Is Mail shield usefull for browsing emailing ?

system · 2014-03-27T10:30:33.000Z

Hi all.

I don t use any email-client programs such outlook or others.

I just check yahoo and gamil using browsers.

In this case, if Mail Shield has no funktion, can i remove it from the program ?

THanks.

mchain · 2014-03-27T10:49:27.000Z

Yahoo! and gmail are web-based email portals. They use your browser to access their servers and download email content.

Outlook, Thunderbird, and the like are email programs you install on your system.

avast! Mail Shield does not work with web-based email, but is designed to work with installed email client programs.

You can safely remove Mail Shield without impacting your use of Yahoo! and gmail. It’s not needed if you use web-based mail.

DavidR · 2014-03-27T16:37:04.000Z

Personally I would leave it where it is, if it isn’t actually in use it doesn’t use resources. But it can have a beneficial effect.

The Mail Shield may be the first indication of a hidden/undetected malware spam bot on your system sending out spam. I would suggest going a step further and increase the Mail Shield sensitivity to High if it isn’t already on that.

system · 2014-03-28T03:42:46.000Z

DavidR,
This is interesting. I, too, thought that it’s only for client. I use Outlook and SeaMonkey clients so have it on.
But how would your spam suggestion work when a browser is used? Would avast watch that browser is using mail ports in addition to http/https? That’s sort of a firewall thing, isn’t it? I can’t imagine how it can be done

DavidR · 2014-03-28T10:52:30.000Z

The browser isn’t used, if you have undetected/hidden malware on your system that sends out spam - it uses its own very small SMTP element to send out spam from your system (not your webmail service). It uses normal email ports/protocols and as such should be intercepted by the Mail Shield to scan content before sending.

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