New to avast!

[naut]

Hi:

I recently switched to avast! 4.7 (from AVG 7) and like what I see so far. Just a few questions:

1) When I first access the internet with IE6, my ZoneAlarm firewall alerts me that avast wants to access the internet also. While online, I get random similar alerts (for ashWebSv.exe, and for ashServ.exe). Why does avast need to do this? Which programs in avast should I allow access in my ZA firewall?

2) How do I confirm whether or not avast is scanning my email? I don't see any email wizard in my program list, and the settings in my Outlook Express remain unchanged.

3) How do I confirm that I have succesfully registered my free version?

[DavidR]

ashWebSv.exe is the avast Web Shield that filters and scans web content before it is displayed by your browser and it requires access. ashServ.exe is the main scanning engine and as such shouldn't need internet access, are you sure it is this program that is trying to connect or that it is launching avast.setup (avast update process) which does require access ?

One other avast process which requires access is ashMaiSv.exe, the avast Internet Mail scanner, which does a similar job to scan your email before it arrives in your inbox.

What is your OS ?
WinXp, win2k and winNT don't require the email wizard as the proxy is transparent.

You will receive and email with your registration key.

[Lisandro]

Which programs in avast should I allow access in my ZA firewall?

Into the firewall settings, the following programs should be allowed to connect:

C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashWebSv.exe (avast! Web Scanner)
C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashMaiSv.exe (avast! e-Mail Scanner Service)
C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\Setup\avast.setup (avast! Update executable)

Don't need rights to connect:
C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashServ.exe (avast! antivirus service)
C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashUpdSv.exe (avast! Update Service)

2) How do I confirm whether or not avast is scanning my email? I don't see any email wizard in my program list, and the settings in my Outlook Express remain unchanged.

If you're using XP, settings are not changed, scanning is transparent.
To see if avast! is scanning emails, check one of these points:
1) Is the avast icon (the special one of email scanning) be shown in the system tray?
2) Is your email header with the lines X-Antivirus: avast! (VPS 0XXX-X, XX/XX/2005), Inbound message and X-Antivirus-Status: Clean? (Right click the message, choose Properties and Details)
3) Are clean notes added at the bottom of the email? (Internet Mail provider settings)
You can test the security of your email system here: http://www.gfi.com/emailsecuritytest/

3) How do I confirm that I have succesfully registered my free version?

Check the About dialog (right click the 'a' blue icon) and see the expiration dates of both program and virus database. 

[naut]

Thanks, DavidR and Tech, for the prompt replies.

My OS is XP Media Center Edition 2005, which always seems to behave just a wee bit different from XP- hence my questions.

And thanks for the clarification on program access in ZA. I did a search for ashMaiSv.exe, and it is not to be found on this PC.  I see no icon in my Systray related to email scanning (just the 2 icons with an "a" and an "i") and I see no evidence of email scanning whan I examine messages as you recommended.

It has been a few weeks since I installed this program. I can't recall, but is it possible that I was offered the option to not install email scanning?

Finally, thanks for the info re: registration. It seems I at least did that right!

[DavidR]

The ashMaiSv.exe should be in the C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4 folder assuming that you installed avast in the default folder. If it isn't there try a repair of avast. Add Remove programs, select 'avast! Anti-Virus,' click the Change/Remove button and scroll down to Repair, click next and follow. You need to be on-line to do this.

The icon is only there for the duration of the scan.

Left Click the avast ' a ' icon and check the Internet Mail provider it should be running (not greyed out, if the file is truly missing) and the Scanned Total: would be at 0.

Have you received the registration email and if so have you entered the key ?

Welcome to the forums.

[naut]

DavidR:

It appears I must have not installed the email scanner during setup.

Left Click the avast ' a ' icon and check the Internet Mail provider it should be running...

Definitely not present. To tell you the truth, this does not worry me, since email scanners with other AV programs caused me problems, and because I've been lead to believe they are redundent (emails are automatically scanned when written to the HD by the resident AV app.) If I am in error on this, please advise.

Have you received the registration email and if so have you entered the key ?

Yes, and yes.

Welcome to the forums.

I thank you!

[DavidR]

Prevention is much better than cure, scanning emails before they are saved to your inbox and hdd are infinitely easier to deal with. Not to mention deleting an email from within an email database could corrupt that database and you lose all emails in that database depending on your email program ( ? ). You decide if you think prevention is better than cure.

Whoever led you to believe that email viruses were redundent is wrong, emai is still a prime means of infection.

The fact that other email scanners caused you problems is no indication that you will have problems with avast.

What version of ZA are you using Free or Pro ?

From the Add remove programs instead of selecting Repair, select Change, here you can reselect the Internet Mail provider and have it selected again. You can then enable it from the On-Access providers screen.

[naut]

Hi again:

I do believe prevention is better than cure, but I also believe "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". The fact is that in 7 years online with email without email scanning, I have never contracted a virus. Mind you, I also made it my business to read up on how to protect myself vis-a-vis email, attachments, and how to safely configure my Outlook Express. And the only time my email ever caused me grief was when I used email scanning with AVG. So I read up on email scanners.

Whoever led you to believe that email viruses were redundent is wrong...

Actually what I read was that email scanning was redundent, and unnecessary. I read this from about 6 separate MS-MVP sites, such as the following:
http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#3
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/community/columns/filecorruption.mspx#EOAAC

I started this thread, in part, to determine whether or not I had email scanning, and how to disable it, if it caused me any problems. I truly didn't mean to get into a debate about the merits of such scanning. With your help I now know how to re-enable email scanning, and for that I am grateful. I have in fact enabled avast's email scanning. If it gives me any problems, I now know how to disable it.

What version of ZA are you using Free or Pro ?

I'm using ZA Free, v 6.1.744.001 (with basic mailsafe disabled).

Thank you for your help.

[alanrf]

Just for clarification ...

As a matter of fact - files are not scanned when written, and even if they were the Standard provider knows nothing about the format of email messages and how to interpret attachments (which are encoded).  It is the email scanner of avast that has the smarts built in to understand email formats and detect viruses in attachments. 

So you will be relying on the Standard provider to intercept any viruses that may be present when you read/attempt to execute an email attachment from the mail file.  Of course, if you happen to store an infected attachment in your mail file there will be nothing to prevent you sending it on to your correspondents (unlike with the Internet Mail scanner - which would prevent you adding the infection to your mail store in the first place). 

This is not to argue with your choice - just to provide factual clarification.