Using Avast 4.7 on my W98 Aptiva desktop, the program found (and moved to Chest) 9 files. But it listed about 100 with the notation “Unable to scan. Archive is password protected.”
Is that normal?
Should I do something more about these files?
I never knew that my archives are pw-protected. How can I determine what the pw is?
Thanks.
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). Do you use any other security based programs ?
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.
Files that can’t be scanned are just that, not an indication they are suspicious/infected, just unable to be scanned.
Thanks so much for your claarification.
You’re welcome. Feel free to come back any time you need help.