Are my remote files infected with a virus?

pteehan

I use Zotero on two computers, a Win7 laptop and an Ubuntu workstation. The laptop recently got infected with a virus and it proved to be very difficult to remove, so I just wiped it and reinstalled the OS. This was my fault as I was not using good virus software; I think it may have even been turned off. Anyway...

I have zotero files stored on a webDAV server where I purchase storage space. Now when I go to sync my laptop with remote storage, I am getting virus warnings from MS Security Essentials.
Detected: Virus: VBS/Ramnit.B
Alert level: Severe
Recommended action: Remove
Items: file:E:\phd\zotero\storage\23DBA4ER\v26y1998i1p21-30.html

Then Zotero sync fails with "Component returned failure code: 0x80520015 (NS_ERROR_FILE_ACCESS_DENIED) [nsIFileInputStream.init]".

I admit I don't know much about how viruses infect files; is it possible my Zotero files, including pdf's and stuff, are infected? It's certainly possible that I synced my laptop while it had the virus, before I was aware of it.

If this is true I am at a loss as to what to do. If my remote storage is compromised what can I do, short of rebuilding it from scratch (not a pleasant task as there are 1200 records in my library most of which have attachments)?

Thanks

adamsmith

have you double checked that it's the remote file that's infected and not a local one?
Also, is it always that one item? In that case, why not just delete the corresponding entry?

In spite of the "Virus" metaphor, said virus is unlikely to have "spread" on your WebDAV - so only the files you uploaded that were infected already are likely affected.
Also, unless you had several viruses, this one only affects html files, not pdfs.

pteehan

Sync always fails on the first item (because anitvirus locks the local file). When I delete that entry, it fails on the next one. When I delete that, the next one. It seems a lot if not all of the html files in the webDAV are infected.

The pdf's are most important, if I have to nuke all the html files that's not a huge loss.

I could disable antivirus, sync with the remote archive, then turn it on again and let it scan the local archive and remove everything infected. but then the remote archive will still have the infected files, wouldn't it? I imagine zotero might try replace the html files I delete every time I sync. unless I manually delete them from the database. is there a way to tell zotero to sync only pdf files and ignore everything else?

when I explore the remote archive it is a series of .zip and .prop files which do not seem to be easily manipulable. otherwise I could run a script and just remove all the html files.

advice is welcome...

dstillman

You could disable antivirus, sync, remove infected files, clear (or better yet, move to a backup location) all files on WebDAV, and then do a Reset File Sync History in the Sync->Reset pane of the Zotero preferences to force Zotero to reupload the remaining files.