Anti-Spam in Outlook no longer works

[joycecIL]

This post is related to the error message I get in Outlook: "This action can not be performed in the current Outlook folder."

When I initially installed the Total Protection Suite I immediately saw improvements in the number of SPAM emails that were blocked in Outlook. I used the McAfee Mark As Spam Outlook icon for any remaining SPAM in my inbox or any other subfolder.
About 10 days ago, while talking to a McAfee customer support rep, questioning some items I saw on My Account and seeking clarification on Total Protection components (no technical problems at the time), the rep instructed me to uninstall and reinstall McAfee as oppose to just answering my question(s) (they assumed I didn't complete this task correctly the first time; I still don't think the reinstall was necessary but went against my better judgement and complied with the rep's request.) Since then the Mark as Spam icon is displayed differently (no big deal, small icon vs. larger icon with text) and no longer works. Now when I click on the Mark as Spam icon I always get the message "This action can not be performed in the current Outlook folder." In the past I have used Outlook rules to try to manage SPAM but I no longer have any rules so there's no conflict. I have also turned off filters in my 3rd party internet email that gets pulled into Outlook. Again, it was working great from July until about 10 days ago.
Each time I've tried disabling something that might be conflicting with McAfee's Anti-Spam (all of which have worked together all along), I've uninstall and reinstall McAfee. I've done the uninstall/reinstall several times now but with no resolution.
Unfortunately I can no longer confirm what version/build of Anti-Spam I installed in July vs. now (Version 10.0, Build 10.0.185). What is the difference between these version (presumably the same but obviously they aren't).
When I research this problem on the internet, it appears others have the same problem but no one has found a resolution. Can't McAfee just tell us what triggers this error message? If they focused on recent changes to the Anti-Spam product, we could isolate the issue on their end vs. always assuming the error is on the user end.

[aussiegtc]

As you can see from the other thread, we're all waiting for McAfee to come back with something to help! My fault happened when the "auto-update" moved me to Anti-Spam 10.0 - let's hope they have a fix in the works as I can't work out how to downgrade!

[joycecIL]

Based on recent online chats with McAfee, I don't believe they consider this a problem and therefore will not be supplying a "fix". They consider the change of version 9 to verson 10 to be something they had to do. I guess some people were having problems with Outlook rules conflicting/impacting the McAfee SPAM filtering. McAfee has decided to have the Mark As Spam function to only work for POP email accounts.
I use an IMAP email account and will not be changing to POP for various reasons. There are 3 things I'm doing with to deal with this issue. First, within the Security Center, Email and IM configuration, Spam Protection Advanced option, Webmail Accounts, I've set up my IMAP email account so that the Anti-Spam will filter out SPAM before it is read into Outlook. Also, within this Webmail Account, Checking Options I've selected/checked the "Check on startup" as well as set the "Check every ? minutes" to be a number of minutes less than the number of minutes when Outlook checks for new mail (Outlook Options for Mail Setup, Send/Receive, to schedule an automatic send/receive every ? minutes). I was concerned that Outlook may pull in some emails that were received between the last and next McAfee Anti-Spam scan.
Lastly, when a few individual emails get into Outlook that are SPAM, I drag those emails into the typically empty Inbox within the Personal Folders/Outlook Today section which is the POP email account Inbox that I don't use. The McAfee Mark as Spam function does work on this Inbox folder.
Again, McAfee dealt with issues related to their product conflicting with Outlook's Rules and Alerts function and either don't care about those of us that use IMAP mail accounts or haven't or can't provide a workaround or option for those of us that choose to use IMAP mail accounts.

[exbrit]

Try these fixes....

First verify that the toolbar is turned on in SpamKiller/Anti-Spam:

1. Open SecurityCenter.
2. Click E-mail & IM.
3. Click Configure in the right pane.
4. In the Spam protection is enabled pane, click Advanced.
5. Click E-mail Toolbars in the left pane.
6. Verify a checkmark is present in the box beside the email client in which you want the toolbar to display.

If the toolbar is already checked in SpamKiller/Anti-Spam and the toolbar is not visible, see the appropriate solution below to re-register the specific plug-in DLL for your email client.

1. 
   
2. Close Outlook.
   
3. Click Start, Run, type CMD, and click OK.
   
   Note: For Windows Vista users, you must open a command prompt with administrator privileges. Click Start, Find, type CMD, right-click Command Prompt and select Run as Administrator.
   
