No Avast message in incoming or outgoing e-mails

I know this has been covered in threads before, and although I have tried to follow the advice given in those threads, I still can’t get this to work.

When I send or receive e-mails, I don’t get a message at the bottom indicating that Avast has scanned the e-mail.

In the ‘Internet Mail’ provider, ehich is running, I have ticked the box that says ‘Insert Note into Clean Message’ on the ‘pop’, ‘SMTP’ & ‘IMAP’ tabs.

I am using outlook express 5.5 on Windows 98SE.
I have Avast home 4.6.623.

Is Avast scanning my e-mails?

Regards
Barry

Hi,

In the 'Internet Mail' provider, ehich is running, I have ticked the box that says 'Insert Note into Clean Message' on the 'pop', 'SMTP' & 'IMAP' tabs.

Go in “Outlook/Exchange” provider.
And you tick the box ‘Insert Note into Clean Message’ on the ‘pop’, ‘SMTP’ & ‘IMAP’ tabs.

Please .

Above, I mistake. sorry.

Thanks Hippo,

But I think your second message indicates that you realised that I am using Outlook Express not Outlook.

Does anyone else have any ideas ?

Regards
Barry

I’m not certain, but could it be because you are using OE 5.5 the latest version that can be used with win98se is OE6 SP1, so your OE is way out of date. However, I can’t see any OE version restrictions to be able to use insert clean note into message.

Is there anything stopping you updating to OE6 SP1? - at the least this would reduce your vulnerability due to old exploits not patched and may possibly resolve the problem.

Does avast put annotations in the header information of received emails?

Does this occur with both HTML and TXT emails?
If you check the same option in MS Outlook plugin and try to send a mail with it, will it receive the clean notes?

Is there in your email headers the following lines?
X-Antivirus: avast! (VPS 0XXX-X, XX/XX/2005), Inbound message
and
X-Antivirus-Status: Clean?

(Right click the message, choose Properties and Details)

Are you set up to use port 110 for pop3 and 25 for smtp, with SSL unchecked? And you went through the wizard setup for 98se per the instructions?

Hi All,

sorry I’ve taken so long to reply, but I only get on here very occasionally.I have tested this in 2 ways:
First sending e-mails from my hotmail account to my outlook express account.
Second sending a message to myself from the same OE account.
Neither method gives me any indication that Avast has checked the message.

DavidR,
I have just never got around to upgrading OE, as 5.5 has always been fine.
Maybe the guys at Alwil could let us know if there are problems with Avast 4.6.623 / Win 98Se and OE 5.5.

I do not see any message in the header to indicate that Avast has checked e-mails.

Technical,
It is normally set to HTML, but after reading your reply I changed it to TXT, but still no message.

With regards to your note about the MS Outlook plugin, are you talking about the ‘Outlook/Exchange provider’?
When I start the ‘on-access’ scanner it states that the outlook/exchange provider is ‘waiting for a subsystem to start’.

When I look at the e-mail headers I do not see any X-Antivirus: avast messages.

sded,
Yes I am set-up to use port 110 for pop3 and 25 for smtp, with SSL unchecked.
Though I didn’t know I was until I went looking for the answer to your question.

Thanks for the help everyone, there has got to be a reason for this, as everyone else seems to be using 4.6.623 without problems.

Regards
Barry

sded,

Sorry I forgot to reply to one of your questions.
I ran the Mail Protection Wizard, with OE down.
I told it to protect all my accounts, and it seemed to complete OK.

Regards
Barry

Did the wizard modify the server address (to 127.0.0.1) and username in OE account settings ?

Yes… It’s a plugin, i.e., the main program (MS Outlook) must be running to the plugin be active.
But, we can call it a provider… The message “The provider is waiting on the subsystem to start” will be shown there until you open MS Outlook.
The plugin will be enabled automatically after that. Check if the avast plugin is not disabled into MS Outlook:

Outlook 2003 > Help > About > Disabled items
Outlook 2000 > Tools menu > Options > Other > Advanced Options > Add-In Manager

Technical,
I use Outlook Express, not Outlook (Although I do have Outlook installed on my PC I choose not to use it).
I thought that the Outlook/Exchange provider was only used for Outlook, and that it was the Internet Mail provider that was used by Outlook Express.

