Author Topic: Avast 8 blocking or NOT SCANNING SSL emails - and Avast GUI disappears  (Read 35504 times)

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Offline glnz

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Had no problem with Avast 7 and my emails.  But Avast 8 is blocking my emails.
My primary verizon.net email account require an SSL link to the Verizon servers.  Outgoing (SMTP) uses port 465 and requires a secure connection (SSL).  Incoming (POP3) uses port 995. 
In Avast 8 Free Settings - Troubleshooting - Redirect Settings - Mail, I added ,465 to SMPT port(s) and added ,995 to POP port(s).  As soon as I did that, my emails stopped going through.  If I delete these added ports, then my emails work, but the Avast Help function regarding these Redirects indicates that my emails are no longer being scanned, although they used to be scanned in Avast 7.

Also, in the Avast User Interface, if I click on Scan or Maintenance or Statistics, the entire Avast User Interface disappears.

I HAVE UNINSTALLED AND REINSTALLED AVAST TWICE NOW and these problems continue.  What is going on?
« Last Edit: March 13, 2013, 03:56:03 AM by glnz »
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Offline DavidR

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Re: Avast 8 blocking SSL emails - and Avast GUI disappears
« Reply #1 on: March 13, 2013, 03:07:49 AM »
By adding the email accounts to avast 8 redirects or SSL Settings you are actually creating a problem.

Avast8 can now handle the SSL emails without having to modify your email settings in your email program.

If you previously had avast 7 you will have needed to change your email program, account settings to allow avast to scan SSL email, these changes need to be reversed, e.g set back to the SSL ports and Authentication.

Delete the entries for your email accounts in the avast Mail Shield > Settings > SSL Scanning.
Windows 10 Home 64bit/ Acer Aspire F15/ Intel Core i5 7200U 2.5GHz, 8GB DDR4 memory, 256GB SSD, 1TB HDD/ avast! free 24.2.6105 (build 24.2.8918.824) UI 1.0.799/ Firefox, uBlock Origin, uMatrix/ MailWasher Pro/ Avast! Mobile Security

Offline glnz

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Re: Avast 8 blocking SSL emails - and Avast GUI disappears
« Reply #2 on: March 13, 2013, 03:24:11 AM »
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.
« Last Edit: March 13, 2013, 03:58:11 AM by glnz »
Various Dell Optiplexes running XP Pro SP3 32-bit, Win 7 Pro SP1 64-bit and Win 10 Pro 64-bit.  Firefox with security add-ons.

asap

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Hi!
Same behaviour for me, glnz is right.
SSL incoming mail ARE NOT scanned :o (gmail for sure but it seems aol is ok).
SSL outgoing mail may have been scanned, but I'm not sure ::) of that.
New AVAST v8 interface is very poor, online help is of no use (still v7!)

I have a program called TvSchedulerPro wich cannot send mail anymore till I uncheck "Mail shield settings">Main settings">"Scan outbound mail (SMTP)" :'(
When checked: error is "Could not connect to SMTP host: smtp.orange.fr, port: 465"
When not checked: Successfull.
I tried port 25 also ;D, same thing happens :(.
I deleted all the old entries for my email accounts in the avast Mail Shield > Settings > SSL Scanning, nothing better :'(

Today, there is NO virus protection for incoming SSL mail an NO protection for outgoing mail.
THAT IS CLEARLY NOT A GOOD THING!!! >:(

Regards.

W7SP1 64bit, 6GB ram, AVAST v8.0.1483 (def 130312-0)
« Last Edit: March 13, 2013, 11:27:24 AM by asap »

Offline Pondus

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Quote
Today, there is NO virus protection for incoming SSL mail an NO protection for outgoing mail.
THAT IS CLEARLY NOT A GOOD THING!!!
AOL and Gmail have spam/virus filter on there mail servers
Gmail use postini spam/virus filter with two AV engines from Authentium and McAfee so you are secure.   ;)


