Norton Internet Security / Norton AntiVirus

[Aivars1234]

Hello, I am newly registered and I have two questions.

I have NIS 2012 installed on my laptop and use it to scan anything that I download before I open them up.  I create a "scan" folder, download the file into the folder, scan the folder (using the  Insight Network Scan tool), then scan the file.  Havn't had any problems so far.

Today I downloaded a MS Word file (about 100kb or so) and went through the scanning motions...The Insight Network Scan came up with 15 files and directories that it scanned from the 1 file (no problems though...everything in the green.) This got me scratching my head...I downloaded 1 file and it shows it scanned 15?  I was curious so I decided to scan some other old MS Word files and sure enough...1 file would end up with anywhere between 2 to 13 to 15 up to 48 files and directories being scanned.

I went to work  (so I could be sure whatever sent was secure) and sent myself a Word document via email, went through the download to "Scan" folder and scanned it and it once again showed up with 14 scanned files and directories.  Other individual files that I scan (.pdf, .wmv, .txt..etc) usually only show up as 1 or at most 2 items scanned. Is this normal?

The other question I have is about Malwarebytes.  I read on these forums that it is a good backup tool to have as an antivirus scanner.  Will it interfere with NIS 2012? Is it recommended to have as a backup and where can I get the latest version if it is? 

Thank you.

[peterweb Worm Eliminator]

Welcome

Just to confirm exactly what it is you are scanning. Is it the 'scan' folder you created? That would give multiple entries, 1 for the folder plus 1 each for the files in it.

Do you clear the scan folder after each download? If you left the files there, you would get the higher counts.

I just tested by scanning Word docs on my system, and just scanning the individual files showed 1 item.

As for Malwarebytes, you do not want to install the Pro version for anti virus, as that would conflict with NIS. You want the Free version that checks for malware, but is only running for your on demand scans. You can download that here.

[Aivars1234]

I scan the individual word files.  I created a test word file (basically open word, wrote test and saved it to my desktop)and scanned it with the Insight scan. The On demand scan results says under the total items scanned 13 for that one file (13 files and directories scanned). 

Again, this is only for Word files....if I scan individual .pdf files or .txt, they come up with 1 or at most 2 files and directories scanned.

Thanks.

[peterweb Worm Eliminator]

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Aivars1234 wrote:

I scan the individual word files.  I created a test word file (basically open word, wrote test and saved it to my desktop)and scanned it with the Insight scan. The On demand scan results says under the total items scanned 13 for that one file (13 files and directories scanned). 

Again, this is only for Word files....if I scan individual .pdf files or .txt, they come up with 1 or at most 2 files and directories scanned.

Thanks.

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Sorry. I am unable to duplicate your issue. I still only see one item scanned.

Maybe someone else can duplicate this issue.

[thetechgeek · Accepted solution]

I can replicate the "issue."  It seems only "doc" and "docx" files are affected.  I think its because these files are made of many "subfiles" compressed as "one file."  You can replicate the "issue" with "exe" files since they too are made of many "subfiles" compressed together as one file.

If you rename ".docx" to ".zip" you will see the individual files.  Just rename the ".zip" file back to ".docx" to have the file working again.

[peterweb Worm Eliminator]

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thetechgeek wrote:

I can replicate the "issue."  It seems only "doc" and "docx" files are affected.  I think its because these files are made of many "subfiles" compressed as "one file."  You can replicate the "issue" with "exe" files since they too are made of many "subfiles" compressed together as one file.

If you rename ".docx" to ".zip" you will see the individual files.  Just rename the ".zip" file back to ".docx" to have the file working again.

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thetechgeek

Thanks for that heads up on the .docx files. When I tried to scan, I was using older .doc files, which only had the one file. As you explain, the .docx files have many components to the file, and my scan now shows 14 items.

Aivars1234

This would explain your situation. Norton is doing what is is supposed to do, by scanning the individual components of the .docx files.

Please mark this thread Solved, so others with this question can be informed..

[thetechgeek]

I can replicate it with doc files too. I got 7 files listed. Probably for the same reason. Doc is also a container file when saved with Word 2007. www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH134265

Scanning the file at www.justtrainfun.com/SJTFD_Door_Prizes.doc I got 15 files.  But the number dropped to 2 on the second scan.  On some files, I got a high number on the first scan but subsequent scan of the files dropped the number down to 2 or just 1.  To replicate it, open up MIcrosoft Word and then save file as "doc" then scan the file.  Then rescan the same file.

[Aivars1234]

Thanks so much for all your help.

Another quick question, I installed the free version of malwarebytes, did a scan and found nothing, but when I look at the NIS history, it shows that Malwarebytes was "blocked" from accessing some NIS data....is this normal?  just want to be sure I'm not having a conflict of programs.

[peterweb Worm Eliminator]

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Aivars1234 wrote:

Thanks so much for all your help.

Another quick question, I installed the free version of malwarebytes, did a scan and found nothing, but when I look at the NIS history, it shows that Malwarebytes was "blocked" from accessing some NIS data....is this normal?  just want to be sure I'm not having a conflict of programs.

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That would be Norton protecting itself. That would be normal. As long as you are using the free version of Malwarebytes (not the free trial of the full version) there would be no conflicts.