SMTP server timeout

[browbotham]

I use Outlook Express on XP Home and when I send large files I find that the delivery goes very quickly (the email scanner is receiving the file and checking before sending on) but I get SMTP server timeout errors from OE while the scanner is still actually sending the file. I assume that OE is waiting for a reply from the scanner and not from the actual SMTP server which is why it thinks that a timeout has occurred because as far as it is concerned the file has been completely delivered.

Is there any way to fix this behaviour ?

[Eddy]

Increase the timeout time in avast.ini as well as in your email client. This is explained in many threads here already. Do a little search for the exact places where you must make the changes.

[Lisandro]

I'll say increase both timeouts (Outlook and avast).
You can change avast timeout in the advanced tab of the Internet Mail provider settings.  

[TimV]

I have a fast cable connection. Whenever I enable the mail scanner for outgoing mail I get timeout errors, except for the really tiny messages. However, I dont think the problem is avast or my connection. I tried increasing the timeouts in both OE and Avast, it didn't help.

Some test message e-mail that I got trouble with was sent within a couple of seconds when I disabled the outgoing mail scanner. But when I enabled it, the same message generates a timeout after about 1 min. I dont think scanning the file takes 55 seconds, so whats going on here? I got WinXP SP2, perhaps that might be the source of the trouble...(?)

[Lisandro]

Tim, I wish I can help you...
What messages, I mean, is there an attached file, right?
Which file, which size...

What the hell you're receiving this error messages...  
I think it's not SP2... everything right here. SP2 does not change this part of the Windows as I know  

[TimV]

Here's my Outlook Express error message (in Dutch ;-))

De server heeft de verbinding onverwachts afgebroken. Mogelijke oorzaken zijn problemen met de server, netwerkproblemen of te lange inactiviteit. Onderwerp 'fdfssd', Account: 'mail.chello.nl', Server: '127.0.0.1', Protocol: SMTP, Poort: 25, Beveiligd(SSL): Nee, Foutnummer: 0x800CCC0F

and a part of the aswMaiSv.log:
09/27/04 10:41:39:   --SMTP Mail is clean
09/27/04 10:42:42:   SendTimeout error 10054(0x00002746)
09/27/04 10:42:42:   RecvTimeout error 10054(0x00002746)

stopping the mail service doesn't make much of a difference:
09/27/04 10:45:54:   --SMTP Mail not tested
09/27/04 10:47:10:   SendTimeout error 10054(0x00002746)
09/27/04 10:47:10:   RecvTimeout error 10054(0x00002746)

I have tried sending an e-mail with:
- PDF attachment of about 200kb
- Word DOC attachment of about 120kb
- TXT attachment of 5 bytes !!
This all generated the same error.

What does work however is an e-mail with about 1.3Mb of this:
testtesttesttesttesttesttesttesttesttesttesttesttest etc...
Just 1.3Mb text and no attachment. This seems to be working fine.

So it seems there is a problem with sending attachments unrelated to their size.
I enabled the E-mail server communication log in Outlook Express, or at least I thought I did, as I checked the box. However I can't find any log file on my hard disk generated by OE. According to the help file it should be named smtp.log. I searched for 'smtp' and 'log' but couldn't find what I was looking for.

[Eddy]

Verhoog de timeout settings in zowel Avast als OE. Je provider scans attachments en dat gaat niet alijd even snel.

Increase the timeout in both Avast as OE. Your provider scans the attachment, and that delays often.

[TimV]

Ik zeg toch net al dat ik dat al gedaan had en dat het niet helpt. En het scannen van een text file van 5 bytes door mijn provider duurt een minuut?? Ik dacht het niet. Dit is echt niet het probleem. Als ik Avast mailscanner uitzet (via de Post Bescherming Wizard) zijn deze berichten binnen enkele seconden weg. Met Avast mailscanner aan wordt het bericht ook binnen seconden gescand (te zien in de log) en daarna probeert Avast het bericht te versturen, hier gaat het duidelijk mis.

I already told you that I've done that and that it did not help. And you're saying it could take my provider a minute to scan a text file of 5 bytes?? I don't think so. This really isn't the problem. When I disable mail scanning (by using the Mail Protection Wizard) messages like this are sent within seconds. If I enable the mailscanner, the message is scanned almost instantly (can be seen in the log). After that Avast tries to send the message and this is where it fails.

[S.Z.Craftec]

Go into INTERNET MAIL PROVIDER in your ON-ACCES SCANNER. Click on customize, and then click on HEURISTIC tab. Set sensitivity to MEDIUM. See if that helps.

