I have emails being downloaded from my email server that disappear for up to 24 hrs. Email provider says that it is probably Avast. Any suggestions on how to correct or retrieve emails?
cdveal
That takes the biscuit, I haven’t heard that one as an excuse, a total load of tosh (English for rubbish).
avast can’t delay the receipt of email if there is no email on your email server then avast can’t delay anything.
You check for email or have it set to check periodically, e.g. you try to connect to your pop3 server on port 110, avast intercepts that request and downloads any email so it can scan it, if clean it will be placed in your inbox.
Your email program > avast > email server > avast > email program.
That is the way it works and there is no delay, if there is an infected email all hell breaks loose and you will be asked what to do, other wise the email is delivered to your inbox upon receipt.
You could catch them out at their game if they offer the ability to connect to your email using a browser. I you happen to be away from home you can connect using your browser and view your email, that would show if the email is in their server or if there is a delay.
I have used the web browser and the emails are not there, but they later show up. Here’s the detail. My Blackberry checks my email account and downloads any email to it. It leaves the email on the server. If I look at the mail via the Browser it’s not there. It will show up about 24 hrs later. It must have been in the mail account for my Blackberry to get it. The mail profile looks as if it is delivered on time to both Express and Blackberry.
David
I know there is an option in some email clients to leave the email on the server (mobile connect, away from home, etc.) but that shouldn’t clear the email and then they are regenerated. There is most certainly something weird going on, as downloading on your Blackberry can’t at the same time initiate a download to your desktop system.
I guess as far as email server email’s profile/properties it must be recorded as downloaded/read and when it is eventually able to be downloaded down to your desktop that original info remains unchanged.
So at the time you download on the Blackberry, avast on your system hasn’t had a look in, it hasn’t any interaction until you download it from your desktop system, so can’t as the email service put up as an excuse.
I agree. Blackberry and desk top two separate events unrelated. Guess I will take their advice and remove Avast and try for a day and then reinstall it.
Just out of interest, what is the port on which Outlook Express connects to your mail server to download the mail? If it is not port 110 then avast is not involved in this issue in any way.
If it is port 110 then avast’s Internet Mail provider will indeed intercept the commands of Outlook Express to the server so that it can scan the email. In fact avast does not know or care which email client is being used it detects the standards based network connections to email servers. avast is simply relaying the requests of Outlook Express (or any other mail client) to the email server and does not modify the connections at all.
There is, under the POP3 protocol (that is very old and very rigid about the connections between email clients and servers) absolutely no way that avast or indeed any email client can (forgetting all about avast) ask a server to hide email messages for 24 hours.
Under the POP3 protocol messages on a server have two and only two states, they exist in the Inbox (and only the Inbox - no other folder is legal) of the server or they do not exist. No other status, read or unread etc is recognized by the POP3 protocol. There is certainly no provision for “download to a Blackberry but then hide the message for a while”.
Since you mention Blackberry … I do have to wonder. POP3 and regular email clients operate as a “pull” service. The mail client has to contact the server to find out if there is new email and then download that mail.
Blackberry’s main claim to fame (I was around and having to make it work in a corporate environment) was that it provided a “push” mechanism. That is software (provided by RIM - the Blackberry manufacturer) was run on the mail server so that as soon as an email arrived at the server for a Blackberry user it was “pushed” to the Blackberry device alerting them to mail rather than waiting for them to connect to the server. If such a feature is in use for your Blackberry service then it may be at the root cause of the circumstances you observe.