Talk:Antivirus software

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Revision as of 00:04, 30 July 2005 by Guanxi (talk | contribs) (not opening attachments for a day)
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if someone knows how to make gmail work in thunderbird with avg anti-virus, could they add that to the wiki as well? thanks!--134.58.253.131 03:43, 29 Nov 2004 (PST)

ClamMail (.sf.net) and ThunderBird/Mozilla suite mail

here is a link to current RFE to ClamMail to add support for simple account modification for ThunderBird :

http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1173082&group_id=125389&atid=702313

the author of clammail asks this because he added that functionnality for Outlook Express users in 1.2.7 (1.2.8 is latest) it was easy as outlook express stores all mail account details into registry.

it is a RFE to make integration between ThunderBird and ClamMail more user-friendly (checkboxes for each account instead of having to modify manually login, host, port, whatever)

Norton AV has it for ages, that's why i asked him to add it (for Outlook Express) and gave him details on how to do it (via registry)

so, if someone knows programmaticaly how to access to account info (login/host/port/ssl?), please help there.

Section on e-mail scanning av

I'm pulling this paragraph because the advice is dangerous and incorrect. If someone wants to rewrite it, that's fine with me:

* Even if your AV program is compatible with Thunderbird, consider turning off your AV program's e-mail scanning but not its autoprotect function. Because email scanning can result in Inbox corruption and computer slowdown or lockup and because it provides no extra protection, many independent experts advise against it, and even some antivirus vendors quietly admit that it provides no extra protection. Malware attachments are not at all dangerous as attachments, only when activated by users opening them. As long as your AV program's autoprotect function (often called "guard" or "shield") is turned on, it will effectively prevent any "infection" by malware your AV program knows about: i.e. it will not let you open and thereby install any known malware program in an e-mail attachment.

Here's what's wrong:

First, 'autprotect' features delete and corrupt inboxes. That's the whole point of this wiki page!

Second, e-mail scanning (I assume you mean a proxy) is less likely than autoprotect to corrupt Thunderbird mail; they act on data before/after it's in a Thunderbird file. In fact, scanning proxies can protect TB mail files from corruption by preventing viruses from getting there in the first place.

Finally, while what is written here about e-mail scanning an interesting idea, it's certainly not widely accepted and should not be given as advice to end users. It's the opinion of a few and belongs in their blogs or postings to forums.

not opening attachments for a day

This advice may prevent viruses, but I think it's problematic:

In addition, it is a good idea to wait at least one day before opening any attachment that has been forwarded to give your AV program's manufacturer a chance to provide a perhaps necessary new update.

I think for most people, and especially most working people, that's just impractical. My friends and co-workers would be a little unhappy!