Archive is Password Protected

[Quicksilver]

I have just installed the Free Avast Home Edition and run a full scan of my PC for the first time. As far as I can tell everything came up clean. But I am confused as there was something like 600 odd files marked  Unable to scan....Archive is Password Protected. I am not aware of putting passwords on any of my files and so do not understand this.  These files are listed mostly as being in my Docs & Settings/All Users Folder.
Is this anything to be concerned about!   

[oldman]

No, not usually. check the avast warning log, I'm sure you will find the password protected files are from another secutity program.

[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.

[Quicksilver]

Thanks both for your replies.  I thought that the Free program did not allow me to keep logs and so do not have the results of my scan. Can I keep a log and if so how do I do it?

[DavidR]

You are correct in your thoughts the home version doesn't keep logs of previous scans. During a session with the Simple User Interface the current scan information is available but once closed it isn't retained.

So you would need to check the files and locations to identify what programs they belong to and see if the reason they can't be scanned is valid.

Welcome to the forums.

[Quicksilver]

Thanks very much for your help and comments. Next time I run a scan I will take notes of the findings so that I can look more into them. You have taken some of my concerns away though as I am inclined to think that the files concerned are as you say nothing to worry about. 

[DavidR]

No problem, glad I could help.