Can Antivirus damage PC files?

[Kieran10]

Hey,
So simple question. Can files somehow get damaged whilst scanning?

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

Not usually whilst scanning with AV detection software, but they can certainly be damaged by a virus.

 

[umbraemsisoft]

Not via just scanning but potentially during removal.

 

[JoeMomma]

Many times what happens is Anti-virus will trigger a false alarm and delete a perfectly good file.
A lot of games with aggressive copy protection will get flagged, and they tell you to turn off AV temporarily for the install or it will get corrupted.

If that happens you must define an 'exception' in the AV settings.
You can have it skip one specific file or a whole folder.

 

[Avast-Team]

Scans themselves won't damage your files, but if you have Avast (or your AV program of choice) set to quarantine or delete infections once they are detected, then you could potentially lose those files. Avast can be configured to "ask" you what to do when a threat is detected, if you prefer to do this in real-time rather than let the software decide. That can be configured here: https://support.avast.com/en-us/article/Antivirus-scan-settings