Hello all, I just downloaded and started setting up my copy of AW2000 and am very excited about the program. As I was setting up my email and testing I thought about something I hope someone can answer. I've learned recently that many eBayers are getting virus emails, some on a daily basis and I also am getting them. Fortunately I have PCCillin and it is now catching them in Outlook Express. So my question is, and it may be dumb but is there a chance that the email program will not be scanned by my anti virus software? Hope some will help.

cjb,

With Aw2k you have little to worry about email viruses. The email system is purely text-based so no HTML etc.
Of course you can still get attachments containing viruses but that will always be the case with whatever email program you use and should be monitored with a good anti-virus program. As Aw2k writes attachments directly to the hard disk they will also be catched with your anti-virus program. The BIG advantage of the email system within Aw2k is as I already mentioned that it is purely text-based, no harmfull Java, VBS or whatever can be executed from within Aw2k. No fancy things either but personally I don't care about that.
As a tip you could look into the many available email-alert programs. A very good one, and highly confgurable, is a little program called PopTray. I found this a few months ago and now is my best companion. It just picks up the headers from your email on the server and gives a message when new mail has arrived. Looking at the header should already tell if the email could be potentially dangerous. I got many virus emails and with Outlook (Express) it was a pain to get rid of those. With this PopTray program I delete any email I don't recognize or don't trust from my email server rightaway. Since I use it I haven't had to download any email with a possible virus and my anti-virus scanner has a restful time now :-)

Thank you for the reply. I have since realized that the email was text based and have been trying it out. I keep my anti virus program on at all times now since the problems with other eBayers have popped up. You are very right about the mail headers and being able to recognize the potential danger. This is where I learned originally that you cannot trust email anymore, even from friends due to the Klez and I'm sure others. Twice wiped out then got myself more informed. It's too bad that some of us must learn the hard way. Thanks again.