Setting email timeouts for Outlook

  • Thread starter Thread starter Fred Marshall
  • Start date Start date
F

Fred Marshall

I'm having a real problem on one computer Win XP Pro / Outlook 2003 in
sending and receiving email. It looks like an occasional timeout problem
caused by someting external to this computer.

I've set all the timeouts on this computer that appear to relate to
receiving and sending email. I wonder if I've missed one or two.

Which timeouts can be set that might affect slow email receiving in
particular?
Ditto for sending (which is less likely to fail here).

Thanks,

Fred
 
Most likely this is caused by your virusscanner which is scanning incoming
and outgoing e-mail before it actually let Outlook receive/send the message.

--
Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
www.howto-outlook.com

Tips of the month:
-Navigation Pane Tips & Tricks
-Create an Office 2003 CD slipstreamed with Service Pack 1
 
OK. Thanks for the reply.

Well, let's say that it *is* the virus scanner. That would be a pretty lame
situation wouldn't it? i.e. not very likely if such animals are to live
peacefully together in a world driven by keeping customers happy / making
money. I'm not being facetious here.

If it *is* the virus scanner then what timeouts in Outlook or elsewhere can
be set so that it's not an issue?

Thanks,

Fred

Roady said:
Most likely this is caused by your virusscanner which is scanning incoming
and outgoing e-mail before it actually let Outlook receive/send the message.

--
Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
www.howto-outlook.com

Tips of the month:
-Navigation Pane Tips & Tricks
-Create an Office 2003 CD slipstreamed with Service Pack 1

-----
Fred Marshall said:
I'm having a real problem on one computer Win XP Pro / Outlook 2003 in
sending and receiving email. It looks like an occasional timeout problem
caused by someting external to this computer.

I've set all the timeouts on this computer that appear to relate to
receiving and sending email. I wonder if I've missed one or two.

Which timeouts can be set that might affect slow email receiving in
particular?
Ditto for sending (which is less likely to fail here).

Thanks,

Fred
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Yes, this happens more often. That is why some virusscanners now work as a
"mail proxy". Outlook then delivers it to the virusscan proxy and it will be
shown as send. In fact the virusscanner is still scaning and uploading it to
the mailserver of your ISP.

I've disabled my integrated virusscanner as the on-access scanner will jump
in the second I open a virus (and note that Outlook doesn't allow automatic
execution of attachments)

--
Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
www.howto-outlook.com

Tips of the month:
-Navigation Pane Tips & Tricks
-Create an Office 2003 CD slipstreamed with Service Pack 1

-----
Fred Marshall said:
OK. Thanks for the reply.

Well, let's say that it *is* the virus scanner. That would be a pretty
lame
situation wouldn't it? i.e. not very likely if such animals are to live
peacefully together in a world driven by keeping customers happy / making
money. I'm not being facetious here.

If it *is* the virus scanner then what timeouts in Outlook or elsewhere
can
be set so that it's not an issue?

Thanks,

Fred

in
message news:%[email protected]...
Most likely this is caused by your virusscanner which is scanning
incoming
and outgoing e-mail before it actually let Outlook receive/send the message.

--
Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
www.howto-outlook.com

Tips of the month:
-Navigation Pane Tips & Tricks
-Create an Office 2003 CD slipstreamed with Service Pack 1

-----
Fred Marshall said:
I'm having a real problem on one computer Win XP Pro / Outlook 2003 in
sending and receiving email. It looks like an occasional timeout problem
caused by someting external to this computer.

I've set all the timeouts on this computer that appear to relate to
receiving and sending email. I wonder if I've missed one or two.

Which timeouts can be set that might affect slow email receiving in
particular?
Ditto for sending (which is less likely to fail here).

Thanks,

Fred
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Roady,

OK - I was beginning to wonder if that didn't have something to do with it
but you're the first person to ever suggest the connection in response to my
posts. Thank you!

Could you please help me understand your terminology:

First, note well that *Receiving* is the slowest process and most likely
process to fail.

What do you mean by "on-access scanner"? Can you give me an example of one?

What do you mean by "integrated virusscanner"? Can you give me an example
of one?

In the situation that fails there are also computers that don't fail in
email:

Win 2000 Pro with various versions of Outlook *do not fail* on this network.

Win XP Pro with Outlook 2003 is the *one* system that's problematic.
- This one (as the others) runs Norton Antivirus with email scanning.
- The connection goes to a Cisco router as gateway
- which routes to a WinProxy firewall (with its own antivirus processes
running),
- goes to a Linksys router with NAT and
- out to an ISP providing mail service.

I'm having great trouble finding a change or cure so this one system will
work properly. I've considered converting the user to Outlook Express for
email - although that would not match the organization's model.

I'd like to understand better what change you made.

Thanks,

Fred


Roady said:
Yes, this happens more often. That is why some virusscanners now work as a
"mail proxy". Outlook then delivers it to the virusscan proxy and it will
be shown as send. In fact the virusscanner is still scaning and uploading
it to the mailserver of your ISP.

