Thanks for your suggestions. Although I have done them in the past, I redid and am ready to start from scratch.

  1. Avast complete scan including archives - clean

  2. Updated Ad Aware scan - clear

  3. OE 6 and Windows Updates are current

  4. OE time out set at 5 minutes
    I did not know what an avast time out was.

  5. My ISP provides something called Postini. It
    blocks spam and also catches viruses. I have never
    had an email virus caught by avast. The Postini
    stopped them before they came into my mailbox.
    Avast has alerted me to several coming from the
    internet

  6. No, do not notice any email trying to be sent from Out
    box.

  7. This is difficult to explain. I watch the email I send go
    out–the blue line that moves across the email box.
    (fun to do). The short ones go OK. When I think it is
    taking too long I click stop or abort. And the email
    remains in the outbox but the recipient still gets it
    several times. Occasionally I notice avast scanning
    the same long email twice. No one has alerted me
    that they have received any viruses from me.
    I usually don’t stop the email. I only tried it to see if
    I could prevent it from going out more than once.
    I also tried sending to one person at a time instead of
    to several friends. No results.

    1. I will try some of the links suggested by wawadave as
      I am sure it is not caused by avast. It has been doing
      this for many many months. I am finally in pursuit and
      appreciate any other suggestions you can make.