I just installed Avast for the first time, and noticed this icon in the “tray” when Outlook Express checks e-mail. Since I know so little about Avast yet, I just wanted to make sure that 1) this is an Avast icon, and 2) that is normal text that is supposed to appear when the mouse pointer hovers over the icon.
It is the avast email scanner icon, it only appears when email is being scanned. The text is called a tool tip and is common in many programs, in this case it is the resolved email IP address.
If you are sending or receiving email when this icon is displayed, no real problem.
However, if it appeared when you weren’t sending any email then it could be an indication of a potential malware emailbot on your system.
DavidR’s explanation is the most likely reason for the appearance of the icon.
There is another possibility. If you are using a peer-to-peer client program and connecting to another system which has decided to listen on one of the ports that is automatically scanned by the Internet Mail scanner (25,110,119,143) then the icon will appear since the scanner will assume that email or NNTP traffic is being passed that should be scanned and the address being shown will be that of the peer system.
Thanks, David and Alan. The icon only appears when Outlook Express is receiving or attempting to receive e-mail, so I’m satisfied then that all is well.
Tech – Since posting yesterday, I uninstalled Norton using the “Add/Remove Software” in my Control Panel. I thought that was good enough, but I guess I’m going to have to do my best to muddle through all the recommended steps (each version being different) to get rid of the registry keys, etc. (Whatever those are… heh.)
A link worth looking at, which is a program removal tool that can remove the remnants of a number of different Norton Programs: Removing your Norton program using SymNRT after you run the utility, reboot and see if that has cleared the remnants.
David – Thanks for the link. Do you know if there is an application to remove the 2002 version? (Yeah, I know I know… it was really old, but I didn’t/don’t have the money to buy the new versions; however, I always kept the subscription for virus definition updates current.)
I have now uninstalled Norton Internet Security, as well as LiveReg and LiveUpdate. I ran Symantec’s removal application twice… so that should take care of things, right?
I’m not getting any errors when I start up or shut down. Nothing is freezing or crashing. Avast seems to be doing its job… getting its updates… scanning e-mails… etc.
I see numerous references to the registry, which I am unsure about. Frankly, I am really afraid of even touching it. The registry sounds delicate, and while I consider myself a fairly proficient computer operator, I know nothing of the “nuts and bolts” of the system, and what is right and wrong on the inside.
That should take care of any remnants, just monitor it for a while to ensure noting out of the ordinary.
I see numerous references to the registry, which I am unsure about.
Such as any examples ?
Editing the registry isn’t that much of a problem provided it is done with care (a little like carpentry, measure twice cut once), ensure that you are editing/deleting the correct key/data item and back-up before edit (export the key that way it can be restored). There are programs like ERUNT (http://www.snapfiles.com/get/erunt.html) freeware, that can back-up the complete registry.
Registry keys are what are used to launch programmes/services, etc. when that program doesn’t exist it can cause errors.
One other thing is when avast it being installed it is also looking for these keys and if found will not install certain elements of avast to avoid conflict. avast isn’t to know that only the keys exist and NAV, etc. won’t be started after it, so for this reason it is important to remove these redundant keys.
As far as I’m aware the uninstall utility not only removes the program elements but also the registry keys. One of the main reasons for mentioning these keys is so you can check for there existence, if they aren’t there no problem, otherwise they need to be deleted.
