So long as it is working it must be doing something right ;D
I don’t use gmail so I can’t speak from experience.
The report file doesn’t show much detail, it is for the most part just showing when it started and when it stopped (so you can confirm it is running). It is only when you get alerts or errors, etc. that it starts reporting those. You can change the report file default settings (soft errors, OK items, Skipped items), but then the file just gets huge, full of not very valuable information.
This is how mine is set in Avast. Setting in WLM are the same as yours. You can always send a test email and see if it is scanning. Check your mail shield for the last file scanned (at the bottom). Not certain if it will work correctly if you have the same port 25 in both places.
heres what i just did, oddly this also seems to work, not sure about the port #25, in WLM, both accounts have smtp #25, the inbounds are #110, & #143
can sharing the same port #25 conflict…
i included now all ports in the troubleshoot redirects…
re. the report file, none was created for todays date, and i have all items checked to be included, even OK items, shouldnt these appear in a report txt…? all shields are showing similarily
Regarding the report files… I tried it with all checked and report only showed shield started and stopped. Then restarted computer and reports showed everything. Looks like you have to reboot for changes to take effect. That’s a whole lot of reporting. You need or want all of this?
Actually, I tested it another way. After checking and unchecking reporting options for file shield, I disabled the file shield then re-enabled it which caused it to report correctly. Too bad the reports don’t automatically change as you tick and untick the boxes. For anyone who leaves their computer on permanently or never disable/enable their shields, the reports may never reflect the changes.
Go here: C:\ProgramData\Alwil Software\Avast5\report
and open EmailShield.txt
What do you see? Is it completely empty?
Does it show something like this?
avast! Real-time Shield Scan Report
This file is generated automatically
Started on: Thursday, December 02, 2010 7:55:21 PM
Did you try going to mail shield/expertsettings/report file? Tick generate report file and tick all “reported items” boxes then stop and restart the mail shield? Then send and receive email to test it.
Good! Here is a link to the knowledgebase regarding email setup https://support.avast.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=458&nav=0,2. It is showing gmail (POP) instead of gmail (imap). Just thought it would be useful info. I think you can also setup gmail using POP. POP downloads all headers and bodies whereas I believe imap just downloads headers. I prefer the imap better as message bodies are stored on the server until you open it. At least that’s my understanding.
One question, you had mentioned that you added all ports in the troubleshoot redirects. “i included now all ports in the troubleshoot redirects…”
Why did you do this? I would have left the Avast defaults just as they were. These are probably best left alone.
so for the network , and behavior shields we must rely on the graphical interface presentation only for an immediate confirmation of activity (since no expert settings to report all)…? i assume by default only negatives are reported in this file…
Why did you do this? I would have left the Avast defaults just as they were. These are probably best left alone
oops i thought these were the remaps after avast does the SSL conversion, so i forced them in there, so ill leave them as they were defaulted then…thank you
There are no settings. I saw activity in the behavior shield a few times but never any reporting on it. I don’t care too much for it when there is a detection of some type and there is nothing that shows you what it is. I think there was a post on it somewhere. I will see if I can find it.
POP downloads all headers and bodies whereas I believe imap just downloads headers. I prefer the imap better as message bodies are stored on the server until you open it. At least that's my understanding.
yes, i hadnt quite fully grasped this idea:
i think it comes down to this according to gmail:
Unlike POP, IMAP offers two-way communication between your web Gmail and your email client(s). This means when you log in to Gmail using a web browser, actions you perform on email clients and mobile devices (ex: putting mail in a 'work' folder) will instantly and automatically appear in Gmail (ex: it will already have a 'work' label on that email the next time you sign in).
in gmail i have settings enable POP, and enable IMAP
These settings allow you to specify which ports are used for your email and web communication, if the standard ports are not used. This is important to ensure that your emails and web browsing are monitored by avast!, regardless of which ports are used.
kind of sounds all ports used should be entered here, thus the ones in SSL accounts settings…?
