Author Topic: File Corruption  (Read 8509 times)

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sysgen

  • Guest
File Corruption
« on: April 21, 2004, 01:38:04 AM »
Does anyone have a problem with receiving e-mail attachments with the internet mail scanner in Avast Home edition. 4 out of 5 attchements I receive and that get scanned cannot be openned in Outlook Express. At this time I`ve received .zip, .wmv and .pps files that were corrupted. The e-mail looks fine but the attachment cannot be openned. I contacted the sender and he confirms that the file was not corrupted before sending and if I disable the internet mail scanner everything is fine. So it`s obvious that this thing has a problem.

For example, the zip files, when I tried to open them said that they were missing something like 17 bytes and could not be openned. The same file resent without the internet mail scanner openned fine.

Besides that I love this program.

Thanks

shgoh

  • Guest
Re:File Corruption
« Reply #1 on: April 21, 2004, 08:49:27 AM »
this is weird though.... ???

no one ever complains about this kind of a problem...

you sure it does work with avast mail scanner disabled?
« Last Edit: April 21, 2004, 08:50:17 AM by shgoh »

Offline igor

  • Avast team
  • Serious Graphoman
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Re:File Corruption
« Reply #2 on: April 21, 2004, 10:49:15 AM »
Can you produce two e-mails, one received with avast! active (hence, corrupted) and the same file received without avast! (i.e. correct, resent file) and send those 2 messages (not just the files) to us, preferably as EML files - so that we could check the difference?
Thanks!

Do you have any other mail-processing software installed (spam filter, etc)?
Does the corruption occurs only for received mails, or the files you are sending out are affected as well?
Do you have the option to add the antivirus notes into clean messages turned on?
« Last Edit: April 21, 2004, 10:50:48 AM by igor »

seand

  • Guest
Re:File Corruption
« Reply #3 on: April 21, 2004, 02:50:12 PM »
While migrating from Outlook to Thunderbird I encountered the "17 bytes" problem with imported emails that had zip and doc attachments.  The solution was to import the mail from Outlook to Outlook Express and then from Outlook Express to Thunderbird.  

I dont' know if this has anything to do with your problem but the "17 bytes" error message rang a bell in my memory when I read your post.

I have had no problems with avast corrupting files when using the Internet Mail scanner.

Sean D
« Last Edit: April 21, 2004, 03:00:09 PM by seand »

sysgen

  • Guest
Re:File Corruption
« Reply #4 on: April 24, 2004, 05:27:18 AM »
Thanks for the replys!

I`ll try to send you some examples as .eml files and yes I`m sure that it`s working with the internet mail scanner disabled because It`s been disabled for the last week without a single corrupted file.

I have the option to insert text into clean outgoing messages.

I also have CyberSitter 2002 installed but this software is for blocking internet sites only and does not get involed with e-mail. I`ll try disabling it while testing. Besides that I have nothing else that processes e-mail.

Sysgen

sysgen

  • Guest
Re:File Corruption
« Reply #5 on: April 24, 2004, 06:36:32 AM »
Wow thanks I 've found the problem , some times the best way to find a solution is to just talk about it with someone else.

The problem was caused by my CyberSitter software. Somehow it found some restricted words like '    ' in the stream of data I was testing with, so it was trying to block acces to it, hence the corruption. The file I was using was just a zipped executable.

Cybersitter has an option "Do Not Filter E-Mail" and I have it checked and it has never interferred with Outlook express before but strangely when you had Avast to the equation it creates a problem.

I've also tried to exclude 127.0.0.1 and my pop server in the options of Cybersitter to no avail.

Any clues why it would make a difference because I'd really like to keep both programs running, CyberSitter has been perfect for many years to protect my kids.

It looks more like an incompatibility between both programs than a bug.

