Norton Internet Security / Norton AntiVirus

[virginia]

Dear Symantec,

Norton reported that I had viruses . I allowed Norton to fix whatever problem it found, and it deleted my entire Inbox and Trash!  

 I am unable to restore my inbox, and I am still getting the message that there is virus threat.  I now know that Thunderbird configuration causes a single e-mail threat to be recognized by NOrton as the entire inbox- so that is why it got deleted........but

What do I do now to get my Inbox back and resolve the threat?? 

I am running the latest verioun of Norton 360.  The virus was a trojan horse- statement.1.10.doc.exe.  I appreciate any assistance I can get.

thanks

[mdturner]

Hi virginia

This post by SendOfJive is worth reading, regarding Thunderbird.

http://community.norton.com/t5/Norton-Internet-Security-Norton/Email-scan-Thunderbird-NAV-17-5/m-p/2...

[nikki605 Super Contributor]

The same would be true of Outlook (one large .pst file for all folders) and Outlook Express (each mail folder in its own .dbx file).  But, I don't think true of Windows Live Mail (WLM) since MS went back to storing each email message as a single .eml file.

[Spotteddog]

I just recently moved from another IS app to NIS. I wasn't aware of the problem with Thunderbird until I read this thread. I have read all the links provided in this thread, but I'm not clear on a few things.

Can someone point me to somewhere that gives very specific instructions on how to configure Thunderbird for this problem?

I have both Gmail IMAP mail and  5 email addresses via my ISP's email. These are all managed through Thunderbird. In my TB profile, there are many different types of "inboxes" and I'm not sure which ones to exclude. Some have .sbd, some .msf and others no file extensions at all. Can I choose excludes by file extentions?

I went through and excluded what I thought were the obvious ones, but what about "Local" folders, for example. There are several "inboxes" that don't seem to have anything in?

Thanks

[SendOfJive Norton Fighter]

Hi virginia,

Intructions for recovering your inbox are listed here:

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Antivirus_software#Recovering_a_quarantined_Inbox

Once you have restored the inbox from quarantine it is very important to delete the infected message, empty the trash and then compact all folders.  Even though it's not visible, a hidden copy of the deleted message remains in the inbox.  Likewise, emptying the trash only hides the contents of the folder and does not physically remove the messages stored there.  That is why Norton and other antivirus products may quarantine email folders even after you have deleted an infected message.  Compacting all folders is essential because this is the step that actually removes the deleted messages from the inbox, trash and other folders.

[SendOfJive Norton Fighter]

Hi Spotteddog,

The email messages stored on your computer should be in the \Mail\LocalFolders\ folder in your Thunderbird profile.  The folders listed without extensions (Inbox, Sent, Trash, etc.) hold the messages and should be excluded from Scans and Real-time Protection.  So, for example, you would want to exclude C:\Documents and Settings\<Windows user name>\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\<Profile name>\Mail\Local Folders\Inbox.   The .msf files are index files and the .sbd files are subdirectories.  These do not store messages and so should be left alone.  You might also find a folder named ImapMail where mail from your IMAP account might be stored locally, although this may depend on how you have set up your account: i.e., have you configured it to download your IMAP mail from the server, and if so, what folder have you specified as the destination?

Note that you do not configure anything in Thunderbird.  It is all done in Norton by selecting Computer Settings and clicking Configure[+] for Scan Exclusions.  For each box, Scans and Real-time Protection, click Add and navigate to the email folder you want to exclude.

Here's some more stuff to read if you're interested:

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Thunderbird#Folders

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Using_Gmail_with_Thunderbird_and_Mozilla_Suite

http://kb.mozillazine.org/IMAP

[Spotteddog]

Thanks for the detailed instructions.

I was partly rght and will correct my exclusions list per your instructions.