General

How does Avast One help protect my emails?

The Avast Antivirus compenent of Avast One has two features that help protect your Windows device from malicious emails. They are Email Guard, which scans your online email accounts, and Mail Shield, which scans emails received through local email client apps.

What is Email Guard?

Email Guard is a is a paid feature, included in the Avast Premium Security component of Avast One. Email Guard scans incoming messages in your online email accounts and adds labels to help identify potential threats. These labels are added directly to your email account, helping you stay informed when checking messages from any device or browser.

What is Mail Shield?

Mail Shield is a free feature, available in both the Avast Free Antivirus and Avast Premium Security components of Avast One. Mail Shield scans emails sent or received using all email client applications installed on your Windows device, such as Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird. The feature can mark suspicious emails and help block dangerous attachments.

How many email accounts can I protect with Email Guard and Mail Shield?

Email Guard: Email Guard can help protect up to 5 online email accounts.

Mail Shield: Mail Shield can scan all emails sent or received through email accounts linked to email client applications, such as Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird.

Do I need an Avast Account to protect my Emails?

Email Guard: Yes. To protect your online email accounts, Email Guard requires an Avast Account. Your protected email accounts are linked to your Avast Account, providing continued protection even if you uninstall Avast One. If you reinstall Avast One, your protected emails are automatically added to Email Guard when you log in to your Avast Account through the application.

Mail Shield: No. Avast Account is not required to protect email accounts linked to email client applications.

What is AI-powered scam detection?

AI-powered scam detection is a component of Email Guard that uses Avast Assistant, an AI-based tool, to analyze emails and embedded links for signs of scams. This feature helps identify messages that may lead to financial loss, identity theft, or other cyber threats, providing an added layer of protection within your inbox.

Which email accounts are compatible with Email Guard and Mail Shield?

Email Guard and Mail Shield are compatible with the following online email providers:

• 1&1
• A1
• A2
• Active 24
• Active 25
• Alice
• Ameritech
• AOL
• Apple iCloud
• Arcor
• Aruba PEC
• Att
• Bell Canada
• Bellsouth
• Bigpond
• Bluewin Mail
• Blueyonder
• BOL
• BT
• Centerly link
• Charter communications
• Clustermail
• Comcast
• Cox
• Email
• Free Telecom
• Freemail
• Freenet
• Gandi Mail
• Gmail
• GMX Freemail
• Internode
• Jazztel
• Laposte
• Libero Mail
• Live
• Mail
• Microsoft
• Mopera
• NTL World
• Office 365
• Orange.fr
• Outlook (Hotmail, MSN, etc.)
• Posteo
• Promail
• Proximus
• Sapo Mail
• Sbcglobal
• Seznam
• SFR Neuf
• Sky
• Snet
• Sympatico
• Talk21
• Telnet
• Telnor Denmark
• Telstra
• T-Online
• UOL Mail
• Virgin
• Virginmedia
• Web
• Windowslive
• Yahoo
• Yandex Mail
• Zeeland Net
• Ziggo Mail
• Zoho Mail

Do Email Guard and Mail Shield detect malicious emails in my whole inbox?

Email Guard: Email Guard scans emails as you receive them. The feature does not scan emails that are already in your email account before you enable Email Guard.

Mail Shield: Mail Shield scans incoming emails in your email client applications. It does not scan emails that were already in your account before you enabled Mail Shield. However, if your email client application is configured to download your entire inbox, Mail Shield may scan even old emails.

Usage

How do I set up Email Guard and Mail Shield?

For information about how to set up Email Guard and Mail Shield with your email account, refer to the following article:

• New Avast One Email Guard - Getting Started

How do Email Guard and Mail Shield mark suspicious emails?

Email Guard: Email Guard automatically labels received emails as either Avast: Safe, or Avast: Suspicious for potentially malicious or phishing emails. The labels are added directly to your online email account. Suspicious emails are automatically moved to your email account's 'Avast: Suspicious' folder. When AI-powered scam detection is enabled in Avast One, a third label, Avast: Scam, may be applied to messages identified by Avast One Assistant as likely scams.

Mail Shield: Mail Shield also displays a pop-up notification if a suspicious email is detected being sent or received through your mail application and marks the subject of the email with *** VIRUS *** (the default option).

How can I manage Mail Shield settings?

For information about how to manage Mail Shield settings, refer to the following article:

• New Avast One Email Guard - Getting Started

Troubleshooting

Why do I see the error message 'Your account is not enabled for IMAP use'?

For the online version of Email Guard to function correctly with some email providers, enabling IMAP in your email account settings is necessary. For detailed instructions on how to do this, refer to the following article:

• New Avast One Email Guard - Getting Started

What does the error message 'Application-specific password required' mean?

This message appears when you have enabled two-factor authentication (2FA) and try to enter your email account password to set up the online version of Email Guard. In this situation, you must generate a special password in your email provider settings so that Email Guard can connect to your email account. For detailed instructions on how to set up Email Guard when you have 2FA enabled, refer to the following article:

• New Avast One Email Guard - Getting Started

Why do I see the error message 'Sorry, we can't connect to that account yet'?

This message appears if you are trying to connect with an email account that is not yet supported by the online version of Email Guard. We are continuously working on adding compatible email providers, so please try again later.

Why did I receive the email 'Email Guard paused for this mailbox' or 'We’ve lost access to this online mailbox'?

These emails are sent out if the online version of Email Guard has lost access to your email account for any reason, such as a changed email account password. To enable protection again, follow these steps:

1. Open Avast One and go to Scam Guardian ▸ Email Guard.
2. Click Give access next to the relevant email account to set up protection again.
3. Alternatively, hover your cursor over the relevant email account and click the X icon to remove your email account. Then, add your email account again.

How can I remove Email Guard from my email if I don't have Avast One installed?

Because the online version of Email Guard is linked to your Avast Account, it will continue to protect your online email accounts even if you uninstall Avast One. If you wish to disable Email Guard, you must reinstall Avast One. For detailed instructions to remove Email Guard from your email, refer to the following article:

• New Avast One Email Guard - Getting Started

Alternatively, contact Avast Support for assistance.

Why did Email Guard report a spam email as 'safe'?

Email Guard is specifically designed to identify and prevent phishing, scams, and malicious content like harmful links and attachments in emails. However, it is not intended to detect generic spam messages, such as unwanted newsletters. To report undetected spam messages, follow the instructions in this article:

• Reporting a spam or scam email to Avast

Why did I lose connection with my cox.net email address?

Cox.net email addresses are currently being transitioned to the email provider Yahoo.com. When an email address is transitioned, it loses connection to Email Guard. If your cox.net email address has lost connection to Email Guard, refer to the steps in the following article to reconnect it:

• New Avast One Email Guard - Getting Started

Why did I lose access to my Gmail account?

Google has changed its policies for applications listed under the email reporting and monitoring categories. To protect your account, you must renew Gmail access every six months. When your Gmail access expires, you receive an email to the email address that was protected, as well as an alert in the Email Guard section of your Avast Antivirus application. Follow the provided instructions to renew your Gmail access.