Scanning of archived files

Hi everyone.
As a complete newby and less than well-versed in computer nous, I downloaded the Avast programme on recommendation!

I have a complete trust, so far, in Avast and its capabilities to come through with the business… Found 4 virus/worms of the win32.sober kind and Trojano. 620 on my first pass with it and has prevented 8 infected EMails from doing their damage - win32. sober1 yet again. These were from obscure addresses, but some were reputable ie. Tesco and I have never dealt with any of them??

My problem is this - >:(I am given the message after archive scan that my Archived files cannot be scanned as they are “password” protected. I haven’t protected anything - can anybody give me some help, please.
I would like to see if anything is sinister in the locked away stuff and would be grateful for any advice.
Many thanks.
Johnboy

There is nothing sinister, some programs protect their files by password, Spybot S&D is just one. Since avast doesn’t know the password, it is letting you know.

It would be helpful if you gave us the path to some of the protected files.

Thanks for the input David I’ll look at the results and post them tomorrow.
Thanks again.
Regards