Email problem related to specific emails

[thor]

Just hitting an odd problem re: downloading messages via pop. Here's what's happening. I use Pegasus as mail client (have for years, with no problem). Over the last few days, it will download a few messages, then it will hit some specific messages and give me a tcp type error.

The specific messages are spam/virus containing, and all are about 93 KB. When I go in and remove them manually, then all goes well, so clearly the problem has something to do with these specific emails.

Questions: Anyone know what would be causing this problem related to these specific files, all about the same size?

Anyone else experiencing a problem with files of this size?

It's a nuisance to have to delete them manually, so I can download my "real" email.

[sheila]

It sounds to me like a problem with Pegasus.

If you are able to, I would suggest capturing the full raw email and forwarding it on with a bug report to David Harris, the developer. In my experience he has always been receptive to and appreciative of well documented bug reports and will work to resolve the issue.

[kitchin]

I sometimes get email that none of my email clients, including a low-level Perl script, can download. The connection with POP hangs. I am on Windows, normally using Eudora. I can read the headers and delete the message, using a script or Questmail, though.

[sheila]

Kitchin, are you running an antivirus utility that might intercept the transfer?

I routinely retrieve email from a POP account on FutureQuest that is used for moderating a newsgroup. It receives ALL manner of spam and virus email. I retrieve it with a Python script.

I've never, in over 6 months of doing it this way, been unable to retrieve a single email from that POP email account.

[thor]

Thanks. I haven't tried another mail client to see if it replicates the problem, but Kitchin's situation sounds similar. It's just been happening the last two nights, where I've been getting multiples of this spam/virused messages (my guess is it's a virus carrier), so I'm not going to try to capture it)

[kitchin]

Hi Sheila, It could be something like that. I keep examples in a separate POP mailbox. I ran out of time & interest to investigate further. So what I do is use the CNC to filter based on certain characteristics and put the bad email in a separate POP mailbox. Looks to be all coming from one sender, or type of spam program, and there's not too much of it.

Thor, my problem emails are only about 5K.