antivirus and outlook

[djc]

should I be configuring my antivirus software to exclude my outlook .pst
files?

 

[Guest]

Yes, and also configure it to NOT scan incoming and outgoing mail.

 

[Brian Tillman]

should I be configuring my antivirus software to exclude my outlook
.pst files?

Probably not. If your AV program were to try and "clean" or "quarantine"
your PST it would most likely damage the PST or your mail profile. You
should also not scan incoming or outgoing mail with an AV program. There's
no need and it can disrupt the communication between Outlook and your mail
server.

 

[djc]

thanks Brian and Milly.

I had asked the same question in an outlook express forum for its .dbx files
and got the same answer. I was really just wondering about excluding these
data files (.pst for outlook and .dbx for outlook express) so the info about
also disabling incoming/outgoing email scanning is news to me. That brings
up one more question:

with regard to outlook (not oe) that is configured to use Exchange server,
where the exchange server has its own antivirus component, is it also true
then that incoming/outgoing virus scanning at the client (in outlook) is
redundant, or even problematic? I assume the answer to this is yes but
please do correct me if I'm wrong.

thanks again.

 

[Brian Tillman]

Probably not.

I meant probably. I read your statement as "should I scan my PST" and you
should not do that.

 

[Brian Tillman]

with regard to outlook (not oe) that is configured to use Exchange
server, where the exchange server has its own antivirus component, is
it also true then that incoming/outgoing virus scanning at the client
(in outlook) is redundant, or even problematic? I assume the answer
to this is yes but please do correct me if I'm wrong.

The scanning of messages as they come in and go out on the client is
redundant. The presence of a real-time (on-access) AV scanner is generally
a good idea.