CA EZ Antivirus Crash & Log Errors

I'm trying desperately to find an alternative and stop using Norton AV.
I've been trying eTrust CA Antivirus and for the most part it seems
okay. Except:

- After all scheduled system scans, the log lists at least 40 files
with "- scan failed" beside them. Examples are:

C:\Documents and Settings\John Ciccone\Local
Settings\Temp\Perflib_Perfdata_28c.dat - scan failed.

or

C:\Documents and Settings\LocalService\NTUSER.DAT - scan failed.

I've asked Tech Support a few times and though the've responded, I'm
afraid I don't understand their answer. They say it can't scan files in
use, and "If it is limited to some set of files, than you can ignore
the message."

I just don't understand the concept of ignoring my antivirus when it
can't scan a file. How would I know that it's not a new virus that
can't be scanned?

Secondly, in the middle of downloading email into Outlook Express, EZ
AV crashed and went away after displaying an error dlg of some kind...
but the email kept downloading! Sounds kind of dangerous to me.

Maybe Norton had the same troubles but hid them better. Anyone else
experience the same?

TIA for any input.

JohnrC typed:
> I'm trying desperately to find an alternative and stop using Norton
> AV.

That's a smart move.

> I've been trying eTrust CA Antivirus and for the most part it
> seems okay.

I don't use CA Antivirus nor would I use ANYTHING from CA!
I would rather use Norton than anything from CA!

> Except:
> - After all scheduled system scans, the log lists at least 40 files
> with "- scan failed" beside them. Examples are:
>
> C:\Documents and Settings\John Ciccone\Local
> Settings\Temp\Perflib_Perfdata_28c.dat - scan failed.

That's the WinXP prefetch and is LOCKED by Windows!

> or
>
> C:\Documents and Settings\LocalService\NTUSER.DAT - scan failed.

You don't want to touch NTUSER.DAT as that is the premier WinXP registry
file and if you mess with it you'll be looking for your WinXP installation
CD.

> I've asked Tech Support a few times and though the've responded, I'm
> afraid I don't understand their answer. They say it can't scan files
> in use, and "If it is limited to some set of files, than you can
> ignore the message."
>
> I just don't understand the concept of ignoring my antivirus when it
> can't scan a file. How would I know that it's not a new virus that
> can't be scanned?
>
> Secondly, in the middle of downloading email into Outlook Express, EZ
> AV crashed and went away after displaying an error dlg of some kind...
> but the email kept downloading! Sounds kind of dangerous to me.
>
> Maybe Norton had the same troubles but hid them better. Anyone else
> experience the same?
>
> TIA for any input.

Give up on computers and find a Euchre club or if you don't find that
challenging then find a Bridge club