For a long time when I did a full scan I got files that could not be scanned because they were “password protected”. The other night I uninstalled Avast and then installed Avast again. I did a boot scan and then a full scan and the “password protected” files were gone. I was able to scan everything. This seems like a simple solution, but it worked for me.
avast can’t scan files that are password protected, it doesn’t know the password.
There are many legitimate reasons why a file was password protected. For instance, Lavasoft Ad-aware and SpyBot store their data in a password-protected ZIP archives (to prevent other similar tools from messing up with them). It’s really nothing to worry about - it’s normal.
In AdAware and S&D, when you fix/remove things it keeps backup/recovery information so you can restore anything that was mistakenly fixed/removed, etc. After a reasonable time your system has suffered no adverse effects, you can get rid of the older recovery/backup points. This should reduce the number of protected files.
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.
Nothing to worry about.
Yes but how to explain the fact that, after a reinstalltion, avast! was able to scan those password-protected files, but previously (as normal) it wasn’t?
impossible to say since he does not give info on where the files was located
they could have been in a temp folder that got cleaned by windows when he rebooted…but speculation since no file info
I had hundreds of files that were"password protected" and growing by the minute. I have no idea why it worked.
I just did another full scan and everything is fine. I am not an expert like many of you, but just wanted to maybe help someone that “walked in my shoes”.
I’d agree with Pondus - maybe a temp folder has been emptied during the reboot/reinstall, but avast! hasn’t suddenly become capable of scanning password protected archives - such a code is simply not present.
Uninstalling and reinstalling Avast could reset the scans to default, so that the scan wouldn’t attempt to scan those password protected files. It is possible that the previous scans were modified scans.
This. Yes, this would explain everything. 