Tim,
Avast should detect a potential virus either way.
and I quote from Avast:
"E-mail protection consists of two independent modules; first, there is a generic scanner working on the SMTP/POP3/IMAP4 protocol level. It is capable of protecting any existing e-mail client that uses these protocols. Second, there is a special plugin for MS Outlook only; it is completely transparent, requiring no special settings.
New feature of version 4 is heuristic analysis of e-mail scanners. It is extremely useful in protecting against new, unknown viruses and worms that are not possible to detect by the usual means. The heuristic module performs a thorough investigation of every e-mail message and watches for suspicious signs that might announce virus presence. When the number of those signs exceeds the user-defined level, the message is considered dangerous and the user is warned.
Please use the Email Wizard and check your email protocols. If they are set to the proper SMTP address, then I have no explanation as to why Avast did not detect it.
Keep me up on what results you have and we can stay with this until some conclusion is found.
Later...