Unable to scan files

[mattyj]

I tried to do a search onthis to avoid a redundant question; however, either my search criteria was incorrect or I just dind't see it.

Here is the problem I am having.  After I get done scanning my hard drive a log appears with about 1000 files that say unable to scan:archive is corrupted.  Most of them are in my system32 file.

Then it goes to my norton files for system works & says unable to scan: Archive is passworded.

Can I remove any of these files?  Are they remains of a virus?  I have only had one virus on my computer & it was a trojan that was sent via e-mail.  However, it was never opened.  There has been a few worms that got by, but that's it, & they were removed.  

If I try to scan that one file it comes back as an error.  Anyone have any suggestions?

[Eddy]

Then it goes to my norton files for system works & says unable to scan: Archive is passworded

You can open a password protected file only if you know the password and there is no way for Avast to know it. So this is normal behaviour.

Please give some examples of files in the system32 folder. The more information you give us, the better help we can giv you  

[techie101]

matty,

Artras is correct regarding the passworded files.  Normally, files are passworded to prevent user modification, especially system files.
The message File is password protected will appear often in an Avast scan but no cause for worry.  DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DELETE THESE FILES.

As for the corrupted files.....that is something that bothers me.
Please provide some file names with the complete path indicated by the scan so I can better analyze what is happening.

Corrupted files in the System32 folder may indicate damage leftover by a virus.

Ok?

[mattyj]

[techie101]

mattyj,

Did you have Norton AV installed on the computer?
If you did and failed to fully remove it, then it would explain the difficulty you are having now.  Norton is NOT easy to remove.

I hate to tell you this, but I think your looking at a reinstall of Windows.

From the error messages, corruption exists not only in the System32 directory, but the i386 drivers as well.

Apparently, the system partially crashed, or a virus caused damage.

You may want to try a Diskscan and Defrag first to see if that will clear up the errors.

[igor]

What version (build) of avast! are you using? There was one build that suffered from similar problems, but the current version (4.1.418) should be OK. If you have an older one, you really should update.

[Eddy]

Besides what Techie101 and Igor said, this can also be cased by a bad ide controller. I suggest you also get the drive diagnostic util from the harddrive manufacturer and run that. I am pretty sure this is not a problem in Avast, but something else.

[mattyj]

It was an older version, I updated it & will post if anything changed.  I will also dl the drive diagnostic tool.

[mattyj]

I updated the build of Avast & a couple of interesting things happened.  

One, most of those errors disappeared, the rest were old logs left over from spybot search & destroy.  But even more interesting, a file that has been sitting on my desktop for months, was all of a sudden found to have a trojan in it.  For what ever reason the previous build wasn't recognizing it....yes I did update my defintions daily before.

Nonetheless, thanks for the help

[Lisandro]

But even more interesting, a file that has been sitting on my desktop for months, was all of a sudden found to have a trojan in it.  For what ever reason the previous build wasn't recognizing it....yes I did update my defintions daily before.

Probably it will be a false alarm (a false positive).
Can you send the file to virus@avast.com ?
Can you see if it is not related to this forum: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?board=2;action=display;threadid=6375

[mattyj]

Lol, I deleted the file as it was something I didn't need anyways.  But yep, same type of Trojan.  Oh well, at least I know my system is still clean....(knock on wood)