Are the mail shield and web shield essential for a clean pc?

[Shaun985]

As title states, just trying to understand how necessary are the mail and web shield components in Avast.  Avast seems to be the only one that packages these features into the free version, others like Avira and Bitdefender only have the file shield but do not have mail or web shields.  Are they really that necessary if you have a file shield present?

These shields catch things before they hit the hdd, while the file shield catches things on execution but is that important, can malware/viruses/etc. act in memory?

I've also read many stories about antiviruses deleting or corrupting inboxes for mail readers like Thunderbird.  Some antiviruses without the mail shield catch the problem after the email has been downloaded, thus possibly deleting the inbox.  Avast seems to catch the problem before it even hits the inbox, so does this prevent inbox deletion/corruption issues?

Finally for the web shield, is it important to enable https scanning or is file shield good enough for that?  Does intelligent stream scanning slow down your web connection?

Thanks!

[Pondus]

if you dont use a mail client you dont need the mail shield

Here you can see the webshield in action  >>  https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=185644.0

Avira and Bitdefender only have the file shield but do not have mail or web shields.

They probably do, but dont call it webshield

[DavidR]

The web shield is possibly the most important shield, given that the majority of malware comes via the internet.

Much of the internet is now on https, so to ignore that fact and not scan it when it is possible to scan that content now, exposes you to more risk.

If you use an email client (not webmail) you really should scan email. What is being scanned is the individual email as it is being intercepted before it ends up in the InBox. So it isn't scanning the inbox file as such.

That said if there is any corruption (power out, etc.) the inbox is at risk as it is an open file, when you lose power that can possibly corrupt open files.

You need to use your inbox as if it were an InTray on your desk, you don't use that for storage, you read the information (deal with it, reply, etc.) and then you move it to your filing cabinet in a file folder appropriate to its content. This way you only have a small number of emails in your inbox should anything happen to it.

Currently I only have 5 emails in my inbox.

Contrary to popular belief "if you dont use a mail client you dont need the mail shield" I believe you should retain it. If it isn't in use it won't be using any resources. It may be the first indication that you have a hidden or undetected email spambot on your system. Theses spambots have a very small email program so they don't need yours even if you had one.

[Shaun985]

Very interesting, thank you for the info.  But if there is no web shield and mail shield, then won't file shield catch everything anyways?  Is it vital that mail or web shield catch the problem in memory before it hits the hdd?

[essexboy]

You want the malware to be blocked before it gets to your system, if webshield detects anything it breaks the connection to that site immediately so that nothing gets onto your system

[Shaun985]

So there is a chance that if it gets on the system, the file shield will fail to deal with it?

[essexboy]

There is that possibility but why test it

[Eddy]

No, the file shield don't catch everything.
If it would the other shields wouldn't be needed/developed.