POP connection issues with Avast 17.7.2526

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Suddenly my Outlook 2010 and eMClient email programs can only intermittently connect to my POP3 mailbox to download email.  After assuming an ISP and/or router issue was the cause initially I've discovered it's Avast Free Business Security that's to blame.  If I disable the Mail component then Outlook and eMClient both work perfectly.  It's a very simple POP3 server, uses the standard port of 110 and doesn't use SSL encryption, just plain username/password to gain access.  I'm presuming Avast 17.7.2526 is to blame as it only started recently.  I've uninstalled and re-installed to no avail.  Running Windows 10 Pro v1709 64-bit.

Telnet to my POP3 server on port 110 with Avast enabled doesn't work, but it does if Avast is temporarily disabled.

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What happens if you downgrade back to 17.6 ?  Was this a problem before the Win10 Fall Creator's Update?

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I have the exact same issue.  Had to uninstall Avast and replace it with something else temporarily. Looking forward to a solution.

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Sounds odd.  Is the same thing happening on other PCs in your network?  I'd guess if it was working with a previous version, but that version no longer works either, then probably a conflict with something else that changed in your environment (eg the Creator's Update broke something).  Did you use https://www.avast.com/uninstall-utility to uninstall?  Might be worth running it to clear out any bits left behind before installing again.