# Norton - quarantine
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norton-quarantine/263212
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [September 5, 2004, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norton-quarantine/263212 "2004-09-05T14:31:36Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2004, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norton-quarantine/263212/1 "2004-09-05T14:31:36Z")
What exactly does Norton do when it quarantines a virus on your PC?
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### Author:  [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2004, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norton-quarantine/263212/2 "2004-09-05T17:43:24Z")
From what I gathered, it simply prevents that program from executing.
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### Author:  [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2004, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norton-quarantine/263212/3 "2004-09-05T17:49:38Z")
AFAIK, Norton scans my incoming emails, and if it finds something amiss, it will first attempt repair or removal of the offending code. The nasty stuff is placed in quarantine, along with files or attachments which could not be cleansed. That way you can have a look before pulling the flush handle. :eek:
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### Author:  [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2004, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norton-quarantine/263212/4 "2004-09-05T18:09:09Z")
While I am unfamiliar with Norton specifically, the standard function of “quarantining” on anti-virus, anti-spyware, etc programs just moves the file to a special quarantine directory, preventing that file from being used any more.
Other refinements include renaming it, or stuffing it in a quarantine archive, thus preventing accidental execution.
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### Author:  [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2004, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norton-quarantine/263212/5 "2004-09-05T18:11:25Z")
It moves the offending file to a specific folder which is its “quarantine” area, and renames it, IIRC, with the extension “.vir”. It’s intended that you use the Norton tool to access it and manipulate it, but there’s nothing to stop you from messing with it directly. It may mess with the permission bits, or flag the file as “hidden”, too. I no longer have Norton installed on the machine I’m using, so I can’t check.
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### Author:  [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2004, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norton-quarantine/263212/6 "2004-09-05T19:11:38Z")
In case you don’t realize it, you can delete any and all stuff in Norton’s Quarantine.
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### Author:  [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2004, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/norton-quarantine/263212/7 "2004-09-05T19:51:34Z")
The names of the files were:
Counter.class
Verifierbug.class
Worker.class
Norton called these dudes the Trojan.ByteVerify.
Thanks for the replies.