Cut off from mail server - HELP

[keybasher]

This is ironic as well as desperate.  I changed to Avast from VirusBarrier a couple of weeks back, because VB deleted thousands of emails.  A senior Apple support tech suggested Avast.

I installed Avast and got greeted with the barrage of SSL/TLS notifications.  So I followed the instructions.  I changed my ISP's IMAP mail account to no SSL on port 143 and added the server to the SSL list in Avast preferences.  Since then I am completely cut off from that server.  This is affecting not just IMAP and IMAPS but SMTP as well.  The server is totally fire walled.

First to dispose of the obvious:  I have a MacBook, two iPhones and an iPad on the same network. They all work perfectly with the ISP's server.  I have attempted to revert the settings.  I have repeatedly installed and uninstalled Avast.  The LAN and my WAN connection to the ISP are all IPv4/IPv6 dual stack. I have tried turning off IPv6 and the other two settings in the Avast mail scanning preferences.  Nothing works.  My computer is completely isolated from the mail server.  My Mail app is working properly with two iCloud accounts, two Exchange servers and another IMAP server.

I have no reason to believe that my IPv6 is not working correctly.  It passes all the tests.  This forum has an IPv6 address although www.avast.com does not.  The mail server which is cut off does not have an IPv6 address.  That is 'dig server.isp.com AAAA'  yields no address.  Whereas 'dig forum.avast.com AAAA' gives:
;; ANSWER SECTION:
forum.avast.com.   2234   IN   AAAA   2001:67c:284:1fe::34

There is no unusual activity in ocspd.

I have spent hours on this and have run out of ideas.

Bill Northcott

[keybasher]

Even more ironic, this server (forum.avast.com) is NOT properly configured for IPv6. A reverse lookup on its IPv6 address fails, and ReCaptcha fails complaining that 'You must pass the remote IP with ReCaptcha'.  I presume it is looking for IPv4 even though the server has an IPv6 address, and the browser will prefer IPv6 if available.

In order to post this message I have to disable IPv6.  Disabling IPv6 on the MAc has no effect on the Avast Mail issue.

Bill Northcott

[tumic]

Please try the avast version refered here: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=107349.msg856332#msg856332, it has some workarounds for the broken iCloud IMAP server. If you use Apple mail on 10.7/10.8, you have to additionally configure the iCloud mail account to use the standard SMTP server for sending mails, not the proprietary "iCloud" method selected by default by Apple mail.

For the forum related issues, please use the "General Topics" board: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?board=1.0.

[keybasher]

I will experiment with the new software when I get some time.

Meanwhile I have identified the source of my main problem: being cut off from the mail server.

It seems that whatever Avast is doing to the mail data streams, the Intrusion Detection System my Billion 7402X router does not like it.  The mail servers were being blacklisted.  By this morning, I had been cut off from all but one mail server.

I restored function by whitelisting the servers in the routers configuration.

Bill

[keybasher]

That new software does seem to be better so far.

It does however seem to create an issue with the mouse pointer jumping around as long as Mail is running.

Bill

[keybasher]

There seems to be a basic problem with the approach that Avast takes to SSL mail servers.

Apple is moving to auto-configuration of mail clients.  This has caused issues with misconfigured Exchange servers, which led Apple to include an option in the Exchange set up to turn auto-configuration off.

When working via IMAP with the mail server on OS X 10.8.2, there is no option to disable auto-configuration.  This means there is no way to turn off SSL in Mail if the server provides it.  This is using the patched Avast linked above.

Apple's mail servers are doing similar stuff even with the patched software.  SSL is getting turned back on after I disable it.

Given the issues that I having.  I cannot regard the current email shield in Avast as usable with OS X 10.8.2.

Bill