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:
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?