On closing Outlook all unset messages (in the Outbox) are automatically sent. However, occasionally when opening Outlook, Norton Antivirus appears advising that an email is being scanned and sent. A subsequent check of the Sent Items folder does not show any mail as being sent. Obviously this is not a message that was left over from the previous session, so it makes me wonder what message is being sent. How can I see what message is being sent, and how can I stop this happening? The computer is running Windows XP and connects to the internet through a dial-up connection. The computer is regularly scanned for viruses and malware with Norton Antivirus and Pest Patrol.

I know of other users who have experienced this exact problem with their installation of Outlook and Norton Antivirus. There are two possible explanations for this behaviour: an email is being sent which you are not aware of; or no email is being sent but instead this is just an anomaly between Outlook and Norton Antivirus causing Norton to think an email is being sent, and thus causing the scanning window to appear. To narrow down this problem to a particular explanation, there are a few procedures we can try. First, you need to stop Outlook from immediately sending messages upon startup, so we can have a chance to check the Outbox to see whether there is a message being sent. To do this, do not connect the computer to the internet until you have already started Outlook. This is easier in your situation, since you have dial-up internet (so just don’t establish the dial-up connection until you have already opened Outlook). An alternative to this procedure, should you wish to remain connected to the internet, is disabling the option in Outlook which automatically sends email when connected. To modify this setting, in Outlook go to the ‘Tools’ menu > ‘Options’. In the window that appears, click the ‘Mail Setup’ tab. Under the ‘Send/Receive’ button untick the option ‘Send immediately when connected’. Click OK. Now you should be able to connect to the internet beforehand and then start Outlook. In either case, this should now provide an opportunity to look in the Outbox to see whether any emails are queued to be sent.

Most likely, even after disabling Outlook from automatically sending messages upon startup you will not notice any messages in the Outbox ready to be sent. I am inclined to think this problem is an anomaly or conflict between Outlook and Norton Antivirus, especially now that the same problem has occurred on more than one computer. Interestingly, I have seen similar behaviour with other antivirus products in different situations, whereby a message appears in the antivirus software saying an outbound email is being scanned for viruses, despite no email being sent (or even any email software being installed and configured on the computer). To make doubly sure that no nasty malware or viruses have been loaded onto your computer, which could be causing this behaviour, it would be worthwhile running a spyware and virus check on the computer. Update Norton Antivirus with the latest virus definition files, and then complete a full system scan. Next, you should download and install Ad-Aware SE Personal (www.lavasoft.de), Spybot Search & Destroy (www.safer-networking.org), and Windows Defender (www.microsoft.com/downloads). Then, scan your computer with these utilities to make sure no nasty threats are present on the computer.