I did a scan last night and 81 files could not be scanned. Most were password protected from Adaware and Spybot. A couple files were corrupted. I searched the forum & this appears to be normal.
But I have never seen this report before. Why does it show up now? Why not the previous times that I scanned? Is there some setting that I might have inadvertently changed?
It is nice that it gives me this information, I just wonder why it never has before.
Many programs (usually security based ones) password protect their files for legitimate reasons such as AdAware and Spybot Search & Destroy, there are others (and avast doesn’t know the password or have any way of using it even if it did know it).
When you run scans with the above programs and you delete harmful entries that they detect, a copy is kept (in quarantine/restore/backup) in case you need to reverse what you did. These are usually password protected, you should do some housekeeping and delete old backup/recovery/quarantine entries (older than two weeks or so), this will reduce the numbers of files that can’t be scanned.
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. If you can give some examples of those file names, the locations and reason given why it can’t be scanned might help us further ?
Files that can’t be scanned are just that, not an indication they are suspicious/infected, just unable to be scanned.
Corrupted Archive file, this could simply mean that avast is unable to unpack it to scan the contents of the archive and assuming it is because it is corrupt. Even if it were corrupt there is nothing that a user can do to resolve any corruption, short of replacing the file.
I understand what you are saying. I’ve been using avast for over a year and have scanned my system numerous times. Spybot has also been on my system for a long time. But I’ve never received a message about password protected files. That is my question. How come it shows up now for the first time?
Short answer I haven’t got the slightest Idea.
I don’t know what might have changed in S&D or AdAware and you don’t give any examples of the files and their locations that can’t be scanned.