Security causing mail problems

[SStone]

Cannot reply, forward or send attachments. Have worked on this for 2 days
within the Windows Mail Forum. Something is causing a delay in getting mail
to the server. This appears to have something to do with security. Has anyone
seen a resolution?

Details -
Unable to send mail problem was sporadic. Had Norton 2007. Took it in to
tech support for service and they upgraded to 2008. At forum suggestion,
deleted Norton and used the symantec utility to remove the remaining pieces.
Replaced Norton with CA Suite. One person thought the Norton proxy may not be
able to be removed.
My ISP is RoadRunner high speed over cable. Have checked all setting w/RR.
Inbound, outbound servers work. RR does not cross over servers nor do they
block any ports. I am able to send anything through their webmail with no
problem.
Error:
Your server has unexpectedly terminated the connection. Possible causes for
this include server problems, network problems, or a long period of
inactivity. Subject 'Re: Email issues?', Account: 'pop-server.stny.rr.com',
Server: 'smtp-server.stny.rr.com', Protocol: SMTP, Port: 25, Secure(SSL): No,
Error Number: 0x800CCC0F

If no security fix is known, any others ideas where to look for solution?
Do I need to do a system restore from my disks?

 

[Bob F.]

Just a thought. Sometimes it's hard for your eye to pick up an error, and
here it's crucial that all the entries are perfect. If you have in fact
"checked everything", then delete the account, find the rr help setup page,
and remake a new rr account.

 

[SStone]

Bob, thanks for your suggestion. That was one of the first things I did on
Friday to be sure something wasn't messed in RR setup.
Then I deleted and set-up my account three times last night on my machine to
be absolutely certain. Next, I set myself up (using same rr account info) on
my husband's XP machine. The set-up works fine on his machine.

If that's not what you were suggesting, please let me know. I'm looking for
all possibilities. Thanks!

By the way, this problem happens with both Windows Mail and Live Mail. The
forum team suggested getting a new email program, and since it's happening
with 2 email programs, I suspect security conflict.

 

[Dave]

If you have a modem and a router, trying turning them off for a minute, then
back on.
To do it "by the book", you turn off your PC, router and modem, then turn
them back on in the reverse order.

I've had a problem with the RR DNS servers lately, but I don't think that's
your problem... you can access sites on the internet ok, can't you?

 

[SStone]

Know what you mean about the RR servers. When this started happening
sporadically 3 weeks ago, that's what I suspected.

I was excited to try resetting the modem and router. Sadly, no change. Oh
well. But thank you for the idea!

 

[SStone]

Forgot to answer the question. I'm having no problem on the internet or with
receiving mail. It's only this "time out" problem with replies, forward and
attachments. Some conflict is causing it to hang.

 

[FromTheRafters]

Have you tried disabling e-mail virus scanning?
....or setting a longer timeout?

 

[SStone]

Yes, that's the weird thing. Most people find this problem gets fixed when
they disable antivirus email scanning. Someone wondered if a piece of Norton
was stuck... I believed they said that some email program proxies stay in the
machine even after you delete the software and run the clean-up utility.

I also made sure that Windows Mail is an allowed program in the firewall.

 

[SStone]

Increased time out to 2.5 minutes. Still same error.

 

[SStone]

It turned out that Webroot Spysweeper has a realtime email shield to protect
fron "attachments" that I found by accident. When it was unchecked, email
worked again.

 

[FromTheRafters]

As long as the e-mail program doesn't point to the proxy,
the existence of the proxy doesn't matter. You need to
trace the path from the e-mail program's output to the
port for the SMTP server just to make sure there is no
onboard software proxy.

Don't ask me how - I'm trying to familiarize myself with
Vista as it is. Some things are easy to find, and some
seem navigationally counterintuitive even after you stumble
across their location. Even "search" and "help" seem very
awkward.