newbie question about the chest- now a DISASTER!!!

hello, to any insomniac avast pros that may be out there at this hour 8) - i am running avast for the first time and still am having some trouble figuring the interface out. either that or i missed something in my haste to scan, but avast has picked up a virus and recommends that i send it to the chest.

my question is- why should i do this? what is the chest, and whatever it is, since it is on my computer, aren’t i essentially playing musical chairs with this virus, just putting it somewhere else instead of banishing it forever? ??? what is a likely reason delete isn’t recommended, and what if i did it anyways?

i can’t tell where this virus is- scan is still running. i’m hoping to figure this out before i shut down for the night, but the help button doesn’t seem to work >:( . my system is win 98 se, and the virus is kuang. is this enough info.? can anyone help?

thanks! nicole

Ever used something from Panda?
READ THIS

Deletion is never the best first option, if for some reason the file was incorrectly detected, you have a problem that could have an effect on your system, moving it to the chest ‘a protected area within avast’s folder.’ This gives time to investigate with the option to restore, repair (if possible),rescan at a later time, or delete the file, all from within the safety of the chest.

There is no rush to delete anything from the chest, they can’t do any harm there. Anything that you send to the chest you should leave there for a week or two, to ensure your system is OK. That way the file is still available to restore if required, after that time if everything is ok you can delete it from within the chest.

This would have helped us greatly.
What was the virus name, what was the filename, where was it found
example (C:\windows\system32\infected-filename.xxx)?
This would have confirmed or denied what Eddy was pointing at, a false positive detection due to Panda not encrypting their virus signature files. They can then be detected as a virus by another AV because they aren’t encrypted, the filename and location of the infected file would confirm if this was due to Panda or not.

hi david et all who may be able to help :cry:

ok, i have come upon disaster, and i think it is something that happened with avast, since that is the only new thing that i’ve run, and since that question i posted, and restarting after running avast for the first time, i can not even use the modem on my home computer! i’m at work, and I won’t be able to see your reply to this for a few days! :-[

i followed your instructions, incidentally, and put the item in the chest. but, apparently it was something used during startup- one of the windows startup scans- and my computer seems to be stuck in safe mode i THINK- but with very wierd modifications: such as that there is no apparent way to EXIT this mode; and also avast could not restore the item from the chest because the chest could no longer be opened, and just displayed an “inaccessible” message. furthermore, i am sorry that can not print out any of the specifics for you, because the printer will no longer work, and i can not copy them into my email for outside access, because my modem is no longer working. ???

i did not have time today to copy down all of the problem-trees by hand onto paper. i am hoping maybe this info. will nevertheless be sufficient for someone to give me a clue what the heck happened and what to do before monday. then later this week i can come back with more specific info., and someone can help me then, but i am really worried. i do not have the money to buy a second drive at this time in order to reformat, and if avast did this to my computer somehow with no way to restore, that’s really hard on me right now… >:( very upset about all this, can anyone help!!! just in case you don’t see it, again- the virus was kuang, but i don’t think it ever left the chest…

thank you!
nicole

OK!

if anyone is reading this messy little post trying to help me, i have managed to get my home computer online somehow. i’m not sure which adjustment i made did it but now i can tell you some of those specifics. meanwhile i am still stuck in safe mode here, and if anyone knows how to get out of that or why that might be it would make these forums easier to read!

in response to evangelist, no, i have never used panda.

this is the message that comes up when i try to open the chest:
“Initialization of Chest files… Program will try to load all Chest files from the following server: (null)… Action was completed with errors!”
AND
“Program cannot use Chest client: (null) —>Description: The RPC server is unavailable”
so, i can not tell if the file with kuang that i put in the chest is still there or has been restored.

the log viewer says in the warning section that “Sign of “Win32:Kuang2” has been found in “c:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\ActiveScan\imscan.dll” file.”
which seems uber-wierd to me since isn’t that avast’s own file, so isn’t it warning itself about it’s own data; and in that case why would it send one of it’s own files to the chest?
furthermore this file seems to be present in the system files, unless it has been reproduced (and not restored…)

very confused here. pardon me but if avast is telling me that it detects a virus because it CAME with one, i can’t really say i appreciate that astute service…

now, does anyone know what happened to my computer???

thank you very much!!!

the log viewer says in the warning section that "Sign of "Win32:Kuang2" has been found in "c:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\ActiveScan\imscan.dll" file." which seems uber-wierd to me since isn't that avast's own file, so isn't it warning itself about it's own data; and in that case why would it send one of it's own files to the chest? furthermore this file seems to be present in the system files, unless it has been reproduced (and not restored.....)

