Sorry but I’m new to this free version of Avast 4.7 Home Edition. I have two adware files stored in my virus chest. I’ve left them alone there for over a week. Is there somewhere you can direct me that tells me what to do with them? Do I leave them there, delete them? I’m using Windows XP SP 2 Home Edition.
These are the two I found stored in the chest:
A0033453.dll C:\System Volume Information_restore 6/14/2005 6:56:30…
6/17/2007 12:39 Win32:Adware-g…
and
desrcas.dll c:\program files\mywaysa\srchasde 6/14/2005 6:56:30…
6/17/2007 11:20:5… Win32:Adware-g…
I ran another scan after I turned off system restore with no more adware found. Please let me know what I should do next. Thank you.
There is no rush to delete anything from the chest, a protected area where it can do no harm. Anything that you send to the chest you should leave there for a few weeks. If after that time you have suffered no adverse effects from moving these to the chest, scan them again (inside the chest) and if they are still detected as viruses, delete them.
Welcome to avast forums.
Thank you I will leave them alone for a couple more weeks, I scanned them and found they were still detected as viruses, although I believe them to be adware. By suffer no adverse effects I take it you mean any problems with using my computer? Is there a link where I can read up on the virus chest and not have to bother you?
Yes, you’ve understood me.
You’re not bothering me, just asking for help 8)
avast help file (F1) is a good start. Other will be browsing (and searching) the forums.
Anyway, feel free to ask any question about avast!
Thank you,
You are a good person! I can’t tell you how many people I’ve run into giving technical help with other programs that hate what they do & it’s reflected in their responses to others.
I see… I can’t find a reason for people to get angry just because others ask for help.
Anyway, if I hate what I do, I won’t be here helping for free since a long time 8)
Thanks, please tell me where I can find the Help File (F1)
Start avast antivirus, right click the skin and choose Help.
or
Start avast antivirus, press F1
or
\English\Help\help.chm
I ran a “standard scan” checking everything to be scanned before the actual scan. However afterwards the results of the scan showed “Unable to scan” on most of the files. It did take about half an hour to run. I was wondering what I did wrong? How do I run a thorough scan, what do I click on?
avast can’t scan files that are password protected, the ones that have an unknown packaging method, the files in use.
There are many legitimate reasons why a file 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.
I ran another scan, the entire scan took 28 minutes, there were no infected files however after the scan it read, all files were “unable to scan” How could that be?
Help file Windows Start button, All Programs, avast! Antivirus, Help or “C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ENGLISH\HELP\help.chm.”
If you can give some examples of the files and their locations that can’t be scanned ?
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.
Files that can’t be scanned are just that, not an indication they are suspicious/infected, just unable to be scanned.
I ran a “thorough scan” including archive files took 40 minutes. The “results of the last scan” screen listed 63 lines all lines read “unable to scan” under results. I don’t understand if it took 40 minutes that it was unable to scan. Can you explain this? Everything on the screen including C:\Documents and Settings…, C:\Program Files…, and C:\RECYCLER… Does this mean nothing is being scanned? What is wrong?
In addition to the above I should tell you there are two files sitting in the Virus Chest as a result of the first scan. Maybe this has something to do with the problem? The menu page says “292169/4812 Number of scanned files/folders”
I though I just had ?
avast tells you why it can’t be scanned, not just that it can’t be scanned, you need to look at that reason and if necessary expand the column width to see the complete text.
You should have also seen how many files were scanned in the Simple User Interface, Tested Files which will be increasing during the scan and on completion of the scan you will see the size of the files scanned and the duration. So you should see what is being scanned.
Files in the chest will have no impact on whether other files are scanned or not, that is down to the files location and properties, if it is protected, etc.
Did you change the ‘Exclusion’ lists of avast? If not, you must post the full path (without …) of the ‘excluded’ files for us to judge.
Again, which are the file name and path, and the virus name of these infected files.
I will have to answer these questions next week when i’m in front of that machine again. If you could please be patient with me. But there was no expanded reason why any particular file was not scanned. When I clicked on one or any file it just read “unable to scan” but all files in the “results of the last scan” box were “unable to scan”. Please tell me how to change the exclusion list for next week when I’m in front of the machine with Avast again.
Sure we’ll be here 
You must have a ‘small’ column width and you’re not seeing the reason that should be there. Unable to scan due to program settings, for instance.
You need to use the Exclusion lists:
For the Standard Shield provider (on-access scanning):
Left click the ‘a’ blue icon, click on the provider icon at left and then Customize.
Go to Advanced tab and click on Add button…
For the other providers (on-demand scanning such as the screen-saver or the Simple User Interface):
Right click the ‘a’ blue icon, click Program Settings.
Go to Exclusions tab and click on Add button…
You can use wildcards like * and ?.
But be careful, you should ‘exclude’ that many files that let your system in danger.
Don’t understand! If it takes 40 minutes to do a thorough scan & still read unable to scan on all files then what’s taking 40 minutes?
39 minutes is to scan the files that need/can be scanned.
1 minute is to check that some files can’t be scanned 8)
There is nothing to do unscannable files with the duration of the scanning.