Author Topic: Does Avast 4.6 Home support AOL internet Mail services?  (Read 9653 times)

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AOL communicator

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Does Avast 4.6 Home support AOL internet Mail services?
« on: March 25, 2005, 01:28:18 PM »
Does Avast 4.6 Home support AOL internet Mail services?

I use AOL Commincator as my email client when I connect to the standard AOL internet email service.'

Will it scan my incoming email?

Thanks for the advice.
JH

Offline DavidR

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Re: Does Avast 4.6 Home support AOL internet Mail services?
« Reply #1 on: March 25, 2005, 03:12:02 PM »
I don't believe so because AOL uses a different protocol for its email client not pop3, smtp or imap.

I'm not an AOHeller, so I can't confirm this, but for a long time AOL used a proprietary email client. If AOL's email client uses pop3, smtp and/or imap protocols then yes it should be scanned.
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Worried Man

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Re: Does Avast 4.6 Home support AOL internet Mail services?
« Reply #2 on: January 15, 2007, 06:29:04 AM »
I don't believe so because AOL uses a different protocol for its email client not pop3, smtp or imap.

AOL servers use IMAP for their incoming mail and SMTP, port 587 for their outgoing mail.  It seems like Avast would scan AOL Email.  Maybe I will just send an Email to support at Avast and ask.   

Offline alanrf

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Re: Does Avast 4.6 Home support AOL internet Mail services?
« Reply #3 on: January 15, 2007, 09:40:45 AM »
If AOL mail does, as you report, use port 587 for outbound mail then it it almost certainly is using TLS and therefore, by definition, cannot be scanned by avast (or anything else).

Worried Man

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Re: Does Avast 4.6 Home support AOL internet Mail services?
« Reply #4 on: January 15, 2007, 04:39:08 PM »
Quote
If AOL mail does, as you report, use port 587 for outbound mail then it it almost certainly is using TLS and therefore, by definition, cannot be scanned by avast (or anything else).

Hi.  Thank you very much for your reply.  I just got the port 587 info from an AOL tech and I also see it reported elsewhere in this forum in this link:  http://members.aol.com/adamkb/aol/mailfaq/imap/

I am not a hi-tech guy, and it certainly seems that I am missing something.  Please let me see if understand things correctly.  When an AV program says it scans the most common Email protocols,  HTTP, IMAP, NNTP, SMTP, and POP3 traffic for example, and AOL says its incoming mail is IMAP and outgoing mail is SMTP, said anti virus program still isn't scanning AOL email unless a person reconfigures their AOL Email so it isn't web based?  Is that it?  How about scanning attachments?

On another note, I have recently seen an AV program published by AOL available at Cnet download.com, Softpedia and other reputable software download sites, but not listed on AOL's own proprietary web pages.  This AOL branded program at download.com is actually a slimmed down version of Kaspersky 6.0 AV that is rebranded with the AOL name.  So once again, if I am understanding things correctly, even this AV software with AOL's own name on it, which says it supports all the most commonly used Email protocols, including HTTP, IMAP, NNTP, SMTP, and POP3 traffic, would not likely scan my AOL Emails and attachments?

Finally, if an AOL user chooses to download the AOL Safety and Security Center directly from AOL proprietary web pages, they will be able to install an AOL AV powered by Mcafee.  (I don't know whether it is a regular or slimmed down version of Mcafee.)  So once again, is it probable that even this AOL/Mcafee AV, which is downloaded directly from AOL, would not scan my AOL Email and its attachments?

I am an AOL user trying out Avast, which looks like a nice robust program.  I would like to have the comfort level of knowing that my Emails and Email attachments are scanned at my user level and by a program that I choose.  But from what I am gathering from your comments and the link that I found here and referenced above, is that neither Avast AV, the AOL/Mcafee AV available directly from AOL, nor the AOL/Kaspersky AV available on the net are likely to actually scan AOL Emails and its attachments since AOL email is allegedly web based Email and these Emails are being scanned by AOL at a server level.  Is that correct?  Is there a distinction for attachments?  Won’t Avast AV and these other AV programs that I mentioned at least scan my AOL Email attachments?  I doubt that web based Email would necessarily be scanning attachments at a server level, but what do I know. ??? 
 
