Norton AntiSpam Folder AND E-Mails not being Moved to the Anti-Spam Folder

Norton Security | Norton Internet Security
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After installing NIS2010, the Norton AntiSpam feature is NOT working properly in Outlook 2007.  According to other posts within this forum, NIS2010 apparently uses the Junk Folder if it exists for the Norton AntiSpam folder. Click here to see the link in the forum that discusses this.  

 

That's great that NIS2010 uses that folder.  However, there are two problems:

 

  1. If you identify an email as spam, the email is not being moved to that folder.  That also means that if NIS2010 automatically decides that an e-mail is spam, where is it moving it to?  Is it being moved? 
  2. What happens when you have multiple e-mail accounts, all connected via IMAP and/or Exchange and/or Google Premier using the Google Apps Sync.  In this case you have mutilple inboxes AND moving from one folder to another is not necessarily possible

Therefore, while the previous posts explains in part the behavior and what folder is used, the problem still exists.  Calling Support is worse than getting the U.S. Congress to listen to you.  I've already been through three techs - each supposedly a level higher than the next and each doing exactly the same thing.  Checking this or that.  Finally one admitted that there is a "known" issue with the AntiSpam folder.  YA THINK!!!

 

Now it is in the hands of some "engineer" that will resolve the problem in 7 - 10 days.  Somehow I think longer but of course, I might be "slightly" cynical.  

 

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

Louis James

 

 

2

Hi Louis James,

 

Welcome to Norton Community!

 

Can you check the ports configured for your email client(Outlook/Outlook Express), and make sure that it is set for Standard POP3/SMTP (the incoming POP3 uses 110 and outgoing SMTP uses 25)?

 

Yogesh

3

Hi Yogesh:

 

Well... on the ports... Since it's IMAP, it does not use POP Port 110 and SMTP 25.  In fact, since it's SSL, it's using:

 

IMAP 993 SSL

SMTP 587 TLS

MAPI 443

 

More and more e-mail provides are moving away from the Standard POP/SMTP ports due to spam.  Any many now require authentication.

 

Curious:  What would this have to do with the Norton AntiSpam folder and where the e-mails would go??? Hmmm???

 

Thanks again

 

Louis James

4

Hello louisjjames,

 

The Norton AntiSpam component doesn't support IMAP or SSL. This may be the reason why it is not functioning the way that it should. If you do not use POP3 for inbound email, then you should disable the Norton AntiSpam component from withing the Settings sections from the Norton Main User Interface, which should disable the Norton AntiSpam Toolbar, which won't function within the IMAP accounts.

 

Sorry for any inconvenience!  

5

Tim:

 

Thanks for that information.  Amazingly, throughout my entire experience with Tech Support - Both phone and Chat.. they assured me that it would work... not that I'm upset... not even close.  Since I use Google Premier, Google Standard, and Google Personal... Spam is basically a non-issue.  But you would think that during the install it would check that you are using IMAP or MAPI or exchange and that Symantec's on Tech Support would know that... Amazing!!!

 

So now the question becomes disabling the Norton AntiSpam in Outlook 2007.  I wonder if I should:

  1. Go into NIS2010 and Disable completely the AntiSpam (Turn Off).
  2. Go into NIS2010 and leave AntiSpam on and turn off (disable) Client Integration
  3. Do step 1 or 2 and then go into Outlook 2007 and disable the Add-On.

Thanks for the info.

 

Louis James

6

Another Thought!

 

Why not IMAP and SSL?  If Symantec doesn't get on board soon, they will be left in the dust.  IMAP and SSL is the new way.  Think Smartphones and multiple computers and syncing.  Hence the reason for IMAP and because of SPAM, SSL really does resolve some of the problems.  

 

You would think it's very short sighted on Symantec's part not to have their AntiSpam features working with IMAP. 

 

Anyway!

 

Louis James

7

Hello louisjjames,

 

Simply turning off Norton AntiSpam will disable everything AntiSpam related. If you aren't using POP3, this should be your option.

 

Feel free to submit a suggestion to implement support for this in the following thread: http://community.norton.com/norton/board/message?board.id=nis_feedback&thread.id=87130

 

Thanks again! 

