Netscape, Mozilla, or Outlook Express Inbox is quarantined when infected email is detected

Question/Issue:
Symantec AntiVirus detects an infected email, and the options are set to quarantine infected files. Symantec AntiVirus put your Netscape, Mozilla, or Outlook Express 5.0 Inbox into Quarantine

Solution:
Netscape, Mozilla, and Outlook Express store email in a single file. When you receive an infected email message, Symantec AntiVirus performs different actions, depending on the version of Symantec AntiVirus and the scan settings. Read the section for your product version for information and directions.

Symantec AntiVirus 10.1.4 and later
If the scan Actions are set to Clean/Quarantine, Symantec AntiVirus takes the following actions on mailboxes with the Mbox format:

For each repairable risk, Symantec AntiVirus backs up the inbox and repairs the risk in the inbox. The inbox file remains available.
For each unrepairable risk, Symantec AntiVirus quarantines the inbox and deletes the risk from in the inbox. The inbox file remains available.

If the scan Actions are set to Clean/Delete, Symantec AntiVirus takes the following actions on mailboxes with the Mbox format :

For each repairable risk, Symantec AntiVirus backs up the inbox and repairs the risk in the inbox. The inbox file remains available.
For each unrepairable risk, Symantec AntiVirus backs up the inbox and deletes the risk from in the inbox. The inbox file remains available.

After Symantec AntiVirus repairs an infected message in Mozilla Thunderbird, duplicate copies of subsequent messages appear. To fix the problem, delete the file.
For details, read Messages in Thunderbird inbox are duplicated after Symantec AntiVirus detects an infected email message.

Note: Symantec AntiVirus saves a copy of the entire inbox for each risk that it detects. These copies can take up a large amount of disk space.

Restoring an inbox that Symantec AntiVirus 10.1.4 or later quarantined
When Symantec AntiVirus 10.1.4 quarantines or backs up an inbox, the name of the infected file appears in Quarantine or in Backup Items. The entire inbox is restored when you restore this file. You may have to type a new file name if the name of the file in Quarantine contains invalid characters such as '>'.

About mailboxes that do not use the Mbox format
Symantec AntiVirus 10.1.4 and later behaves in the same manner as Symantec AntiVirus 10.1.x and earlier when it scans a mailbox that does not use the Mbox format. Read the "Symantec AntiVirus 10.1.x and earlier" section of this document for details.

Symantec AntiVirus 10.1.x and earlier
If the scan Actions are set to Clean/Quarantine, Symantec AntiVirus takes the following actions:

For a repairable risk, Symantec AntiVirus backs up the inbox and repairs the risk in the inbox. The inbox file remains available.
For an unrepairable risk, Symantec AntiVirus quarantines the inbox. The inbox file is removed from the computer and is no longer available. You must restore the inbox from quarantine and then delete the infected message.

If the scan Actions are set to Clean/Delete, Symantec AntiVirus takes the following actions:

For a repairable risk, Symantec AntiVirus backs up the inbox and repairs the risk in the inbox. The inbox file remains available.
For an unrepairable risk, Symantec AntiVirus backs up the inbox and deletes the risk from the computer. The inbox file is no longer available. You must restore the inbox from the Backup Items section of the quarantine.

Note: Symantec AntiVirus saves a copy of the entire inbox for each risk that it detects. These copies can take up a large amount of disk space.

You may want to exclude the inbox file from Symantec AntiVirus scans to work around the problem.

Exclude the Inbox file
When you exclude the Inbox file, Symantec AntiVirus can still detect infected files when you open email messages.
For directions, read Excluding specific drives and folders from Symantec AntiVirus scans.

Notes:
The Outlook Express 5.0 inbox file is named Inbox.dbx.
The Netscape, Mozilla, and Thunderbird inbox files are named Inbox.

Send and receive Netscape email again without restoring old messages
Recent versions of Netscape use two files for each mailbox. The Inbox file is the one that is quarantined and contains the actual messages; the file name does not have an extension. The Inbox.snm file contains the header information that links to the messages in the Inbox file. If you do not want to recover the messages in the quarantined Inbox file, then you should rename the Inbox.snm file. This action is useful if you only want to send and receive email again. If you already have email in the newly created Inbox, then first move these messages to a different folder. Refer to the Netscape or Mozilla documentation for directions. Do not follow the directions in the rest of this document.

Restore a quarantined Inbox to recover old email messages
When an Inbox is placed into Quarantine, Netscape, Mozilla, or Outlook Express creates a new Inbox. If you have email in this newly created Inbox, first move these messages to a different folder, and then rename the Inbox file. Refer to the Netscape, Mozilla, or Outlook Express documentation for directions.

To restore the old inbox file

Start Symantec AntiVirus.
On the View menu, click Quarantine or Backup Items.
In the right pane, right-click the inbox file, and then click Restore.

Available Translations:

Document ID: 2000051809560948
Last Modified: 11/28/2006
Date Created: 05/18/2000
Operating System(s): Windows 2000, Windows XP Home, Windows XP Professional Edition, Windows XP Tablet PC, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT 4.0 SP6a, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server
Product(s): Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition 10.0, Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition 8.0, Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition 9.0, Symantec Client Security 3.0, Symantec AntiVirus 10.1, Symantec Client Security 3.1
Release(s): SAV 10.0 [All Releases], SAV 8.0 [All Releases], SAV 9.0 [All Releases], Symantec Client Security 3.x [All versions], Symantec AntiVirus 10.1, Symantec Client Security 3.1