Offline Pondus

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@glnz
Quote
This means that AVAST IS NOT SCANNING INCOMING SSL EMAIL.
not necessarily as the clean note was removed when one of the new avast 7 build was released...
however why you get this in one mail and not in the other i do not know

when you reinstalled did you use avast removal tool?
run it for all avast version you had and reboot
must be run from safe mode    http://www.avast.com/uninstall-utility
reinstall and reboot



asap

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Quote
Today, there is NO virus protection for incoming SSL mail an NO protection for outgoing mail.
THAT IS CLEARLY NOT A GOOD THING!!!
AOL and Gmail have spam/virus filter on there mail servers
Gmail use postini spam/virus filter with two AV engines from Authentium and McAfee so you are secure.   ;)
Hahahaha !
I understand you admit AVAST does not work properly when not scanning SSL incoming mail.
You say it's not a problem because aol and gmail have virus filters! Did you read what you wrote?
From you, I don't need an antivirus for my incoming SSL mail. I'M NOT CONVINCED!!!
And what about the other SSL mail providers? Do you know all of them?
You claim scan is done on ssl mail but no message is inserted anymore.
May be.
Please make the proof of the scan by reinserting the disapeared lines as soon as possible in ssl mail header telling scan has been passed by avast software!
I'm now considering seriously about another antivirus software which will really do the work for my ssl mail.
v7 was working perfectly, what the f.ck have you changed that in v8?

Offline Pondus

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Quote
You say it's not a problem because aol and gmail have virus filters! Did you read what you wrote?
Did you.....where do you see the word problem in what i wrote?
i am just telling you that you are still secure even if you dont get this to work


Quote
Please make the proof of the scan by reinserting the disapeared lines as soon as possible in ssl mail header telling scan has been passed by avast software!
this was removed bc it gives a false sence of security.....it can be faked, i can copy an paste that at the bottom of a mail and send it to you.
also it will only tell you avast did not detect anything.....a mail can still contain a virus that avast does not detect yet. no antivirus have 100% detection


why some have so much trouble to get avast SSL scan to work i do not know
what does your mail shield log say?


Quote
And what about the other SSL mail providers? Do you know all of them?
I know some... and it is not only SSL providers, most mail providers have spam/virus protection on there servers
Yahoo use Norton
microsoft protect all Msn / hotmail / live mail with TrendMicro
your mail provider should be able to give this info if you ask



« Last Edit: March 13, 2013, 12:46:35 PM by Pondus »

asap

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Quote
You say it's not a problem because aol and gmail have virus filters! Did you read what you wrote?
Did you.....where do you see the word problem in what i wrote?
i am just telling you that you are still secure even if you dont get this to work


Quote
Please make the proof of the scan by reinserting the disapeared lines as soon as possible in ssl mail header telling scan has been passed by avast software!
this was removed bc it gives a false sence of security.....it can be faked, i can copy an paste that at the bottom of a mail and send it to you.
also it will only tell you avast did not detect anything.....a mail can still contain a virus that avast does not detect yet. no antivirus have 100% detection


why some have so much trouble to get avast SSL scan to work i do not know
what does your mail shield log say?


Quote
And what about the other SSL mail providers? Do you know all of them?
I know some... and it is not only SSL providers, most mail providers have spam/virus protection on there servers
Yahoo use Norton
microsoft protect all Msn / hotmail / live mail with TrendMicro
your mail provider should be able to give this info if you ask

Thanks for you reply.
"i am just telling you that you are still secure even if you dont get this to work" uh uh uh (trust me-trust me-trust me) may be.
"your mail provider should be able to give this info [avir software] if you ask" this is not the subject.
"this [2 lines from avast] was removed bc it gives a false sence of security.....it can be faked, i can copy an paste that at the bottom of a mail and send it to you."
Then, why are they present in non-ssl mail headers?
These lines looks:
"X-Antivirus: avast! (VPS 130313-0, 13/03/2013), Inbound message
X-Antivirus-Status: Clean" that's all I want to see in the header of scanned e-mails (wether ssl or not).
"also it will only tell you avast did not detect anything.....a mail can still contain a virus that avast does not detect yet. no antivirus have 100% detection" For sure it cannot detect all the threats (that is not the subject here), but it tells me avast did the job (that is the subject here).
Remember I'm taking about the lines in the admin header of the e-mail, not some commercial inserted in the bottom of the text of that e-mail!
I've received a one new ssl mail from aol : nothing about avast in the header! That becomes very strange, one time it is, one time it is not...
I'm currently looking at the mail shield window showing the count of scanned e-mails : non-ssl mail are correctly counted (the counter increments as mail arrives), ssl mails are never counted (missing 1 aol and 3 gmail...) Quite funny isn't it?
Email shield log says : nothing (empty!) I've just turned on all report items (infected+hard err+soft err+ok items+skipped), I'll see (nothing from the last 20 minutes, how long does it need to update ?)
Regards
« Last Edit: March 13, 2013, 02:12:09 PM by asap »

eBatch

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My experience:

Using gmail (via OE6) Avast 8 IS scanning my inbound using SSL / port 995 (having removed all the details from Avast SSL Scanning section, but left SSL Scanning checked).