8

SSL stands for Secured Sockets Layer, a protocol developed by Netscape for transmitting private documents via the Internet. SSL uses the public-and-private key encryption system from RSA, which also includes the use of a digital certificate. It includes a cryptographic system that uses two keys to encrypt data − a public key known to everyone and a private or secret key known only to the recipient of the message. Using SSL/TLS encryption makes your user name and password unreadable as it travels from your computer to the mail server. SSL has recently been succeeded by Transport Layer Security (TLS), which is based on SSL. It can be applied to several protocols (like SMTP, POP3, IMAP) to get the same security benefits that users get normally with data encryption over HTTPS. In other words, it is a "tunnelling" protocol useful to assure the privacy of data exchange.

 

Most anti-spam programs (including Symantec products) are unable to scan encrypted traffic as they don't have the "private or secret key" to decrypt the information, and therefore can provide no control over what content is sent in and out of organisations' networks via SSL/TLS. But they may intervene to prevent encryption from being used on POP and SMTP connections.

 

IMAP stands for Internet Message Access Protocol. It is a method of accessing electronic mail or bulletin board messages that are kept on a (possibly shared) mail server. In other words, it permits a "client" email program to access remote message stores as if they were local. For example, email stored on an IMAP server can be manipulated from a desktop computer at home, a workstation at the office, and a notebook computer while traveling, without the need to transfer messages or files back and forth between these computers. In simple words, the mails through IMAP gets downloaded in IMAP server, remains there until it gets deleted. So the scanning for Spam/Junk emails is actually required on the Server side, not the client side(individual computers) which you use. For that purpose, AntiSpam should be installed on server side.

9

I would have to say I agree with louisjjames , at least on the SSL side of things here.  I know of three other AV softwares and some major AntiSpam filters that do scan SSL traffic without any problems.

10

Hear! Hear! 

 

While I do appreciate  yogesh_mohan's informative reminders on SSL, TLS and IMAP (i’ve been in the I/T profession for only 25 years), at some point, when an e-mail “hits” the client app on the desktop, it’s there to be checked.

 

True, IMAP gives the “illusion” that the e-mail is stored locally.  In fact, it is in some form or another.  Go search out for your PST’s if you use Outlook and you will find them “nice and pretty like” on the local drive.  And just as true, these e-mails can be “manipulated” through rules in the typical client app.  While I just created some rules in Outlook 2007 to move e-mails around to different folders.

 

And even more true, it would be great if all spam filtering were done on the server side.  Life would be grand, taxes would be lower, and spam would be gone.  

 

Experience tells us however that spam does get through.  And  dbrisendine's experience tells us (as well as my few years around), that there are Antispam filters out there that would with IMAP, SSL, and the sort.

 

What’s amazing in all of this is that Symantec seems “a bit behind” on this.  Thanks to Tim, I have a “temporary” solution.  It only took him just a few minutes.  I’m still getting calls from the wonders at Symantec Tech Support telling me “not to worry” because this is a “known issue” and that it will be corrected and I will be contacted in “7 - 10 days with the correct solution.”  When I asked them to read Tim’s comments, you could hear crickets chirping.  It was quite comical.  

 

Conceptually,  yogesh_mohan is correct.  Server-Side filter would be great.  Better yet, spam filtering is “old school.”  Symantec (and others) need to rethink this anyway.

 

Once again, Tim, I appreciate your comments.  I’ve implemented your “temporary” fix.  Let’s see what the “engineers” come up with in 7 - 10 days… Somehow, I think I’ll  those crickets again.

 

Louis James

11

Hi,

 

Here is a related Symantec Article which states that the current AntiSpam does not support IMAP and SSL.

http://www.symantec.com/norton/support/kb/web_view.jsp?wv_type=public_web&docurl=20090212095303EN

 

There are requests asking for the AntiSpam support for IMAP and SSL. Symantec will surely consider your suggestions for future products and try to implement to their best if possible.

 

Yogesh

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louisjjames wrote:
  1. If you identify an email as spam, the email is not being moved to that folder.  That also means that if NIS2010 automatically decides that an e-mail is spam, where is it moving it to?  Is it being moved? 

 

I am in the same boat as you louisjames. I am  using Outlook Express and have not had any issue with my spam filter working until I upgraded my NIS.

