More Avast Woes ... ?
 

I've just got back from a vacation, during which time this machine has been
on, so presumably updating as normal, and now I've got problems with my
email connection, and again, it seems to be Avast! related. Remember all the
problems a few weeks back with it screwing up NNTP server connections
causing all manner of bizarre problems with only single newsgroup message
bodies displaying ? I don't think it was ever fully gotten to the bottom of,
as Avast! tech support didn't seem to understand what usenet was. I still
have the NNTP shield switched off. Now, every time I try to send an email
using T-Bird, I get strange messages about servers giving incorrect
greetings and so on, and the mail refuses to fly. However, if you
temporarily switch off the Avast! shields, everything works normally again.
I have restarted both the programs, and the whole machine, but the problem
persists.

Anyone else having similar probs ?

Arfa

More Avast Woes ... ?
 

On 3/7/2012 9:10 AM, Arfa Daily wrote:
I've just got back from a vacation, during which time this machine has
been on, so presumably updating as normal, and now I've got problems
with my email connection, and again, it seems to be Avast! related.
Remember all the problems a few weeks back with it screwing up NNTP
server connections causing all manner of bizarre problems with only
single newsgroup message bodies displaying ? I don't think it was ever
fully gotten to the bottom of, as Avast! tech support didn't seem to
understand what usenet was. I still have the NNTP shield switched off.
Now, every time I try to send an email using T-Bird, I get strange
messages about servers giving incorrect greetings and so on, and the
mail refuses to fly. However, if you temporarily switch off the Avast!
shields, everything works normally again. I have restarted both the
programs, and the whole machine, but the problem persists.

Anyone else having similar probs ?

Arfa

No, did the fix that was suggested back then and haven't had any
further problems.
Mikek

More Avast Woes ... ?
 

On Wed, 7 Mar 2012 15:10:41 -0000, "Arfa Daily"
wrote:

I've just got back from a vacation, during which time this machine has been
on, so presumably updating as normal, and now I've got problems with my
email connection, and again, it seems to be Avast! related. Remember all the
problems a few weeks back with it screwing up NNTP server connections
causing all manner of bizarre problems with only single newsgroup message
bodies displaying ? I don't think it was ever fully gotten to the bottom of,
as Avast! tech support didn't seem to understand what usenet was. I still
have the NNTP shield switched off. Now, every time I try to send an email
using T-Bird, I get strange messages about servers giving incorrect
greetings and so on, and the mail refuses to fly. However, if you
temporarily switch off the Avast! shields, everything works normally again.
I have restarted both the programs, and the whole machine, but the problem
persists.

Anyone else having similar probs ?

Check under Real Time Shields | Mail Shield | Main Settings and SSL
Accounts. IIRC, Avast recently started using an SSL connection (to the
well-known SSL/TLS ports) for in- and out-bound mail and Usenet. Also,
*it* wants to be the SSL agent for these protocols so that it can "see"
and scan the plain-text. It does an internal hand-off between, e.g.,
POP3's port 110 and the SSL equivalent at 995.

--
Rich Webb Norfolk, VA

More Avast Woes ... ?
 

"Arfa Daily" wrote in message ...
I've just got back from a vacation, during which time this machine has been on, so presumably updating as normal, and
now I've got problems with my email connection, and again, it seems to be Avast! related. Remember all the problems a
few weeks back with it screwing up NNTP server connections causing all manner of bizarre problems with only single
newsgroup message bodies displaying ? I don't think it was ever fully gotten to the bottom of, as Avast! tech support
didn't seem to understand what usenet was. I still have the NNTP shield switched off. Now, every time I try to send an
email using T-Bird, I get strange messages about servers giving incorrect greetings and so on, and the mail refuses to
fly. However, if you temporarily switch off the Avast! shields, everything works normally again. I have restarted both
the programs, and the whole machine, but the problem persists.

Anyone else having similar probs ?

Avast uses port forwarding for all SSL accounts, because it does it's own SSL.
So if you have any SSL accounts (either POP3, or SMTP, or IMAP, or NNTP)
you need to do the following:
1. Set the accounts to non-SSL in your client programs.
2. Check that client and Avast are using same non-SSL port.
3. Setup SSL accounts in Avast using correct SSL ports.
You'll have to do some digging to find where those settings are in Avast.

Or, uninstall Avast and use AVG or Avira or Microsoft Security Essentials or
any of the other good antivirus products (free and non-free) that are out there.
Most of those don't do their own SSL, so you won't have that problem.

--
Cheers,
Robbie Hatley
lonewolf [at] well [dot] com

More Avast Woes ... ?
 

"Robbie Hatley" wrote in
:


"Arfa Daily" wrote in message
...
I've just got back from a vacation, during which time this machine
has been on, so presumably updating as normal, and now I've got
problems with my email connection, and again, it seems to be Avast!
related. Remember all the problems a few weeks back with it screwing
up NNTP server connections causing all manner of bizarre problems
with only single newsgroup message bodies displaying ? I don't think
it was ever fully gotten to the bottom of, as Avast! tech support
didn't seem to understand what usenet was. I still have the NNTP
shield switched off. Now, every time I try to send an email using
T-Bird, I get strange messages about servers giving incorrect
greetings and so on, and the mail refuses to fly. However, if you
temporarily switch off the Avast! shields, everything works normally
again. I have restarted both the programs, and the whole machine, but
the problem persists.

