Avast Security Unable to Scan: How to Fix It in 5 Steps

Is Avast Security unable to scan files or folders? Try these easy fixes

4 min. read

Updated onOctober 4, 2023

updated onOctober 4, 2023

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Is your Avast security program or Antivirus unable to scan your system? If yes, this article will help you by featuring the reasons behind this problem and the practical solutions.

This scanning problem can appear on both free and paid editions ofAvast antivirus. You may see the Avast smart scan stuck at 99 or, sometimes, after the scan is complete. Before learning how to solve this error, we should know the reasons.

Why is Avast antivirus unable to scan certain files?

If yourAvast Antivirus,Premium Security, or Ultimate edition show unable to scan message, it may have the following reasons:

What can I do if Avast security is unable to scan?

Before going through the main solutions, we suggest you take some steps. These may save you time in troubleshooting this problem:

1. Exclude file

You should expect that some files cannot be scanned. If there are such files, it doesn’t mean these are threats. Some of them can be your system file or files related to the software you are using. Excluding these items from scanning will help to avoid seeing unwanted unable-to-scan messages.

2. Update Avast

Updating theAvast antivirusto the latest version will solve any incompatibility issues. If compatibility is the reason you were getting the error, it will help to fix Avast security’s inability to scan issue.

3. Uninstall the second antivirus

As other AV programs can interrupt the scanning process of Avast, it is safe to uninstall them. Then, see if Avast security is still unable to scan some files or not.

4. Verify all required background services are active

Sometimes, some PC optimization software or you may have disabled some required services that Avast uses to operate properly. Re-enabling them will help to get rid of any related problems.

5. Re-install Avast

Re-installing the Avast security program will help if the previous installation files are corrupted. After installing the fresh copy, you should no longer encounter unable to scan problem with Avast AV.

Following the above methods will surely help. Also, these would work if you find the Avast One smart scan not working.

However, if you still face the issue or want to try other programs, you can do it. For this, we suggest you check out thesebest Antivirus programs.

This article has shown how to fix Avast Security unable to scan problems. If you know other better ways to troubleshoot this problem, feel free to let us know in the comment box.

Avast Security Unable to Scan: How to Fix It in 5 Steps#

Why is Avast antivirus unable to scan certain files?#

What can I do if Avast security is unable to scan?#

1. Exclude file#

2. Update Avast#

3. Uninstall the second antivirus#

4. Verify all required background services are active#

5. Re-install Avast#