Sorry for the lengthy post and thanks for your help!!  ;D 



   
« Last Edit: January 15, 2007, 06:58:46 PM by Worried Man »

tls

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Re: Does Avast 4.6 Home support AOL internet Mail services?
« Reply #5 on: January 15, 2007, 05:19:36 PM »
You seem to have everything summarized nicely.  The few people I know who have used AOL's Safety and Security Center have decided it causes more problems than it is worth (somewhat like using Norton or McAfee suites), and have found other security software more to their liking. 

Avast! can scan AOL mail and attachments accesssed through MS Outlook.  I have been using that method for the last few months, but only for potentially suspicious mail--I read and save or delete my other mail before launching Outlook if I feel additional AV scanning might be prudent.   

Worried Man

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Re: Does Avast 4.6 Home support AOL internet Mail services?
« Reply #6 on: January 15, 2007, 06:48:58 PM »
I sent an Email to technical support at Avast last night asking about the compatibility of Avast AV with AOL Email, and this morning I received the answer below.  It wasn't a very detailed answer:

Avast scans incoming and outgoing mails. To set it click on Avast icon in system tray and choose Internet mail, customize.

So I went to the Avast On Access Scanner screen, clicked internet mail, customize, selected IMAP for incoming mail, selected insert clean note in to incoming message, but I still don't see any evidence that Avast is scanning my AOL Emails.  >:(

Perhaps Avast Technical Support just mistakenly got my hopes up? ???  It sounds like other AOL users have already been through this routine and that the only way to get AOL Email scanned with Avast is to configure the mail to come through Outlook?  I wonder if that is also the case for the AOL/Mcafee AV available with AOL Safety and Security Center.  I have read that it is possible to download the AOL Security Center, but then only install selected components, so it isn't necessary to install the entire, allegedly bloated, security suite.   
« Last Edit: January 15, 2007, 07:02:53 PM by Worried Man »

tls

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Re: Does Avast 4.6 Home support AOL internet Mail services?
« Reply #7 on: January 15, 2007, 07:26:30 PM »
Perhaps Avast Technical Support just mistakenly got my hopes up? ??? 

Unfortunately, I believe they did.

I wonder if that is also the case for the AOL/Mcafee AV available with AOL Safety and Security Center. 

Yes, in my experience, and that of several others, it is.  AOL mail does use TLS, as I understand it, so the AV they offer won't scan AOL mail either.

I have read that it is possible to download the AOL Security Center, but then only install selected components, so it isn't necessary to install the entire, allegedly bloated, security suite. 

While this may be possible, and (I certainly hope!!!) some features may have been improved, AOL Security Center has been known to try to update components that are not installed, without giving any option to do otherwise, resulting in errors, crashes, etc.  While I use AOL for internet access (in part due to my location and limited availability of other options), and the functionality and ISP support both seem to have improved greatly over the 10+ years I have been using AOL, I have found their Security Center features and support for that software to be unacceptable.  But it is free, and if it works well for you, which is possible, you would not need their abysmal support.



Offline DavidR

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Re: Does Avast 4.6 Home support AOL internet Mail services?
« Reply #8 on: January 15, 2007, 07:50:48 PM »
I believe it is more to do with if you use the AOL email client, you didn't say which email program (client) you used.

You could try using a different client and see if it will scan incoming IMAP email.

As Alan has mentioned if AOL requires SMTP mail to be sent through the TLS port then avast can't scan that secure encrypted email without a third party interface.
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Offline alanrf

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Re: Does Avast 4.6 Home support AOL internet Mail services?
« Reply #9 on: January 15, 2007, 08:43:07 PM »
Just in case it is of any interest Thunderbird (the mail client produced by the same folks who produce  the Firefox browser) does have an extension that will allow AOL mail to be read into Thunderbird as if it were regular POP/SMTP traffic.  To avast this looks like normal POP/SMTP mail traffic and it can be scanned by avast.


Worried Man

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Re: Does Avast 4.6 Home support AOL internet Mail services?
« Reply #10 on: January 15, 2007, 08:48:55 PM »
Quote
you didn't say which email program (client) you used.

Like I said, I am not a hi tech guy.  I suppose I use AOL Email client, you know, the AOL Email that comes bundled with the AOL program. ::)  When you say try a different client, I assume you are suggesting that I configure my AOL Email to show up in Outlook like the TLS poster does?  I will consider this and take it under advisement.  And now I see your information about Thunderbird.  I recently started using the Firefox browser.  Perhaps it has the same extension.

