Getting a pop-up window every minute??!!

[Vlk]

In other words, the Timeout message here doesn't really mean a timeout in POP/SMTP/IMAP scanning but simply the fact that the avast mail scanner does not UNDERSTAND the traffic that it's seeing (because it's neither POP3 nor SMTP nor IMAP protocol - it's some sort of proprietary, binary protocol that DC uses).

E.g. when monitoring port 110, it ASSUMES that the communication will follow the POP3 protocol. However, this is clearly NOT the case here -- DC is using this port to hide from firewalls (pretending that it's a mail program when in fact it's a P2P program).


Does that make sense?

[Lisandro]

Thanks, Lukas.
Sorry, I think was I who stressed your words.
Vlk, for me it's clear. Thanks too.

Reading your answers I assure that DC++ was pretending to be an email program (even being a P2P). So the email traffic won't be scanned (because it's not a POP3 one) but all other traffic at the same port will be monitored... Did I understand correctly?

Why DC++ has this behavior? Why the user will want to hide its traffic from the firewall?

[lynnejohn]

I've been seeing an a lot of these same type of timeout messages from my Thunderbird email program.  I've gotten these messages ever since avast went to the new style of configuration (i.e. you no longer need custom email server configs.) I have a pretty simple setup:

Win XP Pro (SP2)
Zone Alarm Pro
Avast 4.5 Pro
Mozilla Thunderbird email program
Yahoo email service
DSL

I've read all the suggestions about increasing the timeouts on Avast, and none of the suggestions have worked. Thunderbird does not even have a connection timeout setting (unless its buried in some init file.)

So is Avast having some type of issue with the yahoo mail server? I'm on DSL, so timeouts really don't seem like it should be an issue.  Is it a communication sequencing error between Avast and the email server?
Is there some way for me to assist in diagnosing this annoyance?

Thanks

[lynnejohn]

Just as an additional note, the connection timeout error only seems to happen when Thunderbird starts an email check via its "email check time" (I have it set to 10 mins.) If I run the email check via the "Get Msgs" button,  I never get the timeout. You can also tell that you are going to get a timeout message in that the avast email scanning icon (lower right toolbar in windows) just seems to hang. After the timeout window appears and you decline to continue waiting from the pop up, the icon goes away.

Hope this helps.

Thanks

[vojtech]

Does the timeout message come from Thunderbird or from avast ?

[lynnejohn]

The timeout is from Thunderbird. Before I switched to Thunderbird I would get the same timeout messages from Netscape.

[garyundi]

Hello,

Just started getting the same connection timeout message. Mine says
msinn.exe 68.6.19.2.110

What can I do to make it go away.

[tychoquad]

Adding some apps to the ignore list stops the message from comming up all the time, but I still occasionally get it. It's probably worth noting that unlike seemingly everyone else here, whenever I get these messages, it doesn't tell me what app it came from.

[lukor]

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.

[lynnejohn]

Are you sure you want me to post the entire log file? It's long.

Thanks

[lynnejohn]

With the Internet Mail Provider disabled I do not get any timeout messages from Thunderbird.


John C.

[Eddy]

- Clear/delete the log.
- Try to reproduce the problem
- Post the log here

(this way the log won't be huge)

[lynnejohn]

I can't post even a partial log file as it exceeds the maximum of 1000 chars. I emailed the entire log to lukor.

Thanks

John C.

[lynnejohn]

Hey lukor,

     Have you had a chance to look through the log?

Everything I've glanced thru in the log looks ok except the:

"01/07/05 23:27:51 000001D8:   <-POP  -ERR popgate unknown command" msgs

They occur five times in the log until my user cancellation.

1st:
01/07/05 23:27:51 000001D8:   --XXX received 30(0x0000001E)
01/07/05 23:27:51 000001D8:   --POP ReadFromPop ...
01/07/05 23:27:51 000001D8:   <-POP  -ERR popgate unknown command
01/07/05 23:27:51 000001D8:   --XXX sent 30(0x0000001E)


2nd:
01/07/05 23:27:51 000001D8:   --XXX received 30(0x0000001E)
01/07/05 23:27:51 000001D8:   --POP ReadFromPop ...
01/07/05 23:27:51 000001D8:   <-POP  -ERR popgate unknown command
01/07/05 23:27:51 000001D8:   --XXX sent 30(0x0000001E)

3rd and 4th:
01/07/05 23:32:50 00000A24:   --XXX received 30(0x0000001E)
01/07/05 23:32:50 00000A24:   --POP ReadFromPop ...
01/07/05 23:32:50 00000A24:   <-POP  -ERR popgate unknown command
01/07/05 23:32:50 00000A24:   --XXX sent 30(0x0000001E)
01/07/05 23:32:50 00000A24:   --XXX testing second-side connection
01/07/05 23:32:50 00000A24:   --XXX sleep
01/07/05 23:32:50 00000A08:   --XXX received 30(0x0000001E)
01/07/05 23:32:50 00000A08:   --POP ReadFromPop ...
01/07/05 23:32:50 00000A08:   <-POP  -ERR popgate unknown command
01/07/05 23:32:50 00000A08:   --XXX sent 30(0x0000001E)
01/07/05 23:32:50 00000A08:   --XXX testing second-side connection

5th:
01/07/05 23:32:50 00000A24:   --POP ReadFromPop ...
01/07/05 23:32:50 00000A24:   <-POP  -ERR popgate unknown command
01/07/05 23:32:50 00000A24:   --XXX sent 30(0x0000001E)
01/07/05 23:32:50 00000A24:   --XXX testing second-side connection
01/07/05 23:32:50 00000A24:   --XXX sleep

Other than the "unknown command"s and a lot of sleeping it seems ok.

Can you post what type of priority this will get so I know when to check back.


Thanks,

     John C.

[lukor]

Lynnejohn,

thanks for the log. We have looked on it with Vojtech and I am still testing this with ZoneAlarm. The "-ERR popgate unknown command"  - although it might seem a bit strange - is perfectly normal. It just says that your mail server (pop at yahoo.com) does not support certain commands used by your mail client.

Also, what we can see there are two mail pickup retries (the interval is 5 minutes). First one ends with timeout, and the second one is in order. This means it is not some compatibility issue, invalid commands or invalid parsing, but rather some timing issue. The problematic connection (which later timeouts) comes through the ISAFE ZoneAlarm's proxy - the process isafe.exe.

The only advice I can give you know is to try to switch off the E-mail protection in Zone Alaram and see if it helps. You can also turn off the transparent mail scanner in avast! (avast4.ini section [MailScanner], AutoRedirect=0) and configure Thunderbird support via PopWizard (ashPopWz.exe from Avast folder).

Lukas.