   
4. Type CD %ProgramFiles%\McAfee\MSK (For Windows Vista 64-bit, use CD %programfiles(x86)%\McAfee\MSK) and press ENTER.
   
5. Type REGSVR32 MSKOLPLG.DLL and press ENTER.
   
6. Open Outlook.

The SpamKiller/Anti-Spam toolbar should now be now visible.


If not then go to Control Panel/Add or Remove Programs (Programs/Uninstall a Program in Vista)
Locate the McAfee Security Center item and select it for Uninstall.
When presented with the menu select only Spamkiller/Anti-Spam for removal.

Uninstall Anti-Spam, shut down Outlook and then reinstall from your online account using the Customize option that will be presented early on in the process.

[joycecIL]

Your post does not apply in my case because I have the current version of Anti-Spam and the toolbars are visible and working IF you use POP email acccounts, which I don't use.
Perhaps you didn't understand my post. Anti-Spam worked fine in verison 9. I saw an immediate improvement in the high % of SPAM removed from my IMAP email account Inbox in Outlook. This is why I'm upset with the Version 10 Anti-Spam product. I have version 10 icons/toolbar but you receive an error message if you're using IMAP mail accounts and attempt to flag an email as SPAM that's in your IMAP Inbox (where all you emails appear). You can only mark emails in POP Inbox as SPAM (empty Inbox since I don't want to use a POP mail account).
My McAfee product is installed, current and working but initally appears useless unless you take the following steps:
Within the Security Center, Email and IM configuration, Spam Protection Advanced option, Webmail Accounts, I've set up my IMAP email account so that the Anti-Spam will filter out SPAM before it is read into Outlook. Also, within this Webmail Account, Checking Options I've selected/checked the "Check on startup" as well as set the "Check every ? minutes" to be a number of minutes less than the number of minutes when Outlook checks for new mail. I was concerned that Outlook may pull in some emails that were received between the last and next McAfee Anti-Spam scan.
Lastly, when a few individual emails get into Outlook that are SPAM, I drag those emails into the typically empty Inbox within the Personal Folders/Outlook Today section which is the POP email account Inbox that I don't use. The McAfee Mark as Spam function does work on this Inbox folder.

[exbrit]

I think your best bet is to contact technical support. As far as I know IMAP isn't supported anyway, you probably mean MAPI.

Just lately we have had virtually no forum backup from the technicians so that would be your best bet in this case. At least they can escalate a case.

[joycecIL]

I've had all the Live Chats I care to have with McAfee on this issue! I spared you all the frustrating details. Once I finally worked with a Tier-2 technician via Live Chat, they eventually admitted version 10 only works with POP email accounts. Since I only use IMAP accounts in Outlook and version 9 worked Great, I immediately noticed the change from Version 9 to Version 10. Again, the version change was due to the McAfee product conflicting with Outlook's Rules for filtering emails. I no longer use Rules in Outlook so that conflict wasn't a concern to me. I realize many people use Outlook Rules but they may not need them if they use McAfee's latest product with POP email account or webmail.
Sometimes I feel like I understand the environment (Anti-Spam functionality and Outlook) more than the Live Chat person. They seem to have canned responses/scripts that they must follow which may or may not eventually answer your original question. I prefer to have a technician gather the facts of the situation, focus on my question and propose a resolution to my problem based on the scenario vs. assuming I've done something wrong and simply suggesting reinstalling their product, else purchasing premium-paid tech support, that I don't need since I don't have a serious technical issue, simply fustrated in the current product being less effective than their previous version.
Thanks anyway.

[exbrit]

I quite understand. I'll see if I can flag the issue here, someone hopefully with more insight may offer something helpful.

[joycecIL]

Actually, I believe this is the only solution with this version of the product:

Within the Security Center, Email and IM configuration, Spam Protection Advanced option, Webmail Accounts, I've added my IMAP internet email account so that the Anti-Spam will filter out SPAM before it is read into Outlook.
Within this Webmail Account, Checking Options I've selected/checked the "Check on startup" as well as set the "Check every ? minutes" to be a number of minutes less than the number of minutes when Outlook checks for new mail. I was concerned that Outlook may pull in some emails that were received between the last and next McAfee Anti-Spam scan.
Lastly, when a few individual emails get into Outlook that are SPAM, I drag those emails into the typically empty Inbox within the Personal Folders/Outlook Today section which is the POP email account Inbox that I don't use. The McAfee Mark as Spam function does work on this Inbox folder.

[exbrit]

I'd just finshed composing a rather lengthy plea for help which I haven't posted yet, but you say you've more or less solved it...do you want me to ask for help?