Incoming & outgoing emails

  • Thread starter Thread starter Tass
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Tass

Thanks to all who answer here....it's really appreciated. Does Avira
AntiVir Personal scan incoming & outgoing emails? I did a test and sent out
a 3MB picture to myself and it was very slow going out but faster receiving.
Also, should it show in the email somewhere...I have seen NOD32 wording in
email I have received from others? The reason I ask is I am not seeing
anything on the desktop/screen that says it is scanning. I did do the
"test" and I got an email in my INBOX but I am a little anxious using a new
program. Any feedback would be great!
 
Tass said:
Thanks to all who answer here....it's really appreciated. Does Avira
AntiVir Personal scan incoming & outgoing emails?
Click to expand...

There is no need to scan Incoming and Outgoing mail.
http://tekrider.net/general/misctips.php#avscan
I did a test and sent out a 3MB picture to myself and it was very slow
going out but faster receiving.
Click to expand...

Well, nearly all ISPs (at least those I am aware of) have a fast
_download_ speed, and a much slower _upload_ speed. Yours is probably
the same.
Also, should it show in the email somewhere...
Click to expand...

Show what?
I have seen NOD32 wording in email I have received from others?
Click to expand...

Any insertion of any text into an email message by an anti-virus program
is nothing more than an advertisement. There is no way any of them can
actually guarantee an attachment is virus-free. If yours is doing this,
turn it off.
The reason I ask is I am not seeing anything on the desktop/screen
that says it is scanning.
Click to expand...

Since your a-v should be running in the background, such notifications
would soon get annoying...
 
Tass said:
Thanks to all who answer here....it's really appreciated. Does Avira
AntiVir Personal scan incoming & outgoing emails? I did a test and
sent out a 3MB picture to myself and it was very slow going out but
faster receiving. Also, should it show in the email somewhere...I have
seen NOD32 wording in email I have received from others? The reason I
ask is I am not seeing anything on the desktop/screen that says it is
scanning. I did do the "test" and I got an email in my INBOX but I am
a little anxious using a new program. Any feedback would be great!
Click to expand...

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,1864580,00.asp
 
1PW said:
Hello FTR:

I couldn't help but notice that the pcmag.com article is at least 3
1/2
years old.
Click to expand...

Hmmm.

Do you suppose things have changed?

I installed both Avast! and AntiVir at about the same time, and my
saying "no" to e-mail scanning is so automatic that I don't remember if
AntiVir even asked during the setup. I *do* know that my AntiVir has an
SMTP client so that it can *send* an e-mail as a feature. I see no other
indication that it scans e-mail (other than perhaps the temp files for
detecting text based Phishing attempts).

I didn't say *yes* and I didn't say *no* to the OP because it wasn't
asked about "viruses" or "attachments" only "e-mails". My posts were for
informational (feedback) use only.

To the OP:

You could contact Avira and ask them, and perhaps share the answer they
give you with us. That is - if you still care about e-mail scanning
after reading all of the 'pros' and 'cons' (mostly cons) sure to follow.
 
FromTheRafters said:
Hmmm.

Do you suppose things have changed?

I installed both Avast! and AntiVir at about the same time, and my saying
"no" to e-mail scanning is so automatic that I don't remember if AntiVir
even asked during the setup. I *do* know that my AntiVir has an SMTP
client so that it can *send* an e-mail as a feature. I see no other
indication that it scans e-mail (other than perhaps the temp files for
detecting text based Phishing attempts).

I didn't say *yes* and I didn't say *no* to the OP because it wasn't asked
about "viruses" or "attachments" only "e-mails". My posts were for
informational (feedback) use only.

To the OP:

You could contact Avira and ask them, and perhaps share the answer they
give you with us. That is - if you still care about e-mail scanning after
reading all of the 'pros' and 'cons' (mostly cons) sure to follow.
Click to expand...

When you are using an AV program, I thought that the main reason for
scanning email in & out is for viruses/trojans etc.
 
Tass said:
I have read the above but I have to confess the part about the email
being enhanced, I don't understand what that means. Does it or does
it not scan emails as the are coming in and going out it? Could
anyone please tell me which good antivirus scans emails as they are
incoming and outgoing? I know Norton does this. Please reply.
Click to expand...

Are we talking free versions? I believe AVG and Avast! both have this
unneeded and generally not recommended option.
 
FromTheRafters said:
Are we talking free versions? I believe AVG and Avast! both have this
unneeded and generally not recommended option.
Click to expand...
Does Avira free edition scan emails as they are incoming & outgoing? Do you
honestly think that scanning emails is unneeded and unnecessary? If so why?
 
Tass said:
Does Avira free edition scan emails as they are incoming & outgoing?
Do you honestly think that scanning emails is unneeded and
unnecessary? If so why?
Click to expand...

I don't believe so, but for an authoritative answer you should contact
them.

Yes, I do.

Because of the computing cost being too high for the very small
advantage it might yield. This assumes the scanner being used is also
used to scan files "on-access" on the same system (which is usually the
case).
 
