What we have here are two absolutely different issues. In the first one, from loranga, there is a program (Direct Connect) which is abusing port 25 (reserved for SMTP traffic) for different type of communication (p2p file sharing). This kind of communication does not adhere to SMTP protocol, Direct Connect does NOT send or receive mails and thus it should not be scanned by avast Mail Scanner - hence the IgnoreProcess solution.
On the other hand when the timeout message comes from the mail client (such a ThunderBird or Outlook Express = msimn.exe) it is completely different issue. These programs should send or receive mails and should be scanned by avast Mail Scanner. Please do not add them to IgnoreProcess list in these cases. You would loose you mail protection.
What is the cause of these timeouts is unfortunately yet unknown. It could really means that the server didn't respond in timely fashion, it could be a temporarily problem, firewall configuration problem, some compatibility problem with other components installed on the system, or some compatibility problem between avast! Mail Scanner and the mail server.
To help us further understand it please open the file C:\Program Files\ALWIL Software\Avast4\DATA\avast4.ini, insert this line Log=20 under [MailScanner] section.
Eg.
[MailScanner]
Log=20
This will enable detailed logging.
Then try to reproduce the problem with timeout and post here the created log file (from C:\Program Files\ALWIL Software\Avast4\DATA\Log\avMaiSv.log.
Also please try to reproduce the problem with Internet Mail Provider disabled. Do you get any timeouts messages from you mail client when used without avast Mail Scanner?
Regards
Lukas.