safety.live.com identified 16 items as “severe” but was unnable to clean them (the technical aspects of this inability is a conundrum)
avast! windows explorer scan extricated every one of them and moved them all to chest
is it possible to send these infected files to a lab for analysis such that the files are left unaltered and such that the process does not require that the infected files be restored to my hdd?
Submitting files from the Virus Chest to avast! Virus Lab
https://support.avast.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=501&nav=0,1,22#idt_07
also check for malware with
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware 1.50 http://filehippo.com/download_malwarebytes_anti_malware/
always update before you start scanning so you have the latest database
click the remove selected button to quarantine anything found
you may post the scan log here
Thanks for your help, Pondus, but i should have stated that i want to send the avast-quarantined files to a lab different from avast. can i do that?
No, not directly from chest. You would have to exclude/restore them.
yes you can. First you have to create a folder like C:\samples
then you must exlude that file from avast scan,
then you restore the files in the chest to that folder
then you zip and password protect the samples and you are ready for sending
No you would have to extract it and then avast is likely to alert:
Create a folder called Suspect in the [b]C:[/b] drive. Now exclude that folder in the File System Shield, Expert Settings, Exclusions, Add, type (or copy and paste) C:\Suspect*
That will stop the File System Shield scanning any file you put in that folder.
That will allow you to zip it, etc. to send to another location, email etc.
what is the purpose of zipping and password protecting (what are the consequences if i don’t zip and password protect)?
If you are going to email the sample - Your email might go through several email servers on its journey to avast, any one of which may have an anti-virus scanner.
To prevent it being extracted from the zip file and scanned is why it is suggested it is zipped and password protected or it might never reach its destination.