Web Shield blocks outgoing email

[RichU]

My "girlfriend's" computer, not mine. Win XP. Thunderbird email client(just updated today...v.whatever). Avast Free 5.1 +/-, auto updates.  Zone Alarm as firewall.
For a couple months (yes-really) she's been unable to SEND email from home, but receives OK. Today she called Earthlink (?Earthnet?), her ISP, and went through email settings at length.  No success.  Finally he asked her to shut off Avast as there might be a conflict with it and "Mozilla." She asked me to help with this task.....

Disabling all Avast Shields immediately allowed her email to send just fine! Digging deeper, it was NOT the Mail Shield that stopped emails from being sent, but the Web Shield!  (One by one disable/enable revealed this.) Disable Web Shield and email sends.  Enable it and the email never gets sent. I don't see any "expert" settings that look like they ought to affect an email client on her desktop computer.

I am totally unclear as to why WEB SHIELD interferes with outgoing email! Please help explain/resolve this issue.

For now, Web shield is disabled so she can send email. Should we just live with this "workaround?"

[TerraX]

Hello,

please make an update on avast!6.
Please uninstall the firewall zone alarm.
Zone alarm makes sometimes problems with avast!.
Then you can try again.
Good luck!!!

Sorry for my bad english.....

[Ashish Singh]

My "girlfriend's" computer, not mine. Win XP. Thunderbird email client(just updated today...v.whatever). Avast Free 5.1 +/-, auto updates.  Zone Alarm as firewall.
For a couple months (yes-really) she's been unable to SEND email from home, but receives OK. Today she called Earthlink (?Earthnet?), her ISP, and went through email settings at length.  No success.  Finally he asked her to shut off Avast as there might be a conflict with it and "Mozilla." She asked me to help with this task.....

Disabling all Avast Shields immediately allowed her email to send just fine! Digging deeper, it was NOT the Mail Shield that stopped emails from being sent, but the Web Shield!  (One by one disable/enable revealed this.) Disable Web Shield and email sends.  Enable it and the email never gets sent. I don't see any "expert" settings that look like they ought to affect an email client on her desktop computer.

I am totally unclear as to why WEB SHIELD interferes with outgoing email! Please help explain/resolve this issue.

For now, Web shield is disabled so she can send email. Should we just live with this "workaround?"

Hi try to go to mail shield --> SSL accounts and add info there.
Also try to disable SSL connection in Thunderbird (as avast manages SSL connection if defined above).

I really don't think that web shield has any thing to do with mail receiving or sending

Hello,

please make an update on avast!6.
Please uninstall the firewall zone alarm.
Zone alarm makes sometimes problems with avast!.
Then you can try again.
Good luck!!!

Sorry for my bad english.....

As suggested above you must upgrade to avast 6.0.1091...
Several bug fixed and many new features..
Use the below links

Direct download links:

Free AV: http://files.avast.com/iavs5x/setup_av_free.exe
Pro AV: http://files.avast.com/iavs5x/setup_av_pro.exe
IS: http://files.avast.com/iavs5x/setup_ais.exe

Please download and do a clean install by using avast un-installer..

Please report back if problem solved or persist

Thanks & Regards
Ash

[Zyndstoff (aka Steven Gail)]

1. Update Avast via GUI -> Maintenance -> Update Program.

2. In Thunderbird account settings disable SSL/TLS and set the server to use standard ports.

3. Open Avast, Mail Shield -> Settings -> Expert Settings -> SSL accounts and delete all accounts.

4. Reboot.

Avast will determine the ssl-accounts automatically after reboot.

If that does not help the sending problem, please come back here. We will then have to configure Avast manually according to the required server settings.

We will help you with that.

[DavidR]

@ RichU
Well your first consideration is why she isn't using the latest avast 6.0.1091 version. As that version also has some improvements in relation to ZA firewall.

The second is that the web shield shouldn't stop emails sent from thunderbird as it only monitors http (protocol) traffic. So I'm like you I can't understand why the web shield has anything to do with this.

So is this Earthlink email a webmail based email, which would normally be viewed using a browser, which is being downloaded using a thunderbird webmail add-on ?

What errors does she get when trying to send or receive email ?

####
I have XP Pro, thunderbird and avast 6.0.1091 (and previous versions including 5.1) and have had no problems.

[Zyndstoff (aka Steven Gail)]

EarthLink

http://support.earthlink.net/email/email-server-settings.php

http://support.earthlink.net/articles/browsers/how-to-set-up-mozilla-thunderbird-to-send-and-receive-emails-v2.php

[RichU]

Wow - thanks for the prompt, numerous replies.

I'll start by updating her machine to v6.0 later today....  She, like me, is set to "auto-update, but is still on v5.1.  So I'll do it manually. I'd guess that her sudden problem occurred due to the auto updates...working one day then not the next.

She's been running both Zone Alarm and Avast for a long time with no problems...maybe a year or two.

She does use an email client - a stand alone program on her computer, not web-based email. Thunderbird by Mozilla.

And her ISP is actually earthnet, not earthlink - my bad.  Hard for me to keep them straight when I don't use them. Earthnet worked with her to assure proper settings for her servers. They suggested disabling Avast as a check. And it worked.