Tass said:
When you are using an AV program, I thought that the main reason for
scanning email in & out is for viruses/trojans etc.
Click to expand...

E-mail is the main vector for many types of malware. AV is a tool to
help you to avoid getting malware active on your system. A very good
place to intervene on your behalf is by scanning a file's contents when
that file is accessed. The vector doesn't matter as much here, because
it would have to get here to be executed no matter where it came from.
Using the "same eyes" to scan incoming e-mail after decoding and
whatever else it has to do just seems like overkill.

It is not completely useless, it can stop you from passing inactive
e-mail vector malware through your system.
 
Tass said:
I have read the above but I have to confess the part about the email
being enhanced, I don't understand what that means. Does it or does
it not scan emails as the are coming in and going out it?
Click to expand...

They all do, if you turn on the option. Probably on by default.

But as I said earlier today, it is not necessary and is a waste of
resources. Read my link.
 
Hmmm.

Do you suppose things have changed?
Click to expand...

I believed that needed to be pointed out. The spin doctors for those
providers would probably have you believe they are entirely new
products. That much time /is/ equivalent to a lifetime in this business.
I installed both Avast! and AntiVir at about the same time, and my
saying "no" to e-mail scanning is so automatic that I don't remember if
AntiVir even asked during the setup. I *do* know that my AntiVir has an
SMTP client so that it can *send* an e-mail as a feature. I see no other
indication that it scans e-mail (other than perhaps the temp files for
detecting text based Phishing attempts).
Click to expand...

I too have tested Avast! and now I'm at the end of the first month
testing AntiVir. You should know that I agree with you almost 100% of
the time.
I didn't say *yes* and I didn't say *no* to the OP because it wasn't
asked about "viruses" or "attachments" only "e-mails". My posts were for
informational (feedback) use only.

To the OP:

You could contact Avira and ask them, and perhaps share the answer they
give you with us. That is - if you still care about e-mail scanning
after reading all of the 'pros' and 'cons' (mostly cons) sure to follow.
Click to expand...

Pete
 
1PW said:
I believed that needed to be pointed out. The spin doctors for those
providers would probably have you believe they are entirely new
products. That much time /is/ equivalent to a lifetime in this
business.
Click to expand...

I got the impression that they (rightfully) considered it 'fluff' and
only offered it in the paid versions. :o)
 
VanguardLH said:
Not in the free version. You didn't mention WHICH one you have: free
or paid.

http://www.free-av.com/en/download/1/avira_antivir_personal__free_antivirus.html

Free version has no e-mail protection (which is superfluous so don't
worry about losing it, especially since many users have to disable it
due to timeouts between the e-mail client and mail server).
Click to expand...

This link http://www.download.com/8301-2007_4-9919454-12.html claims the
free version does check outgoing mail. Seems to me without it there is
no protection if a user simply forwards an attachment without opening it
first. I don't know the details, but I recently installed Elements 6 and
it took 10 secs to import an image using AVG 8. In addition, the first
time I would open certain folders in windows explorer I would wait a few
seconds for the panel to display.
With Avira, my image load time in Elements is halved and windows
explorer exhibits no delay. AVG 7 never slowed my system. I would highly
recommend Avira.
Dave Cohen
 
Dave said:
... Seems to me without it there is no protection if a user simply
forwards an attachment without opening it first. ...
Click to expand...

Regarding the scanning of attachments in outbound e-mails (which Avira's
freeware version does NOT support scanning of e-mails), Avast has an
option to scan an attachment *when* you attach it to an e-mail but only
for the Outlook add-on. You never mention WHAT e-mail client you use.

Scanning the attachment while you are composing the e-mail eliminates
having to scan it when you try to send it. Interrogating e-mails during
transmission *will* cause delays in delivery and what causes timeouts.
This won't eliminate the delay to interrogate the attachments on inbound
e-mails but will eliminate the portion of the delay to interrogate
attachments in outbound e-mails. That means there is far less chance of
a timeout when sending an outbound e-mail because the attachment portion
of it has already been scanned. Since the attachment is scanned when
you decide to attach it, and because it occurs in parallel, you can
continue composing your e-mail. This feature (to scan on attach rather
than rely on decoding the attachment during the send) is only available
in the Outlook shield (an add-on to Outlook).
 
It looks to me like "Personal" *is* the free version.

Not to mention corruption issues with a popular e-mail client's message
store.
This link http://www.download.com/8301-2007_4-9919454-12.html claims
the free version does check outgoing mail.
Click to expand...

....but I don't believe it - and prefer to believe the comments further
down the page.
Seems to me without it there is no protection if a user simply
forwards an attachment without opening it first.
Click to expand...

....there is also no danger to protect against.

There is, as you know, the possibility that malware can pass through
your system in containers without actually being a danger to you. While
it is noble to want to protect others, they would be better protected by
their own AV than by some reassuring message certifying an e-mail as
being scanned by someone else's AV product that found nothing.

[...]
 
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