User manual

Table Of Contents

Refresh list - update the list of findings detected by Online Shield

Back - switch back to the default AVG main dialog (components overview)

6.3. E-mail Protection

One of the most common sources of viruses and trojans is via e-mail. Phishing and spam make e-

mail an even greater source of risks. Free e-mail accounts are more likely to receive such malicious

e-mails (as they rarely employ anti-spam technology), and home users rely quite heavily on such e-

mail. Also home users, surfing unknown sites and filling in online forms with personal data (such as

their e-mail address), increase exposure to attacks via e-mail. Companies usually use corporate e-

mail accounts and employ anti-spam filters etc, to reduce the risk.

The E-mail Protection component is responsible for scanning every e-mail message sent or

received; whenever a virus is detected in an e-mail, it is removed to the Virus Vault immediately. The

component can also filter out certain types of e-mail attachments, and add a certification text to

infection-free messages. E-mail Protection consists of two main functions:

E-mail Scanner

Anti-Spam

6.3.1. E-mail Scanner

Personal E-mail Scanner scans incoming/outgoing e-mails automatically. You can use it with e-

mail clients that do not have their own plug-in in AVG (but can be also used to scan e-mail

messages for e-mail clients that AVG supports with a specific plug-in, i.e. Microsoft Outlook).

Primarily, it is to be used with e-mail applications such as Outlook Express, Incredimail, etc.

During AVG 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).

E-mail Scanner works as an interface between the e-mail client and e-mail servers on the Internet.

Incoming mail: While receiving a message from the server, the E-mail Scanner

component tests it for viruses, removes infected attachments, and adds certification. When

detected, viruses are quarantined in the Virus Vault immediately. Then the message is

passed to the e-mail client.

Outgoing mail: The message is sent from the e-mail client to E-mail Scanner; it tests the

message and its attachments for viruses and then sends the message to the SMTP server (

scanning of outgoing e-mails is disabled by default, and can be set up manually).

E-mail Scanner is not intended for server platforms!

6.3.2. Anti-Spam

How does Anti-Spam work?