Author Topic: Email Scanner Service on Zone Alarm  (Read 19053 times)

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Styx

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Re: Email Scanner Service on Zone Alarm
« Reply #30 on: November 29, 2008, 04:14:59 AM »
Resident Protection: Outlook/Exchange - Outbound Mail

Insert notes to clean (uninfected) messages. avast! will add a note into clean messages announcing that the message is virus-free. avast! will not permit infected messages to be sent at all.
Format of the notes... You can change the format of inserted notes.
Scan attachments when attaching. The attachments you enclose to an email will be scanned immediately during the attachment process, not when you send it.

Outlook/Exchange - Provider Settings

This setting affects MS Outlook and MS Exchange mail clients only. For setting up the other mail clients, such as Outlook Express, Eudora etc., see Internet Mail Provider.

Normal. Default setting.
High. In addition to the default setting, even read messages are scanned on open and the heuristic sensitivity is set to High.

Set Outlook Shield to HIGH.

Set Outlook Shield to use a note for SMTP sends. (Close and Re-Open Outlook). Send a
friend a message and ask them to send it back to check if the note was added.

If its there then a SPAM BOT using Outlook would be quite likely caught I think. Remember that it
is always possible that a malware/virus/trojan could enter your system before Avast or ANY protection
program could be updated to catch it. Hence the High Heuristic setting.

Check Avast - Help on Programs Menu and/or here : Start Simple Program Interface and hit F1.

Search either, or both, for Outlook.
« Last Edit: November 29, 2008, 04:25:36 AM by Styx »

Offline alanrf

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Re: Email Scanner Service on Zone Alarm
« Reply #31 on: November 29, 2008, 10:42:23 AM »
nightshade,

I do not want to appear rude (even if, without intent, I may appear so) but since you have appeared in this forum it appears, to me at least, you have frequently failed to take in the information posted in an effort to assist you.

I may be a little harsh in this instance since Styx has also failed to grasp the important difference in this thread of the way avast works for NT based operating systems compared with the Win9x operating system used by you.

As I clearly said in an earlier post in this thread:

Quote
The spambot detection relies on the transparent intercept for port 25 that only works in NT based systems.

You are using a Win9x system ... and I suspect that Styx overlooked that important point.

Remember what SMTP stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol.

That means that spambot detection (which has nothing to do with any mail clent you use - spambots, in almost all instances, have their own SMTP client built in - as discussed in just about any spambot explanation in this forum in recent years) does not work in Win9x systems in which the automatic and transparent port 25 (SMTP sending) intercept cannot be made by avast.

Since that intercept cannot be made by avast it means that avast is totally unaware of any outbound email activity on your system from an unknown SMTP client (such as that included in a spambot) and cannot ever alert you to its activity.

I apologize if I am not presenting information in a way that is clear and readily understandable for you.  From your interaction with David earlier in this thread (who I think presents information in a way that is infinitely more understandable than I can do) perhaps I am not alone.

May I encourage you to consider upgrading to a modern operating system where none us us need to worry you with with these differences and you have better overall protection?
« Last Edit: November 29, 2008, 10:51:55 AM by alanrf »

Styx

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Re: Email Scanner Service on Zone Alarm
« Reply #32 on: November 29, 2008, 11:22:52 AM »
Actually from his description of concern I just thought he was using SpamBot to
mean a trojan which uses Outlook Express or similar programs to mail themselves
and possibly a nasty payload to one's address book. A true SpamBot searches
the web and harvests email addresses, even those that are munged, so they
can be added to spammers' lists.

Here's a cute way to treat SpamBots :

http://www.auditmypc.com/freescan/antispam.html

SpamBot beware :

http://www.turnstep.com/Spambot/

Hide your email using HTML :

http://www.safeemail.org/

Offline nightshade

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Re: Email Scanner Service on Zone Alarm
« Reply #33 on: November 29, 2008, 12:14:59 PM »
Actually from his description of concern I just thought he was using SpamBot to
mean a trojan which uses Outlook Express or similar programs to mail themselves
and possibly a nasty payload to one's address book.

