This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Yahoo mail automatically scans attachments for viruses; will this also happen in Thunderbird?

  • 1 nzaghachinzaghachi
  • 3
  • 4 views
  • Nzaghachi ikpeazụ nke Toad-Hall

more options

Background stuff: When I use my email account through Yahoo.com, any attachments that anyone sends me are automatically scanned by the nice folks at Yahoo for virus content. When I click on the attachment, it doesn't open right away. First, Yahoo gives me a note next to the attachment saying that they scanned it and what they found, so that I can decide whether it's safe to open or not.

What I need to know: If I start reading my email through Thunderbird, will the attachments still be scanned before they get to me and will I be informed of the results of the scan when I click on the attachment in Thunderbird, or will it just open automatically without any scanning?

Thanks!

Background stuff: When I use my email account through Yahoo.com, any attachments that anyone sends me are automatically scanned by the nice folks at Yahoo for virus content. When I click on the attachment, it doesn't open right away. First, Yahoo gives me a note next to the attachment saying that they scanned it and what they found, so that I can decide whether it's safe to open or not. What I need to know: If I start reading my email through Thunderbird, will the attachments still be scanned before they get to me and will I be informed of the results of the scan when I click on the attachment in Thunderbird, or will it just open automatically without any scanning? Thanks!

All Replies (1)

more options

Your anti-virus program can be set up to scan emails on receiving and sending or not to scan emails, but scan any documents you open.

by default, Thunderbird does not allow remote content to be shown, this provides you with some protection, but it does not scan the emails nor the attachments. see privacy basics. http://kb.mozillazine.org/Privacy_basics_%28Thunderbird%29

Thunderbird is not an anti-virus program.

If you use McAfee, please read: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird:Testing:Antivirus_Related_Performance_Issues#McAfee