That helped me few months ago when I had same problem... btw, I'm on High-Speed broadband connection too.

Cheers !

[TimV]

It already is on medium
I just tried to send another e-mail without attachment and again I got timeout problems! It seems my theory on attachments being the problem was not correct. I think Ill just bypass the scanner for outgoing mail for now. Thanks for your replies anyway.  

[S.Z.Craftec]

Well, you can try another thing to do... remove mail protection from all your accounts through avast! mail protection wizard. Be sure that your Outlook Express is closed. If you don't use MS Outlook at all, terminate the Outlook/Exchange provider in on-access scanner as well.

Now, reopen avast! mail protection wizard, and "tell" him to protect all your e-mail accounts. Of course, your Outlook Express MUST be closed all the time. When you finish with Mail protection wizard, close it and open Outlook Express. See what happens and keep us informed.

TimV - Don't give up so easy. There is no problem we can not solve out... but we need assistence from your side too. Disabling mail protection wizard may be good temporary solution, but if you want to solve it permanently, we have to find some other solution...  

Btw, do you maybe have some software firewall that has mail protection features and could interfere with avast! internet mail provider ? Any info could be of help. Also, do you run hardware firewall and what make and model ? MTU settings sometimes could cause problems with sending/receiving e-mails... of course, if the are improperly set...

[TimV]

I've tried disabling and enabling mail protection using the wizard. I closed Outlook Express every time. I'm not sure if the Outlook/Exchange provider is still on. I don't use Outlook, so I'll try disabling that when I get home.

Disabling mail protection wizard may be good temporary solution

Well, what I did is change the SMTP server from 127.0.0.1 to mail.chello.nl, so outgoing mail is not sent to avast anymore, but incoming mail is still retrieved through avast.

Btw, do you maybe have some software firewall that has mail protection features and could interfere with avast! internet mail provider ? Any info could be of help. Also, do you run hardware firewall and what make and model ? MTU settings sometimes could cause problems with sending/receiving e-mails... of course, if the are improperly set...

Im using the built-in firewall of WinXP SP2. I'll see if I can configure it for avast. My mobo does have a hardware firewall, but as far as I know it is not active. I can doublecheck this. I'm not sure about MTU settings. How can I configure those? On my old computer (Win98SE) I downloaded some utility to automatically apply good MTU settings. Should I try doing the same on my new machine with WinXP?

[Lisandro]

Im using the built-in firewall of WinXP SP2. I'll see if I can configure it for avast.

I don't think this is necessary/possible.
Build-in XP firewall is major for 'inbound' attacks and not outbound.
To be protected to outbound (information sent from your computer) you should use a 3rd party firewall (or a hardware one)  

[TimV]

Build-in XP firewall is major for 'inbound' attacks and not outbound.

Ok. I didn't know that yet, thanks.

[S.Z.Craftec]

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Well, what I did is change the SMTP server from 127.0.0.1 to mail.chello.nl, so outgoing mail is not sent to avast anymore, but incoming mail is still retrieved through avast.
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Very clever thing to do for now... of course, that's just temporary solution...

Im using the built-in firewall of WinXP SP2. I'll see if I can configure it for avast.

Not necessary at all. You don't have to touch Windows SP2 firewall, except if you wanna givie some permissions to some special software, like pcAnywhere, UltraVNC, messenger programs etc. ...but, I'm sure you don't have to change anything in SP2 firewall to give permission to avast! mail scanner...

My mobo does have a hardware firewall, but as far as I know it is not active. I can doublecheck this. I'm not sure about MTU settings. How can I configure those? On my old computer (Win98SE) I downloaded some utility to automatically apply good MTU settings. Should I try doing the same on my new machine with WinXP?

What's your motherboard make, also if you can provide model name, it would be great as well... Are you sure hardware firewall is integrated into motherboard ?

MTU settings you can set if you go "inside" your firewall. Usually, accessing your firewall settings is through your web browser, unless you have some other type of router/firewall. See attached image... that is one of my router's configuration pages... There are many web sites explaining how to set your ideal MTU value. Take a look in here, that may give you some ideas:

http://www.dslreports.com/faq/5793

Also, please take a look in here. Don't be too lazy (I know you are not, but I just wanna be sure, hehe  ), read everything that you find on that page. It could be that solution for your problem is somewhere on that page:

http://www.google.ca/search?q=cache:XQtQUcbgwJQJ:www.globetechnology.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030514.gtss1may14/BNStory/Troubleshooter/+mtu+mail+problems&hl=en

Cheers !