 

I also contacted customer support 3 TIMES first through chat and then on the phone and all 3 times I gave them remote access to my computer. I went through 2-3 techs or super experts and supervisors each time.

All of my settings are correct and they all just kept doing the same thing over and over that I had already done myself.

 

I asked them if I could have back my old version of NIS since the spam filter worked perfectly then and they promised to ask a ANOTHER supervisor and would call me back later in the day and let me know. I made sure they had the correct phone number, which they did. That was on 12/3/09 it is ELEVEN DAYS LATER and I never got a call back, I never even got an email from customer support as usually comes to inquire whether or not my issue was resolved by the support team or to reply to a customer satisfaction survey. All I got was NOTHING!

 

I guess my request for my old software which worked was the straw that broke the camels back. How dare I request software that works! Sorry if I sound a little angry but I am stuck with this software for another 157 days.

 

Like most people I get a lot of email and I do subscribe to a lot of newsletters and I do want advertisements from many of my favorite websites etc. but I like to have them go into either a junk mail or spam folder where I can just quickly scan the subjects and decided if I want to actually open it now or not at all. Then I can empty the whole folder in one shot instead of one by one.  I do not want to actually block these senders but have only the most important emails go into my Inbox. When I get what I consider a real spam email I just block the sender to solve the issue.

 

Now it takes me so long to go through the emails it is horrible. I spend so much time deleting one by one or marking them as spam one by one over and over. The software is not learning anything and it has just become a futile exercise.............:smileysad:

 

 

13

sltoo213 -

 

What email service do you use and what type (POP, SMTP, etc)?  Is your email provider also scanning your email for Spam?

 

If you have the opportunity to do so, the current N360 v4 BETA has the latest corrections to the AntiSpam adjusted in it (I have worked with Norton to correct some features and scanning issues that showed up after the release of NIS2010 on some email providers services) and it would be helpful to have as many people with AntiSpam problems test this before it gets released in the next version.  I am testing this now and it corrects many of the complaints others are having like the ones you mentioned here.

14

Hi -

Thanks yogesh.

I use Outlook Express 6 which is a POP-based and SMTP-based email service so I am good on that point.

 

I just decided to read some of my own old posts as I had the same issue when I first downloaded NIS2009.

I finally solved the issue on my own and now I am thinking maybe I have to try to do the same thing all over even though the version of NIS is different I am willing to try anything.

Actually this is kind of weird as this post is from just a few days over 1 year ago....12/2/08

 

Here is the link to the old post:

http://community.norton.com/norton/board/message?board.id=nis_feedback&message.id=22731#M22731

 

That is how long everything was working great and then I went to the Symantec site to investigate something else for a different secondary computer that got a weird virus and it updated the software on that one so I thought I would do the same on this one, my main computer and now I know better..........if it ain''t broke - don't fix it!!!! :smileysurprised:

15

Hi dbrisendine -

 

It is Outlook Express 6 and it is POP3,  pop-server in and smtp-server out.

 

I am not keen on N360. I had purchased it last year after using NIS for years and it was a disaster for me. My computer became totally unusable so I got a refund and went back to NIS. IE stopped working, email stopped working it was horrible. I am afraid to try it again.

 

I can't afford to have the computer out of service since I am doing business on-line right now. I am unsure of how to even begin to use a BETA program or how to acquire it. 

 

If the anti spam in N360 has the corrections why can't the same corrections be made to NIS??

16

It is in the BETA version for testing right now;  I am not sure when it will be released in NIS2010.

17

sitoo213,

 

What are the ports used by the POP3 and SMTP in your Outlook Express?

 

Is it standard ports 25 and 110?

 

Yogesh

18

Yes yogesh,

 

It is the standard ports, 25 outgoing 110 incoming and the check boxes net to the SSL choices are NOT checked. I am far from a tech person but I understand that the SSL is not supported. The only thing I have going for me is I am not afraid to try basic stuff.

I am going to continue to experiment on my own with different settings to see what, if anything happens.

 

sltoo213

19

I like this!  Good, healthy debate! 

sltoo213 wrote: 

 

I also contacted customer support 3 TIMES first through chat and then on the phone and all 3 times I gave them remote access to my computer. I went through 2-3 techs or super experts and supervisors each time.

