"Last scan results..."

[megaman04]

Hi,

I need help as to what to do with the results of my last scan.  Here's the scenario.  My friend is using avast's free home edition.  I ran a standard scan yesterday for her which included "scan archive."  After the scan, the results appeared.

There was a long list of data (files) that were not scanned - about 519 items (this was given at the bottom of the results).

Each item had a "name."  For example, c:\WINDOWS\...  The first column of the log showed the "names" of the files.  The second column showed a message indicating "avast was unable to scan..."  And the third column was blank, waiting for an "operation" to be done.

There was an "action" button at the top of the log.  I could either delete, move, scan, etc the file that was highlighted.  I tried to move a file, but nothing really happened.  There was a message in the "operation" column.

Do I delete all 519 items or?  The "repair" option is dimmed so that action cannot be used.  I was thinking of deleting all the unscanned files one by one, but I didn't.  Is it safe to delete all the items when I scan again?  In previous scans, the 519 items never appeared.  The only thing I did different was that I selected "scan archive" before I ran yesterday's scan.

I tried to view the "last scan results..." before coming to this forum so I could give more specific information, but that feature is dimmed and not retrievable.  I guess I need to run another scan.

I am bringing this situation up because my friend's computer is running slower than normal.  When navigating to different websites, it takes 20 or more seconds to change to different webpages and to even navigate within the webpages themselves.  Avast did not detect any virus, so I am thinking the slowness might be due to those 519 unscanned items - just a guess though.

Thank you for your help.  Megaman

[Spiritsongs]

  Hi Megaman :

     This is in Avast's FAQs : is this what you mean ?

  "Q: When the file scanning is finished, avast! comes up with a number of files listed as "unable to scan", even though I have used a thorough scan. Should I be concerned?

A: Some files are permanently locked by the system or they are in password-protected archives. These files cannot be scanned. It is normal and you don´t have to be worried about that.  "

[DavidR]

Many programs (usually security based ones) password protect their files for legitimate reasons such as AdAware and Spybot Search & Destroy, there are others (and avast doesn't know the password or have any way of using it even if it did know it).

When you run scans with the above programs and you delete harmful entries that they detect, a copy is kept (in quarantine/restore/backup) in case you need to reverse what you did. These are usually password protected, you should do some housekeeping and delete old backup/recovery/quarantine entries (older than two weeks or so), this will reduce the numbers of files that can't be scanned.

By examining 1) the reason given by avast! for not being able to scan the files, 2) the location of the files, you can get an idea of what program they relate to. You may need to expand the column headings to see all the text.

Files that can't be scanned are just that, not an indication they are suspicious/infected, just unable to be scanned.

[megaman04]

"Files that can't be scanned are just that, not an indication they are suspicious/infected, just unable to be scanned."

So it's okay to delete all of the unscanned files?

Thanks, Megaman

[megaman04]

Hi Megaman :

     This is in Avast's FAQs : is this what you mean ?

  "Q: When the file scanning is finished, avast! comes up with a number of files listed as "unable to scan", even though I have used a thorough scan. Should I be concerned?

A: Some files are permanently locked by the system or they are in password-protected archives. These files cannot be scanned. It is normal and you don´t have to be worried about that.  "

Thanks, I was going to check the FAQ section, but I thought it wouldn't have been there, but it's there.  Megaman

[DavidR]

"Files that can't be scanned are just that, not an indication they are suspicious/infected, just unable to be scanned."

So it's okay to delete all of the unscanned files?

Thanks, Megaman

Why would you want to delete them ?
They could be system files that are access denied (or any number of other legitimate reasons for not being scanned), you wouldn't want to delete them and I certainly wouldn't recommend deleting ANY file without knowing exactly what it is.

The list is for notification only, no action should be required, other than what I mentioned re. housekeeping in my post.

[MikeBCda]

I find it handy to put things like Ad-Aware's folder-tree onto avast's ignore list -- if you know the files can't be scanned anyway, and you're reasonably sure they're clean, it'll chop the report down quite a bit plus trim the scanning time just a tad.

[DavidR]

The list will remain the same as it lists all files it can't scan and give the reason, you excluded it