I send out gmail via my ISP's servers which are not SSL, and that and all my other (non-SSL) email (both in and out) are being scanned by Avast

The Emails scanned (under AntiVirus, Mail Shield) is being immediately incremented for each in / out email, including the gmail SSL in.  The Shield Log accessible from the same screen is always empty (so does it only get populated for un-clean messages?)

Under Summary, Statistics, Mail Shield, the Weekly stats aren't getting updated (even after a reboot). The Today stats are getting updated, but with quite a time lag.






eBatch

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Re: Avast 8 blocking or NOT SCANNING SSL emails - and Avast GUI disappears
« Reply #10 on: March 13, 2013, 03:37:56 PM »
I've also just noticed these two seemingly new entries in EmailShield.ini (with my settings shown)

SSLScanMessage=0
ScanSSL=1

Are these relevant to the issues under discussion here?

In any event any info.on what do these two control?

asap

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Re: Avast 8 blocking or NOT SCANNING SSL emails - and Avast GUI disappears
« Reply #11 on: March 13, 2013, 03:48:58 PM »
Hi all!
After uninstalling with the avast remover (using safe mode) and then reinstalling...
It now appears that mail shield scans ssl incoming mail at last!
OK, that's a point : do not upgrade from v7 to v8 (following the reboot procedure recommended by avast is not enough...) but,
1) download avast remover tool and v8 (store them onto desktop)
2) reboot using safe mode
3) uninstall with avast remover
4) reboot...
5) ...and then install v8 (no reboot required)

The whole procedure with admin rights of course.

(Let's pray nothing bad happens from the net between point 4) and point 5), removing RJ45 cable or shutting down wifi router seems to me a good thing to do ;D ;D ;D)

Still cannot check outgoing mail with my TvSchedulerPro app ??? Investigation continues...

pdoug44

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Re: Avast 8 blocking or NOT SCANNING SSL emails - and Avast GUI disappears
« Reply #12 on: March 13, 2013, 05:04:52 PM »
Why should an Avast customer have to go through all this to get their product working correctly?  There is something wrong with this picture in my opinion.

Offline glnz

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Re: Avast 8 blocking or NOT SCANNING SSL emails - and Avast GUI disappears
« Reply #13 on: March 13, 2013, 06:30:35 PM »
AVAST TECH TEAM - PLEASE READ THIS:

All of us love Avast and are very thankful for your free product all these years.  And we've seen the tech press give greater and greater respect to Avast over time.  But you cannot afford to make mistakes.

This thread proves that Avast 8 either is NOT scanning incoming SSL emails or is completely erratic and therefore NOT SECURE for emails.  This needs an IMMEDIATE FIX -- or a return to your methods in Avast 7 in which our email apps remained set to NON-SSL configurations and Avast 7 was the intermediary (like a router) with YES-SSL configurations.

WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THIS ISSUE?

ALSO, what about my other issue, that the entire Avast UI disappears when I click on some of its buttons, unless I re-install over and over?

Finally, responses to my thread here are NOT automatically generating emails to me even though I check "Notify me of replies".

Come ON guys - get WITH it.
« Last Edit: March 13, 2013, 06:42:00 PM by glnz »
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Offline glnz

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Re: Avast 8 blocking or NOT SCANNING SSL emails - and Avast GUI disappears
« Reply #14 on: March 14, 2013, 02:13:51 AM »
Bump  
« Last Edit: March 15, 2013, 12:39:43 AM by glnz »
Various Dell Optiplexes running XP Pro SP3 32-bit, Win 7 Pro SP1 64-bit and Win 10 Pro 64-bit.  Firefox with security add-ons.