. It does this for all the emails.

I currently have over 3,000 emails in my server’s inbox. Outlook at times appears to be locked up while it’s scanning those 3,000 messages. All the messages gets downloaded to my computer. This is a problem.

I understand that some people will wonder why are there thousands of messages in my inbox. Why don’t I delete them or save them into a different folder. I actually do that every few months. I get about a thousand a month.

My computer wouldn’t appear so apparently locked up if I sorted the messages away from my inbox, of which I’ll soon do. But that’s not the most annoying problem. I don’t want any messages on my computer that I don’t choose to download. This is one of the reasons I use the Standard IMAP protocol.

I’m hoping, if a feature to stop Avast from downloading unwanted messages, and just scan the messages the user elects to read, maybe the developers will add this feature. It’d be a feature request if it doesn’t already exist. I won’t try to promote a feature request if the feature already exists.

I’m sure you’d be annoyed also if Avast choose to download your Inbox VIA your Standard POP3 feature without your intentions. You know that it will only scan your new messages if you elect to download them. The Standard POP3 has a feature that allows the user to decide (either automatically or manually) when to download his mail from the server. With the Standard POP3 protocal, it’s usually all or none. With the Standard IMAP protocol, it one message at a time, not the whole Inbox. The user is presented with a list of the messages and he decide from the list which one(s) he wants to be downloaded to his computer. The ones he does not click on will never be on his computer. The one(s) he doesn’t click on doesn’t have to be scanned. In my case, I never download a message that I won’t read. I only read about 1 percent of the emails that comes to my server. The other ones, I eventually get around to deleting them. I prefer not to have them scanned. I especially don’t want them to trickle down to my computer, of which Avast at this time is doing.

There are many forum members also using IMAP without this problem you explain, so hopefully one of those can help further.

Actually the IMAP users on this forum are living with the characteristic. It’s a default characteristic of Avast. My question is how to change it from this default.

Of course, I can probably find the Avast plug-in module that is attached to Outlook and delete it. But I’m sure that will remove the desired feature of Avast scanning the messages (individually) that I choose to read/download.

This is something I might have to do if there isn’t any other way to stop it from downloading messages that I’ll never read.

I really appreciate your taking the time to try to understand and to try to help. This has given me more opportunity to explain the issue so that the developers can look at it.

– L. James

–
L. D. James
ljames@apollo3.com
www.apollo3.com/~ljames

6

DavidR. Thanks again for all your input and insight, even though you don’t use Outlook.

I found the option I was looking for. I was right clicking on the Avast-A icon for menu options, looking at all the options that are available when you click on Start Avast, and thought I had looked everywhere. I even looked all over Microsoft Outlook’s addons’ features.

I finally found what you were talking about by double clicking on the Avast-A icon in the task bar. I removed the check mark from Scan inbound messages. This is what was scanning the Inbox on the server. These are messages that can either be downloaded or not. I only download (read) one or two messages out of a hundred. There is an option to “Scan unread messages on open” that is left activated. So now the messages won’t be automatically downloaded (the default behavior which I was trying to figure out how to disable). Messages that I elect to read (download) will be the only ones that will be downloaded or scanned. The other 98 percent of the messages will eventually be deleted from the server and never reach my computer.

I never would have found this without your diligent input. Thanks again.

– L. James

–
L. D. James
ljames@apollo3.com
www.apollo3.com/~ljames

7

You’re welcome, glad that you have been able to customise the avast Outlook/Exchange provider to meet your requirements.

8

Welcome to the forums, apollothethird. :slight_smile:

You must really like spam. Your email address is sure to be harvested in a public forum such as this one.