FAQ
AVG 8.5 Free Edition FAQ » E-mail Scanner
It’s important to choose the correct e-mail plug-in to install during the AVG installation process. It depends on your e-mail client. If you use an email client for sending/receiving e-mails which has its own plug-in available in AVG, please install this specialized plug-in in preference:
- AVG MS Outlook Extension if you use Microsoft Outlook.
- AVG Plugin For The BAT! for The BAT! e-mail client.
- If you use any other program (Outlook Express, Incredimail, Mozilla etc.), please install the Personal E-mail Scanner service.
The installation of e-mail plugins should be done following way:
- Download the AVG Free installation file (section Installation files, link AVG Free 8.5 for Windows).
- When you are prompted, please do not open this file directly from the Internet, but click the Save button and choose a location, where the installation file should be stored. We recommend saving the file to the Desktop.
- Locate the downloaded AVG installation file (it has a four color square icon and its name starts with AVG_...) and launch it by double-click on its icon.
- Please follow the wizard and select the Add or remove components option.
- In the Component Selection window, please tick the E-mail Scanner plugin(s) you wish to use.
- Finish the installation wizard and restart your computer.
To check which e-mail plugins you have installed, please proceed as follows:
- Launch AVG User Interface (the AVG Free icon on the Desktop).
- Click the E-mail scanner where is the item Installed e-mail protection:.
In case you need to add or remove some e-mail plugin from AVG, please proceed as follows:
- Download the AVG 8.5 Free Edition installation package.
- When you are prompted, please do not open this file directly from the Internet, but click the "Save" button and browse to the location where you want the installation file to be stored. We recommend saving the file to the Desktop.
- Reboot your computer.
- Locate the downloaded AVG installation file (it has a four color square icon and its name starts with AVG_...) and launch the installation by double-clicking on it.
- Please follow the wizard and select the Add or remove components option.
- In the Component Selection window, please tick the E-mail Scanner plugin(s) you wish to use.
- Finish the installation wizard and restart your computer.
If you install a new e-mail client, supported by AVG Free Edition which is already installed on your PC, it is necessary to add required plug-in using the latest installation file of AVG Free Edition program. You can download it here.
Run the downloaded file, select Add/Remove Components option and continue to the screen with available components. Select the component you want to install and finish the process.
You can use EICAR.COM test-virus for this purpose. You can download this file here (www.eicar.org website – the developer of this file). This file is NOT a real virus, it is developed for testing purposes only and every antivirus system should report a virus on this file. AVG 8.5 Free Edition detects it as EICAR-Test virus.
Please let us inform you that it is not possible to work with the test file if the AVG Resident Shield is active. For deactivation, open "AVG User Interface" -> click "Resident Shield" -> untick "Resident Shield is active" -> "Save changes". Please do not forget to enable the Resident Shield after the e-mail scanner test is finished.
To set up AVG 8.5 Free Edition protection for e-mails on your Gmail account, please follow these steps:
- open AVG - menu Tools - Advanced Settings - E-mail Scanner - Servers
- go to POP3 - AutoPOP3, and edit this server:
- Type of login: Fixed host; fill in your POP3 server and port (pop.gmail.com:995)
- Local port: 5100
- Connection: SSL (or SSL Default based on your e-mail services provider)
- make sure that the server is activated
- now go to SMTP - AutoSMTP, and edit the server:
- Type of login: Fixed host; fill in your SMTP server and port (smtp.gmail.com:465)
- Local port: 5200
- Connection: SSL (or SSL Default based on your e-mail services provider)
- make sure that the server is activated
This way, the AVG E-mail Scanner is set up to communicate with the GMAIL server using SSL encryption. Now, please configure your e-mail client so that it connects to the AVG e-mail scanner instead of the actual e-mail server. The servers configuration will be:
- POP3
- server: 127.0.0.1
- port: 5100
- user name / password: same as before (i.e. your e-mail username and password)
- encryption: NONE (SSL disabled)
- SMTP
- server: 127.0.0.1
- port: 5200
- authentication: yes
- user name / password: same as before
- encryption: NONE (SSL disabled)
In some unique cases you have to create the incoming/outgoing servers in the AVG E-mail Scanner manually. The typical case is when you are using secure communication (SSL). In this case you have to change the AVG E-mail Scanner configuration this way:
- open AVG - menu Tools - Advanced Settings - E-mail Scanner - Servers
- go to POP3 - AutoPOP3, and edit this server:
- Type of login: Fixed host; fill in your POP3 server and port (e.g. pop3.mymail.com:995)
- Local port: 5100
- Connection: SSL Default (or SSL, based on your e-mail provider)
- make sure that the server is activated
- now go to SMTP - AutoSMTP, and edit the server:
- Type of login: Fixed host; fill in your SMTP server and port (e.g. smtp.mymail.com:465)
- Local port: 5200
- Connection: SSL Default (or SSL, based on your e-mail provider)
- make sure that the server is activated
This way, the AVG E-mail Scanner is set up to communicate with your e-mail server using SSL encryption. Now, please configure your e-mail client so that it connects to the instead of the actual e-mail server. The servers configuration will be:
- POP3
- server: 127.0.0.1
- port: 5100
- user name / password: same as before (i.e. your e-mail username and password)
- encryption: NONE (SSL disabled)
- SMTP
- server: 127.0.0.1
- port: 5200
- authentication: same as before
- user name / password: same as before (if required)
- encryption: NONE (SSL disabled)
This issue is not caused by the AVG E-mail Scanner, but by the properties of the Earthlink SMTP server.
Sending e-mails to the Earthlink SMTP server is not supported because the Earthlink e-mail client is using command AUTH CRAM-MD5 which is not included in the SMTP protocol specification. Only the Earthlink server understands this command, and scanning of outgoing e-mails by AVG 8.5 Free Edition cannot be used.
You can disable scanning of outgoing e-mails this way:
- open AVG User Interface
- go to menu Tools - Advanced Settings
- in the left tree select E-mail Scanner - Servers - SMTP - AutoSMTP
- un-tick the option Activate this server and use it for sending e-mail
Then click on all OK buttons to confirm changes. Outgoing e-mails will no longer be scanned.
The Personal E-mail Scanner is a plug-in which scans incoming/outgoing e-mails automatically. You can use it with E-mail clients that do not have their own plug-in in AVG 8.5 Free Editon. So you can use it for example with Outlook Express, Mozilla, Incredimail, etc. If you have chosen the Personal E-mail Scanner to install during the AVG 8.5 Free Edition installation, there are automatic servers created for e-mail control - one for checking incoming e-mails and the second one for checking outgoing e-mails. Using these two servers e-mails are automatically checked on ports 110 and 25 (standard ports for sending/receiving e-mails).
If you are using other than standard ports (110 and 25) in your e-mail client , you need to configure AVG Personal E-mail scanner as described here.
Personal E-mail Scanner works as an interface between e-mail client and e-mail servers on the Internet.
- Incoming mail:
E-mail client sends request to Personal E-mail Scanner to get mail, it receives message from the server, tests it for viruses, removes infected attachments and adds certification. Then the message is passed to the e-mail client. - Outgoing mail:
Message is sent from e-mail client to Personal E-mail Scanner; it tests the message and its attachments for viruses and then sends the message to the SMTP server.
Note: Scanning of outgoing e-mails is disabled by default. An infected file cannot be sent in an e-mail from your computer, as it would be automatically blocked by the Resident Shield. The scanning of outgoing e-mail can be enabled in Personal E-mail Scanner settings.
If you are using a POP3/SMTP based e-mail client and there is a problem with e-mail delivering, or you need to disable the Personal E-mail Scanner for any another reason, follow these steps:
- open AVG - menu Tools - Advanced Configuration
- navigate to E-mail Scanner - Servers
- POP3 - AutoPOP3
- disable the option "Activate this server and use it for receiving e-mail" - SMTP - AutoSMTP
- disable the option "Activate this server and use it for sending e-mail"
This way, incomming and outgoing messages will not be scanned any more. If you wish to enable the e-mail checking again, please enable the "Activate this server.." option for the required server (POP3 for incomming, and SMTP for outgoing e-mails).
In order to solve this issue please perform the following procedure:
- Close your Microsoft Outlook program.
- Register the avgxch32.dll library.
- Click on the Start -> Run.
- Type the following command: regsvr32.exe "c:\Program Files\AVG\AVG8\avgxch32.dll"
- Click on the OK button.
- Run Outlook again and check the existence of AVG 8.5 Free Edition items in the Tools menu.
If items are still missing, please do the following:
- Close your Microsoft Outlook program.
- Un-register the avgxch32.dll library.
- Click on the Start -> Run.
- Type the following command: regsvr32.exe /u "c:\Program Files\AVG\AVG8\avgxch32.dll"
- Click on the OK button.
- Open the Run window again and type the following command: regsvr32.exe /u avgxch32.dll
- Click on the OK button.
- Locate and remove EXTEND.DAT file from your hard drive.
- Register avgxch32.dll library again using the following command: regsvr32.exe "c:\Program Files\AVG\AVG8\avgxch32.dll"
- Run Outlook program.
Make sure that AVG Plug-in for Outlook is not denied by Microsoft Office program this way:
- Run the Microsoft Outlook program.
- Microsoft Outlook 2000, 2003, XP:
- Go to the Help menu -> About MS Outlook -> Disabled Items.
- Microsoft Outlook 2007:
- Go to the Help menu -> Disabled Items.
- Select AVG item and use Enable option.
- If there is no AVG item in Disabled Items, please follow steps in FAQ 1282.
To enable or disable adding of AVG Free certification text to your incomming or outgoing e-mails, please proceed as follows:
- Open AVG Free by double-click on its icon on Desktop or in system tray.
- Open the Tools -> Advanced settings... menu.
- In the left tree click on the E-mail Scanner option.
- Enable or disable Certify e-mail for incomming or outgoing e-mails.
- If you wish to change the certification text, please click on Certification in the left tree, and edit the text for incomming or outgoing messages.
- Save the settings using the OK button.
In some cases, the certification may not be added to an e-mail, even though the certification is enabled:
- There is digital signature in the e-mail (the certification would damage the signature).
- In MS Outlook, empty e-mails in RTF and HTML format are not certified due to technical limitation.
Note:
Enabling or disabling certification does not have any effect on testing of your messages with AVG Free. The option to enable or disable checking of e-mails can be set up after double-click on the E-mail Scanner component in the main AVG window.
This Plug-in does not certify the messages because of the anti-virus Interface properties of The BAT!. The Plug-in is called only to check e-mail attachments.
Launch The BAT!. Go to the menu Options -> Preferences -> Anti-Virus. Now mark the AVG plug-in and press the Delete button.