I had the idea to start the new year with a new email client. The setup of eM Client went smooth so far, but I was surprised to register that after downloading the inbox from the server (IMAP), it tried to contact every original email sender’s server via TCP on Port 80, obviously to look for an avatar picture. I could only stop this behavior by deselecting >Show avatars in the column configuration.
But still eM Client tries to contact the sender’s server via TCP Port 80 (simple http) each time I open a single email! I haven’t found a setting/switch to get rid of the avatar placeholder in single message view.
I think it’s a massive privacy issue if the sender’s server is contacted each time I open an email!
Thanks for any help!
eM Client is fetching the favicon from their domain, which is perfectly safe. It also looks in other places like Gravatar for custom avatars the sender may have specified.
Disabling display of the avatar does not prevent it from being downloaded. It just doesn’t display it.
However, you can disable it in Menu > Settings > Contacts and unticking the option to download avatars from external sources.
Many thanks for the swift reply and the hint to the Contacts menu!
I would agree that in an ideal world it would be a nice feature to have favicon’s or avatar’s supplied by altruistic service providers displayed in every message.But since I have no control about who is logging my internet usage (and for what reason), I feel better to read my already downloaded emails without causing additional traffic for fetching the icons.
And thanks too for explaining the difference between not displayed and not downloaded. Good to know!