Can't delete infected files

Norton Security | Norton Internet Security
1

I'm getting warnings popping up constantly from Norton's warning me that some viruses are on my pc.  I've run the power eraser and the bootable recovery tool and they turn up nothing.   The warning I get identies them all as being in my Thunderbird inbox.  I've been trying to save that to a dvd or cd and then delete it, but I'm having trouble getting anything to copy. 

 

If I do delete my inbox, will that get rid of the viruses?  If I run Norton's scan on that inbox, it comes up clean. 

 

Thanks!

2

Hi keress,

 

It may be that by deleting messages and compacting the Inbox you have removed the virus that Norton had detected.  If Norton had found a threat but was not involved in its removal, Norton will continue to bring the subject up.  If scans are not finding any current threats open Norton Security History and select Unresolved Security Risks in the "Show" dropdown box.  Click the "Clear Entries" button.

 

You also might want to consider excluding the Inbox from Norton scans and Auto-Protect.  Messages are stored in the Inbox as one single file, so if a threat is contained in an individual message there is a good chance that Norton will quarantine the entire Inbox.  There is also a possibility that the Inbox could be corrupted making it difficult or impossible to recover your messages.  See the following for some thoughts on using Thunderbird and antivirus software:

 

http://community.norton.com/t5/Norton-Internet-Security-Norton/Thunderbird-Inbox-file-scrambled/m-p/427440/message-uid/427440/highlight/true#U427440

 

If you do decide to exclude the inbox, note that the mail folder files for Thunderbird do not have file extensions - so you will want to exclude "Inbox."  You do not have to exclude the files of the same name that have the .msf extensions.

3

Thanks so much for the prompt response.

 

So, if it was telling me that there was a threat in my inbox, and running an individual scan on that folder showed no threats, I should trust the individual scan and disregard the earlier warning?  

4

 

keress wrote:

So, if it was telling me that there was a threat in my inbox, and running an individual scan on that folder showed no threats, I should trust the individual scan and disregard the earlier warning?  

Assuming that you previously took measures to remove the email messages containing the threats, and those measures did not involve Norton, then yes, Norton is just reminding you of the threats it had found earlier.

5

I guess what i'm worried about is that the virus might be able to hide itself from the regular scan.   But I guess that's silly.  The 'regular' scan is what found it in the first place and what I'm getting the warnings from.