Avast wants to delete/rename my whole mail folder, not the infected email only

[camer0n]

I'm using Thunderbird 2, and have been cleaning out some old mail folders lately, some of which contain emails that have old worm viruses attached.
Avast On-Access detects that the folder has an infection, but rather than giving the option to "delete/rename/move-to-chest" the email, it wishes to do it to the whole mbox.

I already lost 3 years of emails due to not checking the file-path carefully enough in this situation before. (I thought it was deleting the email - it deleted the whole box!)

Is there a way to configure avast to scan emails as we read them.. or maybe a thunderbird plugin that works with avast?

ie. When a virus manages to get past Avast's incoming mail filter..maybe can we have the option to delete just the infected email alone at a later date?

Thanks

[wyrmrider]

I DO NOT know about T-bird but with OE or OEX you do not want to screw with the internal files
the file will not be available till it is opened or extracted
when the file or attachment is opened avast will be on it
you really wanted to spend all day removing suspicious e-mail attachments did you not?

let's see what a t-bird expert says
but I say not to worry

[DavidR]

Firstly I don't use Thunderbird, so please excuse any incorrect terminology, etc.

Thunderbird is no different really as it too stores emails archived together in a single file, and that is where the problem arises as avast can't extract an infected email from within that special file, if it tried to do so it could well result in corruption of the file and also result in the loss of emails.

The problem is that the folder isn't actually a real folder but a file containing all the emails for that mailbox, so many AVs treat it as if it were an infected file not a compressed email mailbox/folder/file.

The Thunderbird FAQ, mentions this and advises not to use the inbox for general storage as corruption/deletion is a strong possibility. That however, doesn't make it any easier at the loss of emails.

You can exclude the thunderbird email file/folder e.g. c:\program files\mozilla\thunderbird\*.xxx This is just an example (program settings, exclusions) you would need to put the correct path to where tbird stores these email files, the xxx is the file type of the file storing the emails. the *\ bit saves you having to input all the different file names.

If you are using win2k, winXP or Vista then the Internet Mail provider scans incoming emails before they arrive in the inbox and allows you to take action so there is no risk of deletion or corruption of the file containing emails.