How to get Avast to scan OE mail?

[rocketfoot]

Hi guys, been awile since I have been here! 

I have a new problem.  I just got rid of MSN browser and went back to regular IE and Fire Fox.  My old email was the MSN web based hotmail.  Now I am using Outlook express.  How can I get Avast to scan OE incoming mail?  I have 4 inboxes added to OE...1 is verizon and 3 are MSN/hotmail accounts.  None of them are currently being scaned by avast!  What can I do?  Thanks in advance!!

[Lisandro]

How can I get Avast to scan OE incoming mail?

Do you have Windows XP? Nothing, they should be scanned transparently if they use POP3 and SMTP protocols.
If you're using Windows 98, just close the email programs, run the Mail Protection Wizard and follow the instructions...
Am I being so simple that I'm not understanding your problem? 

[DavidR]

Yahoo/Hotmail are not pop3 email services (unless you pay for the pop3 service), it is web based (so the Internet Mail provider doesn't directly protect it). Web based email is simply your email being viewed in the same way you browser the internet. The pages (that display your email) are downloaded into your Temporary Internet folder, just like regular web pages and displayed on your browser screen.

The Web Shield and finally Standard Shield will scan your files (as they are downloaded into your Temporary Internet folder) when sensitivity is set to High. You can round this 'problem' using 3rd party applications to download the Hotmail messages through the pop3 server (PopHotmail, for instance)

If however, OE is converting the http email and downloading it as regular pop3 email (but if it doesn't use pop3 protocol to download it won't be scanned), so theoretically it should work.
What is your OS?

[alanrf]

Rocketfoot's post says that WindowsMe is the operating system.

The reply is basically the same as we gave to rocketfoot last September.

If he is successfully using his MSN/Hotmail accounts via OE then they are all grandfathered WebDav accounts.  That means the mail is received via modified HTTP transactions that are not subject to scanning by the Internet mail scanner.

As for the verizon account - only rocketfoot can tell us whether that is set up as a POP3 account or is received via an HTTP server (in OE check properties for the verizon mail account and then look under the server tab).

If the verizon mail account is via http server then the same goes for it as for the MSN/Hotmail accounts.  If it is a POP3 account then I'm sure that Tech/David will give their usual excellent guidance on using the avast! mail wizard for Win98/ME users to get POP3 mail scanned. 

[rocketfoot]

Thanks guys!  Quick and easy to understand answers!  That's why this forum is great!   

My Verizon is POP3 and the other 3 are HTTP...so I am gonna try the mail wizard and see what happens! 

I was tinkering with this mess back in sept, but I thought my situation may have changed since I dumped resource hogging MSN!

Thanks again!

Edit...I just ran the wizard and did a test emailing to myself and it is working on Verizon account!  (I added the clean tag to the inbound message)

Thanks again...I just hope the web shield protects my computer from the other 3 MSN accounts!  They are where I get most of my mail...

[DavidR]

Rocketfoot's post says that WindowsMe is the operating system.

I didn't see anything, thought it strange you could see it and not me; so I checked my forums settings, I had the 'Don't show other users' signatures.' ticked. Can't remember doing that, thanks for the heads-up.

[alanrf]

rocketfoot,

I may stand to be corrected by the avast! team but I doubt that the Webshield will be able to detect anything in the WebDav traffic between OE and the MSN/Hotmail servers (since I do not believe that the Webshield 'speaks' WebDav). 

Instead you will be relying on the virus scanning provided for MSN/Hotmail accounts at the mail server and secondly on the Standard Shield of avast! should you access an infected attachment that might make it through. These two layers should provide you with pretty good protection.

As I mentioned in my posting to you last year there are ways of retrieving the MSN/Hotmail messages and having them converted to a POP3 stream that can then be scanned by the avast! Internet Mail scanner but frankly I think that the effort would be more trouble than any extra security you would get. 

[Lisandro]

I doubt that the Webshield will be able to detect anything in the WebDav traffic between OE and the MSN/Hotmail servers (since I do not believe that the Webshield 'speaks' WebDav).

WebShield, as far I know, scans ONLY HTTP traffic, no other protocol is scanned. If the communications uses HTTP (and not HTTPS), it will be scanned.

[alanrf]

WebDav also known as HTTPDav is a form of HTTP, though modified, and gives more of an IMAP than POP3 experience.  I still believe that avast! does not decode these HTTP interactions as email traffic and scan them accordingly.

AFAIK the only part of avast! that has any knowledge of how to recognize email content is the Internet Mail Scanner along with the Outlook/The Bat plugins.  I believe there is a MIME unpacker that can selected in the Pro version of avast but it is not available in the Home edition. 

So, simply put - do not expect the Web Shield, the Standard Shield or the on demand scanners to know how to properly handle email streams or email files.