Virus Vault

The AVG Virus Vault is a virus quarantine where all removed files, virus infected or suspicious, are stored. All files are encrypted and cannot do your computer any harm. The main purpose of the Virus Vault is to keep any deleted file for a certain period of time, so that you can make sure you do not need the file any more. If you find out that the missing file is causing problems, you can send it for analysis, try to heal it, and restore it to the original location.

 

To open the Virus Vault, navigate via Main Screen -> Main Menu History -> Virus Vault.

 

Each listed object is defined by:

Severity – level of infection; all listed objects can be positively or potentially infected (Infection refers to a virus, PUP to spyware, Warning usually to a cookie). Threats detected by Identity Protection also display a status info icon, and are referred to as malware.

Virus name – name of the detected infection according to AVG Virus Encyclopedia.

Path to file – full path to the original location of the file. N/A means that the file was not originally placed on the local disk; typically, it has been found in an incoming e-mail and moved to the Virus Vault by the E-mail Scanner component.

Original object name – name of the file; is only present if the file was originally an e-mail attachment.

Date of storage – date and time the file was detected and removed to the Virus Vault.

 

After highlighting an object in the list with your mouse, the function buttons enable you to carry out the following actions:

Restore – moves the infected file to its original location (stated in the Path to file column)

Restore as – moves the infected file to a selected folder

 

You can Restore or Restore as multiple items at a time; highlight them in the list and press the respective button. If some of the selected items are not restored successfully, these will remain highlighted in the list.

 

When restoring files from the Virus Vault, please also note the following:

· If the file was originally an e-mail attachment (see the Original object name column), its original location is a temporary folder which might be tricky to find on your harddisk. For this reason, only the Restore as feature will be available for e-mail attachments.
· Registry keys can be only restored back to original location (i.e. only the Restore button will function).
· Any file is restored under the Original object name. If not available, then the file is restored under name given in the Path to file column.

 

Details – this button only applies to threats detected by Identity Protection. Upon clicking, it displays synoptic overview of the threat details (what files or processes have been affected, characteristics of the process etc.). Please note that for all other items than detected by IDP, this button is greyed out and inactive.

Delete – completely and irreversibly removes the file from the disk.

Empty Vault – removes all files from the Virus Vault.

 

Right-click context menu option Send to analysis – sends the file for analysis to the AVG virus labs or to the Technical Support team.

Please note that this feature only serves for sending “false alarm” files, i.e. files that have been detected by AVG as infected or suspicious, but you believe are harmless.

 

Virus Vault settings

If you are sure you do not need the deleted files, you can remove these completely – or leave them in the Virus Vault to be removed automatically, which by default happens either after 30 days, or when the total size of files in the Virus Vault exceeds 5% of your hard drive size. You can change these settings in the Virus Vault maintenance dialog.

Virus Vault