To restate, it clearly was the Web Shield that made the difference, not Mail Shield.  I turned them on/off one-by-one until I got a change. With Web Shield on, hitting Send in the email program, Thunderbird, put up a progress window with a moving, repeating bar as it tried to connect/send, but it never did.  When I disabled Web Shield and tried again, the progress window showed very briefly then was replaced with a message saying mail sent successfully. In only a second or so. I turned Web Shield on and off a few times and tested it. When Web Shield was on it would not allow a send of email.  When Web Shield was disabled the email sent every time. The other Shields had no effect.

I'll report back after the version upgrade, and maybe try the other items noted, like SSL stuff, if just the upgrade does not work.

Thanks!

[DavidR]

You're welcome.

Well colour me totally confused about the web shield being in the mix if this earthnet email account is POP3 and not webmail based.

Since the same controller, avastSvc.exe is used for all the avast shields, including the Mail Shield and the Web Shield, I don't know if this is down to blocking by ZA on avastSvc.exe. If it were then it should also have been stopping her from browsing and not just this email issue, weird.

If that earthnet email account requires SSL/TLS (secure connection) then she would need to follow Zyndstoff's info in Reply #4 above.

Also see - avast! 5.x: SSL Problems The Mail Shield may not scan some e-mails - see http://support.avast.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=458. Whilst this is related to avast5 it is also applicable to avast6.

[Zyndstoff (aka Steven Gail)]

Also update Thunderbird to newest version.
And in Thunderbird, the SSL/TLS must be disabled in order for Avast to work correctly. Must.
Use standard ports in Thunderbird.

[RichU]

OK- I gave it another session.  Result - no real change. Details follow.

1. I tried updating to 6.0.1091 +/-.  That went smoothly, but email sends still did not go through when WEB Shield was on. Did when off.

2. Uninstalled Avast and did a clean install.  Went smooth, but same result: Web Shield stops email send, NOT Mail Shield.

I did NOT uninstall ZoneAlarm..  I think I'd rather have firewall protection than the web shield.

3. Thunderbird is v3.1.9 - current.  Her accounts settings are per her ISP assistance. The server is not set for secure settings, SSL/TLS, but instead allows unsecure transmittal, or something similar to that. (Seems odd - but I left it as is.) She IS using port 80, not 25, to send - an alternative suggested by Earthnet, as Qwest, her DSL ISP, blocks 25 to prevent spam. Oddly, though, she doesn't have the "relay" in the server name as lit. suggests should be there, but as I have said the emails DO SEND when Web Shield is off.

4. In Avast, I set the SSL parameter to None - no change to email send.  I then deleted the SSL account as directed.  After reboot, it came back up - set to TSL, as it had been previously.  But as I said, TBird is set to transmit unsecure, so I don't know why the TSL setting appears in Avast. Anyway, Web Shield still blocks email sends, and toggling back and forth alternatively result in corresponding success/failure in sending email.

So that is the status. Everything seems updated, but the Avast Web Shield blocks email sending.  Turning it off results in successful email sends. So for now I just turned off Web Shield permanently, and things seem to be OK.

Thanks.

Rich

[spg SCOTT]

...She IS using port 80, not 25, to send...

This could be why the web shield blocks it, since that is a port that it monitors (and is a normal HTTP port), but to be honest I'm not exactly sure where to go from there...

Are 80 and 25 the only ones that can be used? (i.e. according to the provider)

[RichU]

Well, Scott, at least you've given us a clue why the seemingly odd behavior might occur.

Ports 80 and 25 are the only options given by Earthnet/Qwest.

As operating now, it isn't a problem.  She's missing the protection of the Web Shield, but she is only a minimal "surfer" anyway, getting enough computer time at work to not use one as recreation.

Thanks!

[spg SCOTT]

Purely a shot in the dark, but maybe try setting TB to a port that is monitored by avast (587 is one) then in the SSL settings of avast, set the account to use no encryption and port 80.

may stop the shields interfering, or I may just have it wrong

[DavidR]

<snip>
Ports 80 and 25 are the only options given by Earthnet/Qwest.

As operating now, it isn't a problem.  She's missing the protection of the Web Shield, but she is only a minimal "surfer" anyway, getting enough computer time at work to not use one as recreation.

That is absolute lunacy by Earthnet/Qwest as avast won't be the only AV trying to scan http port 80 traffic and it/they will be expecting the HTTP Protocol and not SMTP Protocol.

I have seen this before where they want to block spam on port 25, but the most common SMTP alternative is to use port 26.

However, as you have said port 80 and port 25 are the only options, why can she use port 25 the standard SMTP port ?

I don't believe there is a minimal use of the internet, any use really should be protected by the web shield.

[spg SCOTT]

...
However, as you have said port 80 and port 25 are the only options, why can she use port 25 the standard SMTP port ?
...

ISP blocks it:

...She IS using port 80, not 25, to send - an alternative suggested by Earthnet, as Qwest, her DSL ISP, blocks 25 to prevent spam
...

I though that it was something to do with the protocol, and that the web shield may get stuck when facing SMTP. Thinking about it, what I suggested above will probably still have the same results, since it is still going to go to the webshield.