This is exactly what Eddy was on about and why I asked for the file name and location, you have (or someone else with access to your computer) at one time used Panda’s on-line scanner.

The ActiveScan folder and imscan.dll file are part of the Panda on-line scanner, the file contains virus signatures that panda uses to compare when you use the on-line scanner. Unfortunately these are same signatures will be detected by any installed Av because panda doesn’t encrypt them.

This is entirely down to Panda and has nothing to do with avast!, nothing of the sort came with avast!

So your astute comment would have been better directed to Panda, but probably better left out until you knew exactly what the situation was. Had you checked the Link that Eddy gave you you would have seen why this was.

Additional info:

Here is the list of Panda Antivirus files that avast! detects as infected:

* IMSCAN.DLL
* PAVDLL.DLL
* PAV.SIG
* APVXD.VX2
* APVXD.VXD</blockquote>

Even if you deleted this file rather that moving to the chest, it should have had no adverse effect to your computer as it is merely a file use by panda’s on-line scanner. So there should have been no knock on effect to your modem or being stuck in safe mode.

Whilst in safe mode you may not have full access to some elements of avast as being in safe mode many programs are not fully loaded by windows, but I’m not entirely sure on that.

You should be able to reboot and come out of safe mode automatically. If not I did a simple google search for ‘stuck in safe mode’ without the quotes and it returns hundreds of thousands of hits, you could refine the search to be more OS specific. Two of them:
http://www.anetforums.com/posts.aspx?ThreadIndex=7042
http://forums.techguy.org/showthread.php?t=386479

here is exactly where my computer is at now, and since i really still need help, i hope i can clarify any questions that come up:

i have figured out how to restore to a previous day when my computer was running, albeit before i installed avast. now avast is telling me my registration key, which was e-mailed to me, is not valid. so at this point i can not open avast at all. furthermore, while everything else appears to be functioning for the time being, my computer still asks me what mode i want to start it in every time i start up, and tells me that two critical files are missing from my system folder: klmc.vxd and klif.vxd. do you know what those are? note: without the lisence i can’t open avast to see if they’re in there somehow! (yes i had a lisence before restoring!)

i think i understand that you believe that panda and not avast is somehow responsible for my computer’s “meltdown.” ok. please know that i do not mean to accuse avast, i just need my computer to work!!! all i know is that avast is what was running when it stopped working, in avast’s folders may be the problem, and avast is no longer letting me open it so i can not figure out why. can you help me with this problem?

i apologize if you felt like i was “astutely” accusing you; i was only frustrated and trying to solve a problem, if it wasn’t the best way, i’m sorry, and i still hope for help. you say that “Even if you deleted this file rather that moving to the chest, it should have had no adverse effect to your computer as it is merely a file use by panda’s on-line scanner. So there should have been no knock on effect to your modem or being stuck in safe mode.” nevertheless, there WAS a serious adverse effect on my computer.

lastly, i want to set something straight here… i am doing the best i can with this mess on my desk that i wish i could throw out the window. you probably can relate to how frustrating that can be, especially when you have work to do! i said i followed the link to the panda site and i did. just because i didn’t UNDERSTAND the relevance, doesn’t mean i didn’t listen to your advice. i was only able to open avast’s log long after i had looked at the link, and i ONLY knew that i never installed anything from panda, so i just didn’t make the connection. i do not see why my comments should be directed to panda when they probably don’t have anything to do with the problem. but if they should, please explain to me why so that i can go to them armed with the knowledge of why, and i will do so. even if it’s not avast’s fault, still it happened when running avast for the first time, so i feel like i am coming to the right place.

admittedly i do not know what the problem is here, ok? i never said i was a computer whiz. i only asked for help. and someone who NEEDS help to figure out what is going on, it may not make much sense to tell that person THEY need to know what’s going on before they speak up!

anyways, thanks for putting up and trying to help!

nicole