As others have posted. I am having a BIG problem with what has been described as ‘false positives’ in emails which Avast (Home Edition 4.7) is scanning. Emails with attachments (as a general rule these are .JPGs) are having the attachments stripped from them before the messages is allowed to proceed into Outlook Express. Below are the particulars and work arounds I have tried.
- OS is Windows XP Home edition (Updated automatically)
- Email program is Outlook Express
- Processor is 1.8 Ghz Pentium
- Memory is 512 M
- Antivirus Program is Avast Home Edition 4.7 (Updated automatically)
- Other security programs include:
- Spybot Search and Destroy, Hijack This, AdAware SE, Spyware Blaster
- ISP is Bellsouth.net DSL
Having read several posts describing the same problem here on the forum, I decided to try a few experiments to isolate the problem. First I downloaded and installed Mozilla’s Thunderbird email program (an alternative to Outlook Express). Then, using a Yahoo ID and Yahoo Email, sent myself a test message with a .JPG attachment. After sending this I logged on to my ISP email USING THUNDERBIRD and Avast immediately popped up the same Virus warning as had appeared in Outlook Express. The only options Avast offers is ‘Delete’ or ‘Continue’. Obviously clicking on Delete would delete the entire message so I clicked on ‘Continue’. The message was then downloaded to my inbox, but MINUS THE ATTACHMENT.
I logged off of Thunderbird and logged back in to my ISP email using Outlook Express. Next, I sent the same message (from Yahoo mail, and with the same attachment) to myself again. Avast immediately threw up another virus warning as it had on my first attempt. Instead of clicking on anything in the warning window, THIS time I logged on to BellSouth’s web based email. At this point It is important to note messages remain on the ISP’s mail server until Outlook Express accesses the server and transfers the messages there into the subscriber’s PC. Since I had not yet taken any option on Avast’s virus warning message, the original message I had sent myself was still intact on the ISP’s web based email server. I was able to read the message on the web based server AND view the attachment. Having proven that the message and the attachment were actually there, I logged OFF of the web based server and clicked on ‘Continue’ in Avast’s warning message. The message itself was downloaded, but the attachment had been stripped off.
Since this more or less proves that the problem is NOT within Outlook Express, it seems to isolate the problem to be in one of two places - It’s either within Avast, or within BellSouth’s services. I am curious as to what others who are experiencing the same problem have found out about it, and what they have been advised is being done to remedy this error.