unable to scan files password protected!

[Beever77]

Hi Guys while I was doing a scan the results came back with a lot of file that it couldn't scan due password, so I deleted them. On a later scan the same message came up so I called a friend in about it. He said the file were associated with Photoshop & probably picture files and to leave them. So I did. BUT on the first scan I told Avast to delete them, after looking at my folders I have deleted a lot of important pics. After reading some of the postings I tried a restore to before I installed Avast but that didn't bring them back. By the way these pics were on a slave drive not the opperating system C:
I have used a program called Undelete Plus which as located a lot of files, BUT the extention is unreadable its a .fbf extention. Is this because they were deleted via Avast program and not windows? If so can I get them back?
Cheers Col

[Tarq57]

Hi and welcome to the forum.
Firstly, use the drive the deleted files are on the absolute minimum possible. In fact, only run a file recovery program on that drive.
Once a file is deleted, the header is removed; the body of the file is left behind, but the space it occupies is free to be overwritten by a new file. So that is why "don't use the drive" is important.

A possibly important factor is the way Avast deletes files. I don't know how it does. But if it is a standard delete, like you'd do in Windows explorer ( I hope it is) it will just remove the header and not the body.

Try (using the Undelete program) to open one of these files. As suggested in the programs' FAQ's, copy the potentially recoverable file to another drive before opening it. It's possible the undelete program has given the file that extension, which according to Lord Almighty Google, belongs to  "free backup fixit". (Sound familiar? Got this program on board?)

Another program you could try is Recuva, by Piriform, (makers of Ccleaner). Install it on the C drive, then use it to scan the drive concerned. I know that it is straightforward to restore restorable JPG's/JPEG's with this program. Oncew again, restore them somewhere else, not the disk/partition they are to be read from.

There is a lot to be said about "unable to scan this file" reports. Basically, most of the time these files are not a threat and don't need any action beyond investigating the reason. But lets deal with the recovery first.

There is also stuff to be said about NOT deleting anything from the scan result, but moving it to the quarantine, in ordser that it can be restored later if needed. Hopefully you'll get away with this without losing the photos you've deleted, and it will cost nothing more that a bit of a lesson.

[oldtimewoman]

hi

this is my first post here and so thanks for the forum

today i scanned and got a series of files that were supposed to be password protected.
i rescanned and then rescanned and on the last scan i took a screen shot

what am i supposed to do about this?
i have not a clue what it all means or if this is a problem that needs solving or ignoring.
i dont know enough about files to know what they are

this is a screen shot of part of the results

http://i41.tinypic.com/33ehfgo.jpg

thanks if anyone can tell me clearly what to do




adding......vista home basic/Hp laptop.
very basic and lean machine

[Bluesman]

what am i supposed to do about this?

Welcome to the forum!

Avast can't scan files that are password protected, it doesn't know the password. So there is not much you can do.

Files that can't be scanned are just that, not an indication they are suspicious/infected, just unable to be scanned (and in this case, the files are password protected)

[oldtimewoman]

hi bluesman

thank you  for the welcome and the prompt reply

up to this scan i have had no pass word protected files

i actually havnt a clue how to even do that.
(well once i might have learned but i have never done it or needed to do it)

can u tell what sort of files they might be from that screen shot?
i just dont have much files on this computer.
i dont have a clue excepet that on expansion, there is one recurrent word in front of the files........our name /application data/roaming/ whole heap of letters and numbers.
i am essentially the only user of the machine and i have no need to protect the few files on it and certainly not the photos.

i had a virus that avast picked up the other day from a web site  ...a trojan......and it is logged.
otherwise nothing of interest has occurred and no changes have been made

i am uneasy with a report like that knowing that nothing has been pass protected.........by me anyway

at the moment the scan result is just sitting there waiting for some action command.

many thanks :-)

[oldtimewoman]

 

well duhhhhhh

i finally managed to get the full file extension to show up and all those files are from "superantispyware "

that is too funny

i am worrying about another program

i will go and hide my head

thank u for your patience 

[DavidR]

See http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=35347.msg297170#msg297170 this topic for more information on why files can't be scanned.

[Bluesman]

thank you  for the welcome and the prompt reply

Your welcome, and be prepared for fast answers on this forum

i am uneasy with a report like that knowing that nothing has been pass protected.........by me anyway

Many security programs often password protect their own files.

[Beever77]

Thanks for the advise, I have tried the Recuva but no luck. I have down loaded the files to another drive using undelete Plus so they don't get written over plus I haven't used the drive that they were deleted from. Only problem they are still in the fbf file formate and I cant find the program "free backup fixit". Any help would be grateful. Cheers Col

[oldtimewoman]

david r and bluesman

thank you so much for your clear help

i am all sorted now 

just get my head around when i move these files

i swear i have never seen them before but some of them  date back to early march.
ummmmmmm

and now i have the blue skin on.........couldnt stand the black one at all and had no idea there was a choice.
it just wasnt intuitive for me somehow .
love the blue

will hang around adn do some more reading here and there

thanks for a forum that is prompt and clear and kindly

[Tarq57]

Beever77,
Try copying one of these files to a different location on the drive you have recoverd it to. Then rename the extension from .fbf to .jpg or .jpeg. This is just in case it is actually one of the photo files you've lost, the extension change will cause the picture viewer to attempt to open it.
If it wasn't originally a picture file though, it won't open.
So, I suggest you attempt to recover only files that are the same (or almost the same) size as the pictures you have lost. Typically this would fall into a range of sizes, depending on the camera and transfer settings, and how you've saved them. Browse the remaining photos in existence, and it should give you a fair idea of the target size range.

[Beever77]

Thanks for the help Tarq57 I have tried to change the file extention but to no avail. I am getting the feeling I'm not going to recover these pictures, I think the main problem is that the files were deleted in Avast as an unreadable file so no real windows extention is now associated with the now undeleted files.

[igor]

And how exactly did you delete them via avast!? What version of avast! are we taking about - 4 or 5, Free or Professional?
If they were reported as password protected, they must have been inside of an archive?

[Beever77]

Hi Igor at the time i was using ver 4 and the file came up unreadable at the end of my first scan. Not being savy with the program I deleted them whilst in Avast, it gave me the options to delete ignore, move to vault. Later after being confronted again with the same issue I fund that if you do a manual scan on the folder first, the next time you do a full scan it will scan without a problem.
Anyway back to these pictures I have tried a few different programs to recover the files Recuve, undelete, Nx View & so on all are successful at finding the files but they are in the fbf format I think that Avast turned them into this format when I deleted them. Unable to open them with any program even the undelete programs.
 Any ideas would be appreciated
Cheer Col

[igor]

No, avast! doesn't do any special renaming / conversion / deleting.
But I still don't understand where you deleted them from - because if they were reported as password-protected, they must have been inside of an archive, not directly in a folder.