Emails Being Downloaded from Mail Server Numerous Times

[Jeff]

Hi,

This is a follow-up to previous messages regarding a problem that I am still
experiencing.

There are times when any emails that are on the mail server are downloaded
to Outlook 2007 each time it is started. I am using Pop3 for mail. The OS is
Vista.

This also seems to be tied into a problem regarding new mail that isn't
properly received. (The mail appears to be received by Outlook; but, the new
mail icon is not displayed in the Taskbar area of Vista. If I look at the
mail in the Inbox, the new mail is not shown until I leave that folder, click
on a different folder (for example, Junk), and then return to the Inbox
folder.

This problem only seems to occur after a system restart. It eventually
starts working correctly on it's own; but, I can't figure out why.

I would really like to understand what is going on so that I can correct it.

Thanks for any advice that can be offered.

Jeff

 

[Hal Hostetler [MVP P/I]]

Do you have an AntiVirus product scanning your email?

Hal
--
Hal Hostetler, CPBE -- (e-mail address removed)
Senior Engineer/MIS -- MS MVP-Print/Imaging -- WA7BGX
http://www.kvoa.com -- "When News breaks, we fix it!"
KVOA Television, Tucson, AZ. NBC Channel 4
Live at Hot Licks - www.badnewsbluesband.com

 

[Jeff]

Hi Hal,

Yes, I am using Norton Internet Security 2008.

Thanks for your post.

Jeff

 

[Hal Hostetler [MVP P/I]]

Norton strikes again! Rule number one, NO email scanning whatsoever by ANY
currently available AV product and no exceptions, unless you want to
continually deal with problems like this. Sadly, its entirely in the nature
of the beast that the way email scanners must work will eventually cause
problems with email flow, not an "IF", but a "WHEN". Email scanning belongs
on an email server. The resident, local file system scanner, if kept
current, will take care of anything that might slip through a server based
email scanner. Disabling the email scanning module in Norton is NOT
sufficient; in most cases, the application must be uninstalled, then
re-installed without the email scanning module. Norton's uninstaller
doesn't work well either, so you have to download this tool to get the job
done right:

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2005033108162039
Download and run the Norton Removal Tool

Reasons why you do NOT want to scan email:

http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#3
3. Turn off email scanning in your antivirus software.
http://support.microsoft.com/KB/951805
Stop error message when you send or receive e-mail messages on a Windows
Vista-based computer that has e-mail scanning software installed: "STOP:
0x1000008E KERNEL_MODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED_M"

Hal
--
Hal Hostetler, CPBE -- (e-mail address removed)
Senior Engineer/MIS -- MS MVP-Print/Imaging -- WA7BGX
http://www.kvoa.com -- "When News breaks, we fix it!"
KVOA Television, Tucson, AZ. NBC Channel 4
Live at Hot Licks - www.badnewsbluesband.com

 

[Jeff]

Hal,

Thank you for your reply.

The fact is, though, that email scanning has detected threats in the past. I
don't really know what type of scanning is provided by Earthlink (our mail
server); but, I can tell you email scanning has served a purpose in the past,
and I would need a very strong reason to turn off that protection.

If email scanning is such a serious problem, I for one would like to see
Microsoft make an official statement about its use. Or better yet, it would
be great if Microsoft would either partner with the AV companies to make sure
a product is available that will protect end users, or provide one of their
own.

Sorry if I sound a little sensitive about all this. I have completely
removed Symantec's product before (using the Norton removal tool), and then
reinstalled the product suite partially only to find out that their product
wasn't the cause of the problem that I was told was caused by Symantec. And
then, from what I remember, I needed to recustomize certain features. If this
problem, experienced only after system restart, is the what I have to deal
with.... I suppose I'll just live with it.

I attempted to access the link http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#3; but, I
couldn't access the web page.

Although I may disagree with certain aspects of your post, I do appreciate
your reply.

Jeff

 

[Brian Tillman]

The fact is, though, that email scanning has detected threats in the
past. I don't really know what type of scanning is provided by
Earthlink (our mail server); but, I can tell you email scanning has
served a purpose in the past, and I would need a very strong reason
to turn off that protection.

The resident scanner will detect any threat that tries to execute, so no
need for a mail scanner. Moreover your brain is a much better threat
detector that any AV product. The simple rules are: 1) immediately delete
any message containing an attachment if you did not request that attachment.
2) don't open any attachment from within mail; save it to disk first to
allow the resident scanner to process it in a controlled fashion.

 

[Hal Hostetler [MVP P/I]]

Actually, I don't believe opening an attachment from within mail would be a
problem either, because the attachment must be decoded and written to some
temp folder somewhere (Outlook's secure temp folder, in this case) when
opened this way and doing so will activate the resident real time scanner; a
bad attachment should get nailed regardless of how its opened, I think.

Hal
--
Hal Hostetler, CPBE -- (e-mail address removed)
Senior Engineer/MIS -- MS MVP-Print/Imaging -- WA7BGX
http://www.kvoa.com -- "When News breaks, we fix it!"
KVOA Television, Tucson, AZ. NBC Channel 4
Live at Hot Licks - www.badnewsbluesband.com