DavidR - Unfortunately, you are wrong.
In Avast 8 Free Settings - Troubleshooting - Redirect Settings - Mail, I have now deleted ,465 from SMPT port(s) and 995 from POP port(s). My emails are working again. In the Avast Mail Shield settings, I HAVE checked "Scan SSL connections". However, AVAST IS NOT SCANNING EMAILS THAT COME IN OVER AN SSL CONNECTION.
I have always used Outlook Express, and now with Avast 8 I have configured OE to use the SSL connections with my Verizon.net email account. Outgoing is now set to SMTP port 465 with SSL, and incoming is now set to POP3 port 995 with SSL. It is working. However, a test email from my law firm to this Verizon email account is NOT scanned by Avast. In the email properties, there are NO lines that read
X-Antivirus: avast! (VPS 130312-0, 03/12/2013), Inbound message
X-Antivirus-Status: Clean
I also have a second personal email account through my wife's business web name, hosted by Network Solutions. It is [myname]@[wifename].com. It is NOT SSL encrypted. Its outgoing is set to SMTP port 587 but NOT SSL, and its incoming is set to POP3 port 110 but NOT SSL. A test email from my law firm to this email IS scanned by Avast. In the email properties, there ARE lines that read
X-Antivirus: avast! (VPS 130312-0, 03/12/2013), Inbound message
X-Antivirus-Status: Clean
This means that AVAST IS NOT SCANNING INCOMING SSL EMAIL.
AND the Avast UI is disappearing completely when I click on certain buttons, and I have clean-reinstalled Avast 8 twice now. WHAT IS GOING ON???
My home PC is a Dell with Win XP Pro SP3 and plenty of RAM (4GB) and HD space. I NEVER HAD THESE PROBLEMS WITH AVAST 7.
Thanks.