Avast 4 Home edition NNTP problem/question

[jfbooth]

I use Agent Forte as my newsreader and for some time no problems.  Lately, when I get messages from a particular poster, Avast pops up repeated warnings:

Suspicious subject of message


Sender:  Yenc@power-post.org
Recipient:
Subject:  [   ]   

and the choices are Delete and Continue.  Block It! button is grayed out and so is Permitted URLS.  If I select Delete the message is deleted without downloading (makes sense). If I hit continue, the message downloads, but I do not see any 'problems' in the message subject or content.  As mentioned, this seems to be only posts by a particular poster.  What can/should I do about this.  I think it is some kind of false positive, but don't know what to do about it.  Thank you for your comments.

[!Donovan]

It could be because of one of the following:

1. He/She is sending too many emails at the same time.
2. There just spamming your email because there is no subject.
3. It has a hidden code in the email that gives you a virus.

[DavidR]

No, it is because the Subject is blank.

This is a common tactic for some malware as people are still curious to find out what the email is about.

I would also suggest you modify your post and obfuscate the email address as it could be harvested and added to a spam list for the sender, who may be an innocent party.

e.g. XXXX (at) power(minus)post (dot) org

Continue just allows the email to be delivered as it is 'only' suspicious.

What sensitivity do you have the Internet mail set to ?
I suspect High or Custom not Normal (default). High bumps up the Heuristic checking, of which a subject check is one.