Midway
I thought I would try something, to reassure you that you are protected with Avast
My boyfriend uses a Hotmail account as well. I ran the eicar test using his account with Hotmail setup in Thunderbird to test this for you.
Go to this site and run the eicar test:
http://www.testvirus.org/I had it run only the one that sends eicar in a zip file to his hotmail account. (but you can run them all)
When you see the file in your email program, and try to open the zip file the siren will go off in Avast telling you that there is a virus. Do not be alarmed. Eicar is simply a test file and is not a virus.
If you are wondering why it managed to make it TO your mail program to begin with, it actually did not…. it is as we stated before. The messages are not downloaded to your computer when you are using webmail. You are only viewing them, through your email client , from their server. BUT, should you click on an attachment or try to download a message from the server that does have a virus in it… Avast WILL detect it and let you know.
I hope this makes you feel more secure