The way I think of it is that Avast is the middle man. Your email provider communicates with Avast using ports 993 (imap) and 465 (smtp) (encrypted) then Avast communicates with your email client (Windows Live Mail) using ports 143 and 25 (unencrypted). 143 and 25 are the Avast defaults for imap (incoming) and smtp (outgoing). No need to change the default redirects since gmail uses standard SSL ports.
Yes. If you delete these defaults or change them you will render your webshield and mail shield useless.
This was in the help file:
Redirect Settings
These settings allow you to specify which ports are used for your email and web communication, if the standard ports are not used. This is important to ensure that your emails and web browsing are monitored by avast!, regardless of which ports are used.
For the web, avast! normally expects all communication to take place through port 80 and everything else is ignored. If you use a proxy server to access the internet and you want the communications between the proxy server and your computer to be scanned, you should enter the port which is used to connect to the proxy server. You should only enter the ports for HTTP traffic, not for ICQ, DC++ etc. For mail, the default ports are the standard port numbers for the four basic email protocols. If you use a different port (or ports), they should be entered here. Multiple port numbers should be separated by commas.
Ignored addresses - here you can enter server addresses or ports that you want to exclude from scanning.
Ignore local communication - if this is checked, avast! will not scan communication between applications running on your computer. Unchecking this box will result in local communications being scanned, which may slow down your computer slightly.
Have you upgraded Windows Live Mail to 2011? I did and reverted back. Didn’t like the cluttered interface. To me, it was one big sloppy mess. I like the 2009 version much better because of this. If you intend to upgrade it or already have done so please let me know what you think of it.
edit:- do you know why i have #25 in both places for my “sympatico.ca” account (in Avast SSL accounts, and WLM client), will this work as normal…?
i just set up on WLM (2011), i think i used to use Windows Mail (its been a while), and i loved it!
but now im getting to hate WLM, im not quite sure why, but it seems like in simplifying it they made it more obscure to use…make any sense ? - just google WLM and you will see a lot of negatives
I googled sympatico email settings because I had questions concerning the same host names for both incoming and outgoing mail. Also, wanted to know which ports. Does this look familiar? I can’t test it because I don’t us sympatico.
Incoming mail server (POP)
POP Server: pophm.sympatico.ca
Port: 995
User name: Email address (e.g: jsmith@sympatico.ca or jsmith@bell.net) and password (e.g.: a123456z)
SSL: Be sure to select the “this server requires a secure connection (SSL)” or “use SSL (Secure Sockets Layers)” option
Outgoing mail server (SMTP)
SMTP Server: smtphm.sympatico.ca
Port: 25 (or 587 if port 25 does not work
Authentication: Yes User name: Email address (e.g: jsmith@sympatico.ca or jsmith@bell.net) and password (e.g.: a123456z)
TLS/SSL Required: Yes (select TLS if available, if not, select SSL)
Under smtp in avast ssl accounts use port 587 (not 25). The above also states to use TLS if available. It seems there are problems with using port 25. Type in the host names as shown above for pop and smtp. Leave your email client (Windows Live Mail) exactly as you have it.
Mainly read this in the article (see below). It is dated January 2010 so take if for what it is worth. Don’t know if it relates to newer versions of Avast.
"There are incredibly few ISPs on the planet that are stupid enough to implement SSL security using port 25 for SMTP as Sympatico has done – I can think of only a couple of others that are doing the same thing … one is in Portugal. It is a de facto standard of email worldwide that port 25 is used for unsecured email connections. The de facto email standard for sending SMTP with SSL is port 465.
avast, quite reasonably, assumes that it can scan port 25 connections because the standard is that port 25 connections are unsecured. If there is a requirement from the email server (as there is with Sympatico) that port 25 be secured then avast will, unfortunately, get in the way and prevent the connection. If you happen to be a Sympatico user you have no choice but to turn off outbound scanning."