Error- Password Protected ?????????????

[REDACTED]

When I do a scan I always end up with somewhere between 50 and 100 lines that say the following:  SOME FILES COULD NOT BE SCANNED

(Then each of the listings includes this message)Error: Archive is password protected. (42056)



What does this mean and what if anything can be done about it?
I'm told to "select the required action for each result and click "Apply".  But none of these 50 to 100 items lend themselves to any action?

[Pondus]

this is the most frequently asked question in the forum so lots of info if you search .... especially in old topics

How do I handle files that avast! can’t scan?   https://blog.avast.com/tag/scan-files/

I'm told to "select the required action for each result and click "Apply".  But none of these 50 to 100 items lend themselves to any action?

avast is a antivirus program and will only take action on infected files. This is a scan error warning and not detections, so you cant take any action

if you give us the location of those files...full file path ..... we may be able yo tell you what they are
many programs password protect there files, usually Security programs but also others like Adobe .....