I am still with AOL because all my business contacts know me at my AOL address and because I have an extensive record of communication with all my business contacts neatly categorized and organized in to folders in the AOL manage mail section.  I have never really seen or taken the time to investigate a way to migrate my extensive AOL managed mail categories and records to Outlook or something else.  I am paying about $10 per month to keep AOL going on top of the broadband connection that I share with the computer geek next door, but I am pretty sure that I can get it cheaper or free next time that I readjust my plan.

Anyway, I just got off a "Live Help" internet session with AOL tech help, and the guy said, with some prodding from me and without much conviction or confidence :o, that both the AOL/Mcafee included in AOL SSC and the stand alone AOL/Kaspersky AV will actually scan my AOL Emails and give me an actual notification if they spot a virus in my AOL Email or attachments.  If I decide to try either of these "alleged solutions",  I will let you know whether I see any actual evidence that these programs are really scanning my AOL Emails. 
 
Right now, I really need to get to work.  I will be checking in later.  Thanks to all who responded. ;D

« Last Edit: January 15, 2007, 09:23:04 PM by Worried Man »

Offline alanrf

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Re: Does Avast 4.6 Home support AOL internet Mail services?
« Reply #11 on: January 15, 2007, 09:26:54 PM »
My post on Thunderbird was just to let you know you have other options. 

Thunderbird is a full email client just like Outlook Express is.   Thunderbird's extensions work in the same way that those in Firefox do, however Firefox is a browser and not an email client and so most of the Thunderbird extensions are exclusive to Thunderbird and focus on managing email.

It seems that you have some options already that may well work out for you - if they do not then the Thunderbird option will still be there if you want to consider it.   

tls

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Re: Does Avast 4.6 Home support AOL internet Mail services?
« Reply #12 on: January 15, 2007, 09:48:59 PM »
In the US, you can use AOL for mail free, with or without having AOL's software (program) on your computer, if you have another ISP.  So you could change internet service providers while keeping your AOL mail address for your business contacts.

Worried Man

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Re: Does Avast 4.6 Home support AOL internet Mail services?
« Reply #13 on: January 16, 2007, 06:14:25 PM »
Update:  I tried installing the AOL Security Safety and Security suite in an effort to get the free AOL Anti-Virus powered by Mcafee that I hoped might actually scan the web based AOL Mail.  As TLS said, however, it was a massive piece of bloatware, and it did not have the custom installation options that I expected.   It did recognize that I already had a firewall running and gave me the option to install that later, but that was it for customization.  It loaded so much stuff that my reboot time literally went from 40 seconds to 5 minutes.  Having recently made a concerted effort to clean excess stuff off my computer and lower my reboot time to 40 seconds, I was extremely frustrated with this new development and immediately began checking out the options for uninstall. 

At the uninstall window, I was presented with an option to check a few items for uninstall while supposedly leaving the AOL/Mcafee Anti-Virus installed.  So I followed that route, but it nonetheless uninstalled the AOL/Mcafee Anti-Virus along with the items I had checked.  So long story short, I never determined whether or not the AOL/Mcafee Anti-Virus scanned the web based AOL Mail or not.  I could have checked when I had the full boatload of bloatware installed, but I was so frustrated over having just downloaded a massive pile of bloatware that I couldn't wait to get it off, and what is more, when I did uninstall, I thought I was selecting the option to keep the AV loaded and that I would still be able to check out its capabilities after uninstalling much of the larger program. 

After the uninstall, I thoroughly re-cleaned the computer and downloaded the AOL Active Shield (Anti Virus) produced by Kaspersky.  That is running right now, but like Avast, and more than likley is the case with all AV programs, I don't believe it actually scans the web based AOL Mail---without switching the AOL Mail over to another Email client like Outlook that is.  But I haven't 100% confirmed this yet, and I will let you know if I find anything differerent. 

Thanks for all your help here.  I may come back to Avast when I get some time again.  It seemed like a great program and this is a helpful and knowledgeable forum. ;D   
« Last Edit: January 16, 2007, 06:54:56 PM by Worried Man »

Offline DavidR

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Re: Does Avast 4.6 Home support AOL internet Mail services?
« Reply #14 on: January 16, 2007, 06:18:42 PM »
Good luck in your endeavours we will be here when you are ready.
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