Avast WEBforum
Consumer Products => Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security (legacy Pro Antivirus, Internet Security, Premier) => Topic started by: Darktrooper1138 on April 26, 2012, 08:10:43 AM
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I'm posting this here because I'm not sure where else to put it. A few days ago I did a quick scan on my System. When it was done it told me some files couldn't be scanned. I went to view the results a it showed me a long list of files and next to them all it said Error: Archive is password protected. The problem with that is, I've never password protected anything on my computer as I'm the only user. Furthermore, when I went to look for these files, using the log as a guide, I couldn't find them!
According to the log the path for all these files is C:\Users\Shawn\AppData\Temp... Anymore then that's unnecessary as I can't find AppData in the Shawn folder, it's simply not there! I've searched for AppData as well and once again its not there. Can anyone help me out? I have no clue is these invisible password protected files are harmful or not. Also all the files are associated with a "reader 10" I recently updated my Adobe Reader so that may have something to do with it.
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scan errors are normal
there will always be some files that could not be scanned...password protected, in use by another process....
many programs will password protect there own files...like security programs....adobe....and others
files that can not be scanned are just that, and does not mean they are infected
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Alright, thanks for the reply and calming me down a bit haha I just found it odd that the files were password protected AND for whatever reason invisible to me. I've never had a scan error like that before in all my time of using computers! Perhaps the errors will go away over time? Perhaps a safe mode boot should happen soon to look for the files. Anymore advice/help would also be appreciated if anyone has any.
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dun worry about password protected archives (they are inert (not active) and cannot cause any harm to ur computer no matter the contents inside them) ;)
probably some leftovers/ part of some software (eg. 'spybot search and destroy', an anti-malware software)
basically avast is telling u "hey! i cannot scan this archive,thus any packed files in it because i need the correct password (which i dunno) to open the archive to scan those packed files".
so as a user, u now know of the existence of this archive. (thats all the warning from the scan is trying to tell u)
packed files are inert (malicious or not). they need to be unpacked to become active, thereby dangerous. avast will scan all files after they are unpacked by default of real-time file system shield.
more info on packers: http://blog.eset.com/2008/10/27/an-introduction-to-packers
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Read here to find out how to unhide hidden files http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/how-to-see-hidden-files-in-windows/
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I've been getting this report as well with almost every weekly scan, but I never did until I upgraded to V7, and I've been using Avast around 3 yrs.
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can you attach a screen shot?
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can you attach a screen shot?
Here is a screen shot, Pondus. It's always the same file. I uploaded to avast! virus lab on 02-20-2012. It was not identified as malicious.
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