I've disabled my integrated virusscanner as the on-access scanner will
jump in the second I open a virus (and note that Outlook doesn't allow
automatic execution of attachments)

--
Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
www.howto-outlook.com

Tips of the month:
-Navigation Pane Tips & Tricks
-Create an Office 2003 CD slipstreamed with Service Pack 1

-----
Fred Marshall said:
OK. Thanks for the reply.

Well, let's say that it *is* the virus scanner. That would be a pretty
lame
situation wouldn't it? i.e. not very likely if such animals are to live
peacefully together in a world driven by keeping customers happy / making
money. I'm not being facetious here.

If it *is* the virus scanner then what timeouts in Outlook or elsewhere
can
be set so that it's not an issue?

Thanks,

Fred

in
message news:%[email protected]...
Most likely this is caused by your virusscanner which is scanning
incoming
and outgoing e-mail before it actually let Outlook receive/send the message.

--
Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
www.howto-outlook.com

Tips of the month:
-Navigation Pane Tips & Tricks
-Create an Office 2003 CD slipstreamed with Service Pack 1

-----
I'm having a real problem on one computer Win XP Pro / Outlook 2003 in
sending and receiving email. It looks like an occasional timeout problem
caused by someting external to this computer.

I've set all the timeouts on this computer that appear to relate to
receiving and sending email. I wonder if I've missed one or two.

Which timeouts can be set that might affect slow email receiving in
particular?
Ditto for sending (which is less likely to fail here).

Thanks,

Fred
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Fred Marshall said:
Could you please help me understand your terminology:

First, note well that *Receiving* is the slowest process and most
likely process to fail.

What do you mean by "on-access scanner"? Can you give me an example
of one?
Click to expand...

The VirusShield of McAfee's A/V is one example. It usually sits in your
System Tray (by the clock). It runs all the time as a Windows Service
monitoring all access to files. If you were to access a file containing a
virus, it would complain and possibly attempt to repair the file. Otherwise
it would quarantine it ot delete it, depending on the options chosen when it
was configured.
What do you mean by "integrated virusscanner"? Can you give me an
example of one?
Click to expand...

In addition to the on-demand scanner (the one you get when you explicitly
start the A/V program from the Start>Programs menu) and the on-access
scanner, many A/V programs also have a scanner that integrates (i.e., is a
plug-in to) the email program. It inserts itself between your mail client
and the mail server so that it monitors messages as they arrive or depart,
scanning each for viruses. It sometimes presents itself via an icon in the
tool bar of the mail client.
Win XP Pro with Outlook 2003 is the *one* system that's problematic.
- This one (as the others) runs Norton Antivirus with email scanning.
Click to expand...

This is an example of an integrated scanner.
- The connection goes to a Cisco router as gateway
- which routes to a WinProxy firewall (with its own antivirus
processes running),
Click to expand...

This makes email scanning on the client very redundant.
 
OK - thanks, that's helpful and understandable too!

I ran a test with Norton Antivirus running and not running. It made no
difference in the receiving delay. The problem appears to be with the mail
server login process. All servers (except one) respond in around 1 scond.
The slow one takes 8-12 seconds to respond. Doesn't matter which client,
which antivirus, etc.

With a delay disparity this great, I'm pushing on the mail server / ISP.

As I think about it, the redundancy in email scanning only happens after a
receive session has started. The problem here is in getting the login
response in a reasonable time - so that a session starts. So, I was
wondering if there isn't a timeout in Outlook or ... wherever .... that I
might be able to lengthen. I've already done that with the obvious ones
that are accessible.

Running an email log was suggested and I did that. I see a huge number of
entries that are clearly related to the offending mail server but I don't
understand what the entries represent. Well .... except that it appears
there are "too many" of them in comparison to interactions with other
servers. I posted a segment of the log separately here.

Fred
 
Fred Marshall said:
As I think about it, the redundancy in email scanning only happens
after a receive session has started. The problem here is in getting
the login response in a reasonable time - so that a session starts.
Click to expand...

You can test the login time like this:

Open a command line prompt. The enter:

telnet yourmailserver 110
user yourusername
pass yourpassword
list
quit

This mimics, on a very rudimentary level, what your mail client does to
receive mail. After each of the command above, you should get a response
from the email server. The LIST command should show you how many messages
you have waiting to download. You can see how long the server takes to log
you in and respond to the command.
 
Brian,

OK - thanks, that's helpful.

It seems the response to the password is where the time is being spent. All
the other commands get pretty much instant responses. The password takes up
the long time we've been seeing.

Fred
 
It seems the response to the password is where the time is being
spent. All the other commands get pretty much instant responses.
The password takes up the long time we've been seeing.
Click to expand...

Now you have proof that you can present to the ISP that the problem is on
their end.
 
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