Alright, I remotely accessed my work machine at my other location.
I downloaded the .com eicar file after completely disabling Avast on that machine.
I removed the .com extension, and attached it to an email.
I sent the file to my personal email address from my exchange account.
The results? I never got the email. ADNM console didn't report anything was found, but the file never made it out of my exchange server.
I re-enabled Avast on the desktop, and tried to save the file from the email (from my sent items) and was able to save it to my desktop. I right-clicked and scanned the file, and avast alerted on it.
All I can say, is that it works for me. I don't know where to look in the logs to find out if it was removed, moved to the chest, or whatever, but I don't really care. As long as it doesn't leave my network, I'm happy.
So, what happens if you do that?