Anyone else having similar probs ?

Avast uses port forwarding for all SSL accounts, because it does it's
own SSL. So if you have any SSL accounts (either POP3, or SMTP, or
IMAP, or NNTP) you need to do the following:
1. Set the accounts to non-SSL in your client programs.
2. Check that client and Avast are using same non-SSL port.
3. Setup SSL accounts in Avast using correct SSL ports.
You'll have to do some digging to find where those settings are in
Avast.

Or, uninstall Avast and use AVG or Avira or Microsoft Security
Essentials or any of the other good antivirus products (free and
non-free) that are out there. Most of those don't do their own SSL, so
you won't have that problem.


I use AVAST, however only file read/write protection
is enabled(choosen during install).
The same would go for AVG, they are a pain in the **** ,
and file read/write protection should get them all(most).
I think most anti virus/malware protection cripples your
computer, if you use default install.

More Avast Woes ... ?
 

"Sjouke Burry" s@b wrote in message
.10...
"Robbie Hatley" wrote in
:


"Arfa Daily" wrote in message
...
I've just got back from a vacation, during which time this machine
has been on, so presumably updating as normal, and now I've got
problems with my email connection, and again, it seems to be Avast!
related. Remember all the problems a few weeks back with it screwing
up NNTP server connections causing all manner of bizarre problems
with only single newsgroup message bodies displaying ? I don't think
it was ever fully gotten to the bottom of, as Avast! tech support
didn't seem to understand what usenet was. I still have the NNTP
shield switched off. Now, every time I try to send an email using
T-Bird, I get strange messages about servers giving incorrect
greetings and so on, and the mail refuses to fly. However, if you
temporarily switch off the Avast! shields, everything works normally
again. I have restarted both the programs, and the whole machine, but
the problem persists.

Anyone else having similar probs ?

Avast uses port forwarding for all SSL accounts, because it does it's
own SSL. So if you have any SSL accounts (either POP3, or SMTP, or
IMAP, or NNTP) you need to do the following:
1. Set the accounts to non-SSL in your client programs.
2. Check that client and Avast are using same non-SSL port.
3. Setup SSL accounts in Avast using correct SSL ports.
You'll have to do some digging to find where those settings are in
Avast.

Or, uninstall Avast and use AVG or Avira or Microsoft Security
Essentials or any of the other good antivirus products (free and
non-free) that are out there. Most of those don't do their own SSL, so
you won't have that problem.


I use AVAST, however only file read/write protection
is enabled(choosen during install).
The same would go for AVG, they are a pain in the **** ,
and file read/write protection should get them all(most).
I think most anti virus/malware protection cripples your
computer, if you use default install.


Thanks all. I'll do some digging. I used to use AVG, but the whole reason
that I took it off was that it became so top-heavy, it was gobbling half the
processing power and half the memory most of the time that you were actively
connected to the outside world - although admittedly on a somewhat
lesser-specced machine than this one. I've always found Avast! to be a
thoroughly good program at its job, and sufficiently lightweight not to be a
pain in the arse at compromising machine performance, but it seems that just
lately, they've been trying to get smart with it and make it something that
it never was or was intended to be in its free 'Joe Public' form. Sad if it
goes the same way as AVG ...

Arfa

More Avast Woes ... ?
 

On 2012-03-08 6:06 PM, Arfa Daily wrote:

... I used to use AVG, but the whole reason that I took it off
was that it became so top-heavy, it was gobbling half the
processing power and half the memory most of the time that you
were actively connected to the outside world ...

Perhaps do as "Sjouke Burry" suggested and turn off all of the
"real time shields" except for file-read and file-write.
That should use less RAM, less CPU, etc. This should apply to
both Avast and AVG, and indeed any anti-virus software with
real-time protection.

--
Cheers,
Robbie Hatley
Santa Ana, CA, USA
lonewolf (at) well (dot) com
http://www.well.com/user/lonewolf/

More Avast Woes ... ?
 

On Wed, 07 Mar 2012 11:24:21 -0500, Rich Webb
wrote:

On Wed, 7 Mar 2012 15:10:41 -0000, "Arfa Daily"
wrote:

I've just got back from a vacation, during which time this machine has been
on, so presumably updating as normal, and now I've got problems with my
email connection, and again, it seems to be Avast! related. Remember all the
problems a few weeks back with it screwing up NNTP server connections
causing all manner of bizarre problems with only single newsgroup message
bodies displaying ? I don't think it was ever fully gotten to the bottom of,
as Avast! tech support didn't seem to understand what usenet was. I still
have the NNTP shield switched off. Now, every time I try to send an email
using T-Bird, I get strange messages about servers giving incorrect
greetings and so on, and the mail refuses to fly. However, if you
temporarily switch off the Avast! shields, everything works normally again.
I have restarted both the programs, and the whole machine, but the problem
persists.

Anyone else having similar probs ?

Check under Real Time Shields | Mail Shield | Main Settings and SSL
Accounts. IIRC, Avast recently started using an SSL connection (to the
well-known SSL/TLS ports) for in- and out-bound mail and Usenet. Also,
*it* wants to be the SSL agent for these protocols so that it can "see"
and scan the plain-text. It does an internal hand-off between, e.g.,
POP3's port 110 and the SSL equivalent at 995.

Unholey strokes! If you make a change like that you had better tell the
user real clearly how to set things up again! Especially if the user has
a mix of SSL and plain servers.

?-)