All of my settings are correct and they all just kept doing the same thing over and over that I had already done myself.

 

 

sltoo213:

 

As in my previous comments, it seems that Symantec’s left hand does not  know what Symantec’s right hand is doing.  What’s worse is that one hand is slapping its face silly and the other hand is clueless.  

 

Thanks to both Yogesh and Tim, we now know that NIS2010 is shall we say “lacking” and “short-sighted.”  It just “ain’t gonna work” unless you use POP 110 and SMTP 25.  Like this is so “old school.”  It only took Yogesh and Tim a moment to find the info.  And Yogesh is a volunteer - not even paid staff.  I’m assuming Tim is also a volunteer although it states he’s an administrator.  

 

Yet, the chat and phone support are indeed paid staff - money being sent overseas and for what!!!???   To wait 11 days and NOTHING.  Cute.

 

I’m grateful for both Yogesh and Tim and their learned comments.  But I’m not impressed with Symantec’s lack of vision.  Port 110 and 25.  Really???  How many have had to change your ports to something like 2525 or 587?  How many have going to at least authentication and even SSL. 

 

Google (in any version Personal, Standard, Premier) is not the only one doing this.  ATT, Comcast to name a few do it now.  (Although Comcast let’s you still get away with port 25.  

 

And then what about smartphones.  Can we say “Sync?”  

 

Hopefully, others will join our chorus and shoot out.  Post a suggestion to Symantec.  Here’s a suggestion.  Symantec - READ THE FORUM!!!  You’ll get all the suggestions you need.  “We usas is not that stuphid!”

 

Merry Christmas!

 

Louis James 

 

P.S.  I wonder if I should hold my breath for a call back from Symantec? Hmmmm…>???

 

LJ

Message Edited by louisjjames on 12-14-2009 08:51 AM

20

 

 

P.S.  I wonder if I should hold my breath for a call back from Symantec? Hmmmm..>???

 

 
 

Louis James,

 

I agree with all you have said..............and no I don't think you should hold your breath for a call back as you could be passed out by your computer long before that call comes.......:smileysurprised:

 

I also want to thank everyone who has replied to these post, yogesh, dbrisendine, and Tim.

 

I have decided to experiment a little and I have had a little success today so I will post it here and maybe it will help another long suffering NIS user.

 

I went back to what I did over a year ago and I know that this is really an instruction or a "rule" for Outlook Express not for Norton Anti Spam but it is helping . I am copying the text from that old post here:

 

==============

 In Outlook Express and I went into Tools>Message Rules>Mail.

 

There was an existing rule that said: Auto Generated Norton Anti-Spam Rule which had No Check Mark in the box before it and the description of the rule was as follows:

This rule is currently turned off.

Where the subject line contains "[Norton Anti-Spam]" move it to the Norton Anti-Spam folder.

I was supposed to be able to click on the underlined words to edit them but that did not work either and it really was not "grayed out" but I could not do anything.

 

Unfortunately for whatever reason I was unable to put a check mark in the box to choose this rule and I have no idea why.

What I did was to try to re-create this exact rule by "copying" it exactly and then I was able to check it off as the rule to use. Now it says: Copy Of Auto Generated Norton Anti-Spam Rule and I put a check mark in the box.

The new description says

Apply this rule after the message arrives.

Where the subject line contains "[Norton Anti-Spam]" move it to the Norton Anti-Spam folder.

 

I then shut down Outlook Express, re-booted my computer and when I started back up and hit send and receive a few emails actually went into my Anti Spam folder. I hope that this continues to work. I just have to be diligent and mark anything "this is spam" to make sure it goes in.

I realize that it is "outlook" doing the work not Norton but it is better than nothing. Problem is I had all these emails marked previous to the "upgrade" - which I will now refer to as a "downgrade", and now I have to do it all over again........

 

Happy holidays to all here on the forum and as you said louisjames:  
 

 

Hopefully, others will join our chorus and shoot out.  Post a suggestion to Symantec.  Here's a suggestion.  Symantec - READ THE FORUM!!!  You'll get all the suggestions you need.  "We usas is not that stuphid!"

 

 

sltoo213 :smileywink: