system
1
When Avast 4.5 scan is finished, I get a screen that list files unable to can and says “Archive is password protected.” I don’t have a password or have protected it that I know of. What does this mean? I’m afraid there could be infections in these files since they are not scanned.
system
2
A lot of programs create password protected files (like Spybot Search & Destroy, for example), in order to protect some of their own files.
DavidR
3
Give an example of some of the paths to the folder that is password protected.
As has been said there are many legitimate reasons for this.
system
4
Thanks for the responses. An example some of the files: C:\documents and setting\all users\application
with various ending such as: sbrecovery.ini and administrator @advertising.
I do have SpyBot and Ad Aware on my computer
system
5
I think the full path name would be …ApplicationData[i]Spybot…[/i]
Spybot backs up any entries it deletes in zip files there in case you find out you shouldn’t have deleted them. It zips them with a password so that other scanners like AdAware etc don’t constantly spot them and register that you still have these spy/malwares on your system. Avast (and any other scanners) can’t access these files because of the password.
The administrator@advertising entry, for example, was probably a tracking cookie that you told Spybot to delete at some time. If it wasn’t zipped and locked with a password then every time you scanned with spybot or adaware… they’d detect it all over again.
There’s no need to fear any infection from these - they’re locked away quite safely.
DavidR
6
The sbrecovery.ini looks like the S&B recovery to roll back deletions you make and should be protected. You can however, clear out the Recovery items after a period to ensure they don’t need to be recovered.
This looks suspicious to me ‘administrator @advertising’ unless you know what it is about.
system
7
Beautiful!!!
I thank everyone for their help.