Vojtech,
I’m sorry if I am being a little slow here, but where do I check the server address in Outlook Express?
I have manually changed my Internet explorer settings to use localhost with a port of 12080, to enable the webshield to work. Is this the same thing?

Tools, Accounts, select an account (you need only check one, however, if you need to make changes you will need to do it to all), click the Properties button and click the Server Tab. Here you will see your server settings.

Hi DavidR,
I have OE up and running at the moment, and looking at the server settings.

It says that my incoming mail server is a POP3 server.
It tells me my POP3 and SMTP server names, which look correct, and must be as I am sending and receiving mail without problems.It shows my account name and a row of asterisks for the password.
Remember my password is ticked.

Log on using secure password authentication is NOT ticked.
My server requires authentication is NOT ticked.

But there is mention of my server address being 127.0.0.1

Regards
Barry

You’re right… Did I say the opposite?

Seems ok for Windows XP.

Aren’t you using Windows 98SE?
If so, see the configurations here: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?action=display;board=2;threadid=7913;start=0#msg64228

With Win98 SE you should have:

pop3 server= smtp server = 127.0.0.1
username = mail.server.coml#user or mail.server.com#user@server.com
smtp authentication enabled and the username there = mail.server.coml#user or mail.server.com#user@server.com

But there is mention of my server address being 127.0.0.1
This confirms what Vojtech was asking really that the Mail Protection Wizard has been run and it have modified the server settings so it can theoretically check you email.
My server requires authentication is NOT ticked.
If this is how it should be then OK, some ISPs smtp email servers do require authentication, but that shouldn't stop the email being received being scanned.

Perhaps it is time for more drastic measures?

  1. Run the Mail protection Wizard and remove protection. This should set your email accounts back to as they should be.

  2. Check that your email is working correctly according to your ISPs approved settings and you can send and receive email.

  3. Ensure that the Outlook/Exchange provider/plug-in is Terminated. Reboot.

  4. Ensure that OE is not running, Ensure that the Internet Mail provider is enabled. Run the Mail protection Wizard again.

Technical / DavidR,

First an apology:

My earlier post should have read ‘But there is NO mention of my server address being 127.0.0.1’

Sorry, if I have caused confusion.

I have printed Technical’s suggestions and will read through them to see what he advises.
If I am still having problems, I shall take DavidR’s more ‘drastic’ approach.

Thanks all
Barry

Technical,

Before I make any changes, can I confirm what you are saying.

Assuming I see the following when I open the servers tab in my Outlook Express account properties:

Incoming Mail (POP3): pop.xxx.net
Outgoing Mail (SMTP): smtp.xxx.net

Account name: firstname.lastname

My e-mail address would be firstname.lastname@xxx.net

You are suggesting that I change those settings to:

Incoming Mail (POP3): 127.0.0.1
Outgoing Mail (SMTP): 127.0.0.1

Account name: pop.xxx.net#firstname.lastname

Is this correct??
Where do I put the SMTP part?

Regards
Barry

Try the points below first and hopefully that will save a manual update of your accounts.

My earlier post should have read 'But there is NO mention of my server address being 127.0.0.1'
That means you are not protected by the Internet Mail provider - In win98 in order for avast to scan your emails befre they end up in your inbox it needs to modify your mail settings.

Try running the Mail Protection Wizard again

  • Ensure that OE is closed, not running.
  • Ensure MS Outlook is closed (belt and braces, ensure and MS office apps are closed, just in case there is any possibility Outlook may be detected).

Then check and see if your email account settings have been changed.

Fully correct :slight_smile:

Only that account name should be: firstname.lastname#pop.xxx.net

Outgoing Mail (SMTP): 127.0.0.1
Check for SMTP Authentication
On the details of SMTP authentication, add:

Account name: firstname.lastname#smtp.xxx.net
and your password.
If it does not work, test: firstname.lastname@xxx.net#smtp.xxx.net

But, avast can do this automatically! 8) Try your original settings into Outlook Express account properties:

Incoming Mail (POP3): pop.xxx.net
Outgoing Mail (SMTP): smtp.xxx.net
Account name: firstname.lastname
e-mail address: firstname.lastname@xxx.net

CLOSE OUTLOOK EXPRESS
Run Mail Protection Wizard from Start Menu > avast! antivirus
Choose other email programs than Outlook/Exchange and set the automatically configuration…
Everything will be automatic changed for you :slight_smile: