AV that works well with TB

[ShawnE26]

Hi
Just need some pointers. I currently use Webroot which seemed to work fine with TB. BUT just found out that WR only scans the C drive or where the OS is. My setup is small SSD with OS and programs/email/files are on the HDD. Not uncommon these days and a BIG hole in WR's ability. You can manually the drive but the scheduled doesn't.

Friend went to Bitdefender but it totally wiped all his email in Thunderbird. Gmail and the pop mail and imap from his own domain. NO way to recover it. I can't afford to loose my email like that!

Is there any AV that really shines with TB?

THANKS
Shawn

[DanRaisch]

Windows Defender will work, so does Avast.

[ShawnE26]

Do you know off hand if Avast will auto scan other drives? ie can I configure it to scan other drives

[tanstaafl]

https://www.avast.com/faq.php?article=AVKB177

I'm not aware of that option. However, you could configure it to automatically do a quick scan of the boot drive and then schedule a quick scan of several folders on another drive.

If you are comfortable using the equivalent of symlinks (most people aren't) another solution would be to create a "virtual folder" that contained everything on the second drive. That would make it easier to schedule quick scanning it. Unlike a virtual drive it would not effect where the files are physically stored, its basically using smoke and mirrors to let you access those files another way. See https://superuser.com/questions/1004776 ... windows-10 and https://superuser.com/questions/373315/ ... al-folders

I use the free version of BitDefender which does not know how to intercept and scan email. It will automatically scan a file when you open it though. Its never given me any problems. I've installed it on several friends and relatives PCs. One of them I couldn't get it or Avast to install and installed Avira instead. On another it worked for a while and then stopped working a couple of months later, and BitDefender's technical support wasn't good so I switched them to the free version of Avast. Avast is good (I've used it in the past for several years) but it roots your certificates in order to scan secure connections. The more I learn the more risky that seems. Thats one of the reasons I switched to BitDefender. See https://arstechnica.com/information-tec ... us-is-bad/ , https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ ... t-symantec , and https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/s ... icrosofts/ for example. There have also been articles such as http://www.howtogeek.com/199829/avast-a ... this-week/ talking about how Avast used to spy on you with adware.

Norton and McAfee anti-virus scanners seem to cause problems with Thunderbird. However, all of the antivirus scanners that provide a Thunderbird extension to integrate spam reporting have trouble keeping up with new versions of Thunderbird being released. The normal workaround is to disable that feature and only use the antivirus scanner for detecting viruses and malware.

[ShawnE26]

THANK YOU! Good info in those! A symlink could even solve my WR issue. I get what you are saying in BitDefender. Yes my buddy bought the big package that included an extension. That would explain why some don't have issues.. it is perhaps not BD itself but the TB extension. And make a cautionary note on AV / TB extensions. My method is to split up my email addresses. TB gets my critical emails from clients. But that address is ubber secret and I don't give it out except to clients. It isn't even on my card! The other email addresses I use I access with a web mail interface first. If there is something I want I forward it to myself. On my client emails - I recognize when it isn't really from them - which prompts a phone call from me before I open it. So I really don't need an extension.

Norton is a hog (still I think) and I just don't like McAfee's aggressive 'add this to every download or install known to mankind' kind of approach

I LOVE my Thunderbird!!! There is no comparable!