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Thunderbird and email viruses

  • 5 replies
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  • Last reply by trevorwood

trevorwood
trevorwood
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I am trying to upload some emails via Thunderbird into an IMAP mailbox. I'm having to do this in 2 steps as they are stored in an MBOX file Step 1 is to load them all into a local folder in Thunderbird - no problems there, all 2279 emails load Step 2 is to copy them folder in IMAP mailbox. However, many of them disappear. They are all phishing emails and I believe some (or all) of those that disappear have viruses with them - however, I need to keep them for testing. I can't find anywhere in Thunderbird where they may be being scanned.

I'm running Thunderbird in a Linux VM on a Windows machine. I've excluded the directory where the VM is stored from checking by my AV software. I've also (just in case) disabled my AV software entirely, but this hasn't made any difference.

I've found where Thunderbird scans for phishing emails and turned that off. I can't find anything in Thunderbird that scans for viruses, or if it does what happens to them.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

I am trying to upload some emails via Thunderbird into an IMAP mailbox. I'm having to do this in 2 steps as they are stored in an MBOX file Step 1 is to load them all into a local folder in Thunderbird - no problems there, all 2279 emails load Step 2 is to copy them folder in IMAP mailbox. However, many of them disappear. They are all phishing emails and I believe some (or all) of those that disappear have viruses with them - however, I need to keep them for testing. I can't find anywhere in Thunderbird where they may be being scanned. I'm running Thunderbird in a Linux VM on a Windows machine. I've excluded the directory where the VM is stored from checking by my AV software. I've also (just in case) disabled my AV software entirely, but this hasn't made any difference. I've found where Thunderbird scans for phishing emails and turned that off. I can't find anything in Thunderbird that scans for viruses, or if it does what happens to them. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

All Replies (5)

christ1
christ1
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Thunderbird has a built-in junk mail filter. https://support.mozilla.org/kb/thunderbird-and-junk-spam-messages

My best guess would be that the email provider's spam filter moves messages it classified as spam to the spam/junk folder after they have been uploaded. I'd expect the messages to show up there.

trevorwood
trevorwood Question owner
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Thanks for the suggestions, but unfortunately this isn't helping :-( I have the junk filters turned off in Thunderbird and I've also turned off spam checking on the email server.

Matt
Matt
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  • Top 10 Contributor
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Then there is the simple fact that IMAP sync is buggy and prone to timeouts where more than a few emails are involved. Exacerbated by non reciprocal internet connection speeds. In this case sharing a connection with Windows under the VM

Most IMAP server implementations (except proprietary stuff like Exchange) have an import function for mbox files independent of any mail client. It would be more reliable I am sure.

trevorwood
trevorwood Question owner
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It turns out that my mail server is running an antivirus product. Disabling that seems to have allowed me to upload the emails

trevorwood
trevorwood Question owner
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Spoke too soon - as soon as I go to look at the emails, a whole load disappear again. However, they happily stay in a local folder. I'm goign to try and move just a few at a time and see if that makes any difference