Message in Avast Premier: Unable to start scan. Cannot create a file when that file already exists.

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asked by about avast! Premier
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I have Windows Vista Home Premium, and I have Avast (which I paid for for one year). I start the scan and a message pops up on the screen saying: "Notice: Unable to start scan. Cannot create a file when that file already exists.". The scan appears to be running, however, but I can't locate that file referred to in the notice. Can anyone help?

1 Answer

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No avatar answered by (329k points)
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This is a very common error encountered in Avast! products. Simply reboot the PC and then start the scanning again. There is a file that's locked by another application, and Avast! can't scan it. Therefore, it crashes, or ignores it.

Reboot the PC, wait to load and then start it again.

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