Cannot receive email if Norton scan on

Warning: Effective with a recent Norton Anit-Virus update it is no
longer possible to receive email if the Norton input scan is on.
The resulting message is:

Your server has unexpectedly terminated the connection. Possible
causes for this include server problems, network problems, or a long
period of inactivity. Account: 'myself@somevalid.net', Server:
'pop3.mailxxx.net', Protocol: POP3, Server Response: '+OK 2019
octets', Port: 110, Secure(SSL): No, Socket Error: 10053, Error
Number: 0x800CCC0F

By going to Norton options, selecting email and turning off input
message scan the problem goes away. The permanent cure is to use
another anti-virus program.

Re: Cannot receive email if Norton scan on

Norton's email scaning is notorious for many reasons. Among its charming
"features", it disables TLS encryption, and does so in a way that makes it
look like the server advertises the availability of TLS but doesn't
implement it.

Fortunately, Norton has not yet discovered IMAP (port 143) or SSL IMAP
(port 993). Nor will it attack SSL POP (port 995), nor SSL SMTP (port
465, however this is deprecated by the IETF), nor SUBMIT (port 587, an
alternative to SMTP which requires authentication).

Norton only attacks POP3 (port 110) and SMTP (port 25).

Since I use IMAP and SUBMIT exclusively, I don't have to worry about
Norton's obnoxious behavior. Nor do I have to deal with it harassing me
for turning off email scanning. Since I also use Pine exclusively, I
don't have to worry about sending or receiving viruses either.

> Your server has unexpectedly terminated the connection. Possible
> causes for this include server problems, network problems, or a long
> period of inactivity. Account: 'myself@somevalid.net', Server:
> 'pop3.mailxxx.net', Protocol: POP3, Server Response: '+OK 2019
> octets', Port: 110, Secure(SSL): No, Socket Error: 10053, Error
> Number: 0x800CCC0F

For what it's worth, socket error 10053 is WSAECONNABORTED.

Error number 0x800CCC0F is a new one for me. The largest Windows SDK
error that I know is 0x800B0114 which is CERT_E_INVALID_NAME, although
SetupAPI uses codes in the 0x800F#### range. My guess is that 0x800CCC0F
is a Norton invention.

-- Mark --

http://staff.washington.edu/mrc
Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate.
Si vis pacem, para bellum.