Any suggestions would be welcome
Thanks
Sysgen

seand

  • Guest
Re:File Corruption
« Reply #6 on: April 24, 2004, 09:19:31 AM »
Sysgen, its a pity that Cybersitter seems to be ignoring the command to "not filter mail"

If all else fails  a suggestion might be to set up avast to listen to the IP number of your workstation (in the avast ini file) and set that IP number up to be your pop server in Outlook Express also.  ( I realise this may be troublesome if your workstation gets it's IP from DHCP because in that case it may change when you reboot)

Then config Cybersitter to ignore that IP.  ("localhost" and/or 127.0.0.1 can sometimes be problematic for some TCP utilites so a "real" IP number may work when the local loop interface is taken out of the picture)

Perhaps if some other users are runing Cybersitter they may have better solution (I have never used that program).

Sean D

sysgen

  • Guest
Re:File Corruption
« Reply #7 on: April 24, 2004, 04:44:47 PM »
Thanks seand, how do I configure the avast4.ini file to use my public IP address instead of 127.0.0.1, I cannot find any reference to it in the config file. Your solution might be possible since my PC has a DHCP address but I also have a dynamic DNS name for it. So I could specify that name in the config file if I can figure out how to configure it. It`s worth a try.

Thanks

sysgen

  • Guest
Re:File Corruption
« Reply #8 on: April 24, 2004, 04:56:56 PM »
Oups, never mind, I found the information in the help file  :-\

I`ll give it a try.

Sysgen

seand

  • Guest
Re:File Corruption
« Reply #9 on: April 24, 2004, 06:38:30 PM »
Sysgen, glad you found it in the help file.  I do not think you can use the domain name in place of the IP address in the ini file but I have not verifed that.

If you do try "listening" on the IP number, remember to put in (or add)  that address in the in the Trust= x.x.x.x   entry in the ini file

One quick thought, did you simply just try replacing 127.0.0.1 with localhost in all fields that you used the 127.... (mail client and avast and Cybersitter?)  Older versions of Win had trouble with 127.0.0.1   and needed localhost.to be used instead.

Sean D

sysgen

  • Guest
Re:File Corruption
« Reply #10 on: April 26, 2004, 12:25:39 AM »
Well I give up, I`ve tried every possible combination and I found no way to tell CyberSitter to stop scanning the traffic between Outlook and Avast. I`ll have to live without the internet mail scanner, I noticed that virus are detected anyway when I simply select an infected message in the inbox. I don`t even need to open it, it automaticaly detects it. I can live with that but I can`t live without CyberSitter.

Thank you everyone for your help.

Sysgen

sysgen

  • Guest
Re:File Corruption
« Reply #11 on: April 30, 2004, 04:18:02 AM »
I`ve found this on the CyberSitter Web site, could this be my problem! Is this what`s happening with the internet mail scanner?

Q    CYBERsitter is still filtering my email. Why?  

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
A    This problem can occur when you are using Outlook or Outlook Express with Norton AntiVirus (NAV) E-mail Protection enabled. NAV uses a POP3 proxy server on your computer to route all incoming mail through to check for virus attachments. Setting CYBERsitter to ignore e-mail forces it to ignore filtering on ports 110 and 25, the standard e-mail ports. NAV re-routes your e-mail using a random port other than the ones CYBERsitter is ignoring. This causes your e-mail to be filtered. Because the ports NAV selects appear to be random, it is not possible to add additional ports to exclude.

The solution for the time being is to disable NAV e-mail checking. We are working on a better solution, but have not found one as yet. NAV will still detect viruses in attachments as they are saved to disk, read, or executed (the three ways to infect a system), so the effect on your virus protection will be minimal.  

Thanks

seand

  • Guest
Re:File Corruption
« Reply #12 on: April 30, 2004, 04:07:26 PM »
Sysgen,

Based on what CyberSitter says then if you configure avast! to listen on 127.0.0.1:110 (port 110, same for smtp - 25) then you should not have that problem.

I assumed that was the case.  If it is then their post does not make sense.

Sean D