Styx,

That's exactly what I meant.
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Offline nightshade

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Re: Email Scanner Service on Zone Alarm
« Reply #34 on: November 29, 2008, 12:23:20 PM »
So the Internet Mail provider is useless for Win9x users except when used with specific clients that have been modified by the Mail wizard to have proxies set.

But alanrf,

You are contradicting yourself, how can it be useless if I have used the email wizard, as you have said here from your quote above, "except when used with specific clients that have been modified by the email wizard to have proxies set", and that is exactly what I had done to Outlook Express using the wizard.

So when you say except, you are surely saying that it will work with 98 system by using a specific client, and modifying it with the email wizard to set up a proxy as your quoted message suggests.

So would Spam be detected on windows 98 S.E if they were to utilise the Outlook Express client and or MS Outlook client.

And if they were to try and send spam messages on my default client which is MS Outlook would they be caught as I use the exchange outlook plugin.

And I did see the mail being scanned when I tested Outlook Express in the Internet Mail, so I must have done something right, the proxy settings had been changed, so I knew the wizard had done it's work.

I am sorry to go on about this but I want it clear in my mind that everything is in order.



« Last Edit: November 29, 2008, 12:55:34 PM by nightshade »
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Online DavidR

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Re: Email Scanner Service on Zone Alarm
« Reply #35 on: November 29, 2008, 03:11:55 PM »
My absolute last words on this, life is too short.

It is useless because, the avast mail protection wizard, changes the Outlook Express account details so that it works with the Internet Mail provider. A spambot has no such restriction/modification because it isn't using OE (or your email client whatever it is), but one of its own. So it won't be caught by the Internet Mail's transparent proxy, because that doesn't work with non-NT OSes like win9x and winME, so it will fly right by unmolested.

So I'm done and out of here.
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Offline alanrf

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Re: Email Scanner Service on Zone Alarm
« Reply #36 on: November 29, 2008, 08:21:53 PM »
I will add my last words too.

It was explained to you that spambots do not use your mail client (not anymore they don't). Since you told us Microsoft Outlook 2000 is your default mail client then any (incredibly old) spambot would be trying to use that client not Outlook Express.   

They do not need your mail client to send the spam because they have their own built in. They would be foolish to assume that every system they infect had a mail client to use and because SMTP is SIMPLE having the built in client in the spambot code is easy.

I also said that if you use a mail client like Outlook Express (which I never confuse with Outlook) modified by avast mail wizard then the Internet Mail provider scans the mail you send. In fact, once modified the mail client will not work at all unless you have the Internet Mail provider running.   

However you can have the spambot perfectly happily sending out all the spam at the same time with avast perfectly unaware of it because in a Win9x system you can never modify the SMTP part of the spambot to make avast aware of it.

I never contradicted myself in this thread.

I will not say that you have contradicted yourself but you certainly do seem to like to confuse the issues you are asking about.

You tell us at one point in this thread that you have used both Microsoft Outlook with the plugin and Outlook Express with the mail wizard.  You then go on to say that you only use Microsoft Outlook as your mail client and asked me to be precise about a person only using Microsoft Outlook.  You then reverse course and go on about using Outlook Express again.

To sum up once more for you:

If you only use Microsoft Outlook as your mail client with the avast Outlook plugin for Microsoft Outlook then the Internet Mail provider does nothing for you on a Win98 system.  It is completely irrelevant what you may have done earlier on your system to Outlook Express.

If you do use Outlook Express even sometimes to send messages and you have modified it with the avast mail wizard then you must have the Internet Mail provider running otherwise it will not be able to send any mail out.

In either case leaving the Internet Mail provider running is doing no harm to your system and may be needed when you modify settings without a clear understanding of what the effects will be.


 




   

Offline nightshade

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Re: Email Scanner Service on Zone Alarm
« Reply #37 on: November 29, 2008, 10:08:27 PM »
Well it looks like I have mistakenly mixed up Spambots with normal email viruses.

Let me make this the last question, you know about my currently set up, am I safe from any virus or virus message either inbound or outbound when using MS Outlook.
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Offline Snagglegrain

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Re: Email Scanner Service on Zone Alarm
« Reply #38 on: November 29, 2008, 10:45:55 PM »
I'll add a word too.  The difference between you and me, nightshade, is that when someone takes the time to reply to me in a thread and includes a screenshot and some configuration ideas, I then take a moment of my own time to thank them for their efforts.

Offline nightshade

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Re: Email Scanner Service on Zone Alarm
« Reply #39 on: November 29, 2008, 11:28:48 PM »
I'll add a word too.  The difference between you and me, nightshade, is that when someone takes the time to reply to me in a thread and includes a screenshot and some configuration ideas, I then take a moment of my own time to thank them for their efforts.

Well here is an answer to go with your added word.

I have thanked DavidR and others in this forum on several occasions, and if we were all to thank everyone every time they helped in some way this forum would be double in it's size, so if you didn't receive a thank you, and because it angered you so much that you had to post a message to me about it, then I do feel sorry for you. 

And lastly, I feel it very strange why you feel the need to compare me with yourself, like you are after brownie points or something, weird to say the least!

« Last Edit: November 29, 2008, 11:41:07 PM by nightshade »
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Offline Snagglegrain

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Re: Email Scanner Service on Zone Alarm
« Reply #40 on: November 30, 2008, 12:59:16 AM »
and because it angered you so much
Angered me so much?  Why would you think your rudeness would make me angry?  Forums teach us quite a bit.  We've learned a lot about you in this thread, nightshade.   ;)

Offline nightshade

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Re: Email Scanner Service on Zone Alarm
« Reply #41 on: November 30, 2008, 01:16:59 AM »
and because it angered you so much
Angered me so much?  Why would you think your rudeness would make me angry?  Forums teach us quite a bit.  We've learned a lot about you in this thread, nightshade.   ;)

So everyone that you help gives you a reply to say thanks on every occasion do they?

If you must know I have had a death in the family, and so I have had far more important things to sort out and worry about rather than worrying about whether I have said a thanks to you or not.

I hope you feel better now!

Ganging up on people is rude, and that is exactly what you are trying to do here, so the best thing you can do is calm down and grow up a little.

I certainly have learned about you for sure.

This thread is going nowhere, it surely can be closed now.

THANKS to ALL.  ;D

« Last Edit: November 30, 2008, 01:24:05 AM by nightshade »
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Offline Snagglegrain

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Re: Email Scanner Service on Zone Alarm
« Reply #42 on: November 30, 2008, 01:39:02 AM »
If you must know I have had a death in the family, and so I have had far more important things to sort out and worry about rather than worrying about whether I have said a thanks to you or not.

I hope you feel better now!
So you decided to take on some spambots to help you get over your intense grief?   ::)

Offline nightshade

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Re: Email Scanner Service on Zone Alarm
« Reply #43 on: November 30, 2008, 02:00:03 AM »
If you must know I have had a death in the family, and so I have had far more important things to sort out and worry about rather than worrying about whether I have said a thanks to you or not.

I hope you feel better now!
So you decided to take on some spambots to help you get over your intense grief?   ::)


Please tell me where I said I had taken on some spambots?

I can't believe you are still on about this after what I have just told you.

You make me feel sick to be honest.

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Offline Snagglegrain

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Re: Email Scanner Service on Zone Alarm
« Reply #44 on: November 30, 2008, 02:15:34 AM »
Please tell me where I said I had taken on some spambots?

Well, perhaps it was these words of yours ...

"in case of a potential spambot that may want to use Outlook Express."

"that way there are 2 programs checking for a spambot."

"what if a spambot tried to use my only email account"

"so surely, as in my case this is acceptable for any spambot attempt"

"please tell me how a spambot can work undetected on any of my email clients"