"Larry" <noe...@email.com> wrote in message news:<HP-dnQdknLF...@comcast.com>...
My guess is that your ISP has bypassed the virus
checking so that they won't be notifying the forged
"From:" address needlessly. Clients who have come
to rely on the ISP's AV (which is a mistake anyway
if you ask me) are thus being notified of the absence
(temporarily?) of that service. If this is the case, it is
a step in the right direction.
Interesting. I'm a bit of a novice and I think I only understand some of
your reply. I was never aware Comcast screened my email for viruses and I
don't believe they ever advertised this service. I would think they would
mention this, if they performed it - as it would attract/satisfy some
customers. I know I've received viruses in emails before. Are you saying
my Norton is likely still screening my email, despite this message - as this
would make me happier. I don't follow the other stuff about the forged
address - sorry. Who would be notifying who, and why would they want to
avoid it?
Thanks for the reply though and I found it more helpful that Bill's,
although I'm sure he's doing his best to be helpful here.
>
>... Are you saying
>my Norton is likely still screening my email, despite this message - as this
>would make me happier.
You can request a number of tests to see if your AV is operational from
http://www.gfi.com/emailsecuritytest/
There is also a test-file that should make your scanner scream available
from http://www.eicar.org/anti_virus_test_file.htm
Maybe they don't, like I said it was only a guess. I suppose
that you could ask them. It could be that they don't scan
to provide a service to the customer, but rather to be a good
netizen by filtering out the prevalent mass mailers.
> I would think they would
> mention this, if they performed it - as it would attract/satisfy some
> customers. I know I've received viruses in emails before. Are you saying
> my Norton is likely still screening my email, despite this message -
I don't know, I have never used an e-mail scanning AV product,
but I assume that if it was a Norton AV message they wouldn't
miss an opportunity to mention their name in the message.
You could test your e-mail scanning with a test file like the
EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE
X5O!P%@AP[4\PZX54(P^)7CC)7}$EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE!$H+H*
The above 68 characters, alone in an attached file named eicar.com
should cause Norton to alert if it is scanning e-mail. You can Google
for EICAR and find some places willing to send the test file to you
if you can't send it to yourself (or have a friend do it).
> as this
> would make me happier. I don't follow the other stuff about the forged
> address - sorry.
Additional unneeded information....
> Who would be notifying who,
The system identifying the fact that an e-mail was found to contain
a worm (kinda like a virus) would want to inform the infected
party so that they could take steps to clean up their machine.
> and why would they want to avoid it?
Many of the recent mass mailing worms lie about who sent them,
so informing the apparent sender only aggravates the innocent
"Joe-jobbed" party, and does nothing to inform the actual infected
victim (sender). Many people are practically getting "mail-bombed"
by the AV programs which are trying to do a good deed (in a very
misguided way).
> Thanks for the reply though and I found it more helpful that Bill's,
> although I'm sure he's doing his best to be helpful here.
Hmmm....