Attachments AV scanning

Hi All
I have a question (again ) I get e-mails from a friend that always come as attachments. Sometimes I have to open 2 or 3 or 4 to get to the message. Tried to get him to fix this, But...well I guess he doesn't understand.
Any way, The window says that the attachment was scanned "no viruses found "....
But then there is another attachment to open same email message, this time the window says, "files were not scanned for viruses ".
See thumbnails below.

So which is it? scanned or not scanned?
Geri

 

Geri--Forgive me, but I am not sure I understand

When you say "same email message" are you talking about the attachment to the email?
The following assumes you are talking about the attachment.
And I assume when you say "Attachment" you mean one of those which has been forwarded from person to person and each time another "FWD" layer is added? So that you have peel away each layer of forwards (like an onion) before you get to see the actual message in the attachment?
When do you get these different messages, especially the one that says "not scanned "?
I do not use ETrust so I do not know whether it automatically scans each level of the forwards or not.
I use NortonAV. If I care to read the attachment (and I often do not--since such multiple forwarded messages are usually a waste of time), I will first save the attachment to my hard drive. Then I will scan it, by right clicking|Scan with NAV. Only then do I open it. Since the attachment is an onion, I have to repeat the procedure several times until I finally get to the original attachment. And I scan even it with NAV before opening it.
I may be overly cautious and only the first scan with NAV is really necessary, but that's the way I do it since I am not sure how many layers of the onion NAV can penetrate.
If ETrust is not scanning the final layer of the onion (and that is when you get the not scanned message), I would do a manual scan before opening the attachment. I assume ETrust allows you to do this. If you getting the not scanned message at some other point, then I would do a manual scan at that point. Since I do not use ETrust, I do not know why it would scan some layers of the onion and not others. In any event, the message seems clear, the attachment has not been scanned when you get that message.

 

Thanks Jim
Your ascessment of the email is correct.
Open first layer then there is another.....and so on.

It is after the first opening that I get the "Attachment has not beek scanned ".

I also had this same thing with McAfee when I had it.
Maybe I'll contact CA and ask them about this.

Thanks
Geri

 

Hi Jim
This is what I got back from CA.

"Thank You for contacting CA. This is in reference to issue 14985685 in regards to email scann, our software would scan upto 2 layers. "

Geri

 

Geri--Thanks for posting back with the comment from CA. Sounds like it does not scan all layers of the onion. And "up to two" could mean one, especially if there are many. I have never trusted NAV to scan more than one layer, so I scan each.
P.S. Does CA automatically scan when you try to open a layer? NAV does not do that. I scan each layer manually before opening.

I delete many of the onion attachments anyway.

 

Hi Jim

No it doesn't.
Geri