how do I set Avast! up to scan my incoming emails using Thunderbird?
~Karen
What is your OS ?
If XP, win2k, Vista, then it should be transparent and no set-up is required.
What is your ISP and do they insist you use SSL/TLS email, e.g. secure email ?
Oh good, it is Windows XP. My ISP is local (midmaine.com) and they don’t insist on anything. So I guess I am all set then? It just doesn’t seem like Avast! is doing anything when I send for mail… and I know my posts don’t go out with the “this email was scanned with Avast!” type of thing on it.
You will never see the “scanned by avast” message in your Sent mail folder because it is added by avast on the way out and your mail client is unaware of it. It will only be seen by the recipient(s) of the email.
If you do Thunderbird > View > View message source for a message in your Thunderbird Inbox you should see an X-Antivirus header line added by avast indicating that the message has been scanned.
If you are using the Thunderbird Webmail extensions, YPops or FreePops to help you access Webmail (Hotmail or Yahoo) accounts then those emails will not be scanned, by default, by avast. If you are using any of those services then please let usknow and we can help you get them scanned.
As Alan said you won’t see it in your sent mail folder, but you also have to enable that function, ‘Insert note into clean message,’ in the Internet Mail, Customize, SMTP tab, see image.
Though this isn’t required to check the email is being scanned, the avast icon will rotate and if you check the Internet Mail provider, Detailed view you will see the Last scanned: and Scanned count: fields will change.
You do not need to activate anything at all for the X-Antivirus header line to be inserted into messages being scanned outbound. Again, that header line will not be in your Sent folder but your recipient(s) can see the X-Antivirus header line inserted by avast if they choose to view the message headers.
Certainly the selectable option to which David refers will be much more visible to your recipients and, while they should not rely on your scan - it could be faked, it will show that you care.
You might want to update your Thunderbird to version 2.0.0.6. I think there were some security issues that were fixed in the new version.
Cochise
I believe security updates are still being supplied for the Thunderbird 1.5 series.