Email errors from Mailwasher and Thunderbird

[Abigman]

I use Mailwasher and then Thunderbird to process my emails.
Every day for a week or so I have been getting frequent fails with the following message from MailWasher:
"Description: Failed to login to server "mail.plus.net" for your Plusnet account".
And the following message from Thunderbird:
"An error occurred with the POP3 mail server.  Mail server mail.plus.net responded:"
But then if I just do Get Messages it usually works.

Today I decided to turn off Avast's mail shield for inbound mail (POP3, IMAP4) and I haven't had one error message all day.
I just wondered if there was anything known about this.
Tomorrow I'll turn the shield on again and see if I get any error messages.
Thanks.

[Pondus]

avast mailshield and thunderbird mail client issues have been reported before

you may try  >>  https://www.avast.com/faq.php?article=AVKB204#artTitle

there is also this  >>  https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=205786.0

[DavidR]

I have MailWasher Pro7.8.0 and the current version of Thunderbird on my XP Pro SP3 system of my signature below my posts and that is working fine.

I'm not using that system at the moment, but from memory, I thought I had set an exclusion not to scan to MailWasher. But having opened that system the EmailShield.ini file or settings don't appear to be set now. Probably a clean install at some point when I haven't saved and restored settings.

So for me, it would appear to be working without any change in settings. Though check the avastUI > Settings > Troubleshooting > Redirect settings and also Ignore Local Communications.

See attached context Help file of the settings and they reflect my current settings.

[Abigman]

@DavidR, my settings are the same as yours.

EDIT: BTW, I've just updated Avast from 17.5.2302 to 17.5.2303

[DavidR]

OK, next step to check.
Has your email worked in the past when avast has been installed ?

Is the Ignore local communication enabled (as the last attachment is just the context help file) ?
Whilst it may not have any effect, it is worth a shot.

Have you Exported the SSL Scanning certificate from the avastUI > settings > components > Mail Shield > Customise > SSL scanning.  Then imported the security certificate into thunderbird.

[Abigman]

OK, next step to check.
Has your email worked in the past when avast has been installed ?

I've been running Avast and Thunderbird since 2012 and Mailwasher since 2010.
I can't remember this problem ever happening before.

Is the Ignore local communication enabled (as the last attachment is just the context help file) ?
Whilst it may not have any effect, it is worth a shot.

The "Ignore local communication" option is ticked.

Have you Exported the SSL Scanning certificate from the avastUI > settings > components > Mail Shield > Customise > SSL scanning.  Then imported the security certificate into thunderbird.

No, I don't really know what this does but I have never seen any documentation that says this must be done for Thunderbird.
I would prefer to leave asis and not add an extra element to the mix.
Thanks for your help.

EDIT: Oh dear,  I've just had the error message from Mailwasher,  first today. 
I'll see if I get any more tomorrow.

[DavidR]

The strange thing is getting the error message from MailWasher and not from avast or Thunderbird.
Normally any error related to a security certificate would/should come from Thunderbird.

What happens if you do a test on retrieving your email directly from Thunderbird (not through MailWasher) ?

[Abigman]

As mentioned in my opening post I do get the error message from Thunderbird.
There is no obvious pattern,  if Mailwasher fails then Thunderbird sometimes works.
If Mailwasher works then Thunderbird may or may not work.

It seems to takes ages before the error message appears (normally it zips through in no time).
So I turned checking off for the account in question in Mailwasher to speed things up and I still sometimes got the error message in Thunderbird.

Today,  I haven't had the error message from Mailwasher or Thunderbird (I earlier turned the checking back on in Mailwasher).
I'll see if it continues tomorrow.

[DavidR]

OK, until tomorrow, fingers crossed.

[Abigman]

Today (Thursday) so far, I haven't had the error message from Mailwasher or Thunderbird.
But what is obvious now is that it takes a lot longer to check for emails from Plusnet than my other mail providers.
So my guess is that this delay is from Plusnet since nothing else at my end has changed.
It never took so long until recently and I think the error message appears when some kind of timeout occurs.
That's why it sometimes works and sometimes doesn't.
It can still take a long time but then work, next time it zips through with no error message.

BTW I did open a thread on the Plusnet forum so I'll see how that goes.

[DavidR]

OK, a bit of a waiting game now.  I don't use Plusnet, so I have no reference.

[Abigman]

I haven't had an error message for several days now so it looks like the issue has been resolved (famous last words!).
I still have Avast scanning incoming emails.