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Why Does ClamWin Generate Errors on c:\windows\system32\config\sam and Certain Other Files |
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Written by Michael Salsbury
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Tuesday, 06 September 2005 |
When I look in a ClamWin scan report, I often see the following errors (or something very similar):
ERROR: Can't open file C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\default
ERROR: Can't open file C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\SAM
ERROR: Can't open file C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\SECURITY
ERROR: Can't open file C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\software
ERROR: Can't open file C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\system
Does this indicate a problem or virus on my computer? Why can't ClamWin open these files?
Answer: The files in question here are part of the basic configuration of Windows. "SAM" (for example) is the "Security Authorization Module" that forms the core of the Windows security features. This file (and the others listed there) can't be opened because Windows itself will generally always have the file open and considers it sensitive enough that it won't ClamWin near it.
If you're not getting any other virus errors, which ClamWin would describe as "infected files" then these warning messages from ClamWin are purely precautionary. This is ClamWin's way of telling you "Hey, I couldn't check these files for viruses, so if you find one in here later it's not because I missed it. I just couldn't open the file to check it for you."
If you're getting messages indicating that there are lots of infected files on your system, even after you've asked ClamWin to remove those files or you've removed them yourself, I'd suggest making backups of your important files and doing a "clean reinstall" of Windows. (This means formatting the hard drive - erasing it completely, reinstalling Windows and hardware drivers, then reinstalling ClamWin and all your other software.) At the very least, you may want to buy a commercial antivirus product that comes with a "bootable CD" that you can use to run a virus scan on the computer without booting from its own copy of Windows, which is infected with a virus. In this case, the scanner on the CD should be able to scan the files listed above (and others) for viruses because Windows won't be using them at the time.
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