Around the beginning of May, I decided to change the screensaver I had been displaying. I’m still using Windows XP so I right-clicked on the desktop, selected Properties and opened the Screensaver menu to select the one I had in mind. That’s when I discovered that it wasn’t on the list – and neither were a number of others I had acquired from the same source! I had no idea what had happened to them but my next step was to reinstall them from the installation files stored in another area. That’s when I was in for another shock. All but one of the folders containing the installation files were empty!
Those installation files had been in their respective folders for months, even years in some instances.
I decided to write to the screensaver programmer about the dilemma and he offered to send me an e-mail with links to the latest versions of the ones I thought I no longer had.
It was when I tried to download the first screensaver on the list that all was revealed. I was informed that the file contained an MH690.A heuristic virus and the downloading immediately ceased.
I wrote to the programmer again with the news and he was adamant I was seeing a "false positive". I decided to see if I could send one of the screensaver files to Symantec for investigation. That was duly done – I had to turn my Norton antivirus software off in order that one of the files could be downloaded and made available – and on 19 May I received acknowledgement from Symantec that both the file and the accompanying description of events had been received.
I eventually discovered that the "lost" files had not actually been deleted but were quarantined. However even recently, an attempt to restore one of them was unsuccessful and the file was immediately locked up again. There would appear to be no way that I can release any of them from there at present.
Am I likely to receive correspondence from Symantec about that file? It has been well over a month since I sent it for examination. None of the screensavers have ever caused problems in the past so I am equally convinced that they are all virus-free and I am starting to get frustrated about this.
Any advice/assistance greatly appreciated.