These days, you can download files from the Internet without thinking. This is because browsers like Chrome ensure your security by pre-checking every file you download. But sometimes, the process can fail for many reasons and Chrome may show an error stating that the virus scan failed.
But such download errors should not keep you away from your important files. If the usual fixes like restarting Chrome or restarting your PC didn’t help, this post covers some potential fixes to help you get rid of the error. So let’s check them out.
1. Clear Browser Cache
Most browser problems and errors occur with an outdated or corrupt cache. The virus scan failed error can occur when your old or corrupt cache data conflicts with Chrome’s scanning processes. Clearing old cache data will help.
Stage 1: Start Chrome. Click the three-dot menu in the top right corner, go to More tools and select Clear browsing data.
Alternatively, you can also use the shortcut Ctrl + Shift + Del to open the Clear Browsing Data panel.
Step 2: Use the Time range option to select All time from the drop-down menu. Tick the checkboxes that say ‘Cookies and other site data’ and ‘Cached images and files’.
Finally, hit the Clear data button.
Restart Google Chrome and see if that fixes the problem.
2. Use the Chrome Malware Scanner
Your computer may already be infected with malware, which is preventing Google Chrome from performing a forced file scan before downloading. Fortunately, Google Chrome has a built-in malware scanner for such situations that can identify and remove threats from your computer. Here’s how to use it.
Stage 1: Launch Chrome and use the three-dot menu in the top right corner to go to Settings.
Step 2: Expand the Advanced tab on your left and go to Reset and clean. Next, click on Clean up computer.
Stage 3: Finally, click the Find button next to Find malware to let Chrome scan your computer for threats.
Wait for the scan to complete (it may take a while) and restart Chrome to see if the issue is now resolved.
3. Temporarily Disable Antivirus
When an antivirus finds any threat related to the file you are trying to download, it may block the file. From time to time, it also blocks some safe files, such as an open source application. To allow this, you may need to temporarily disable the antivirus program on your PC and try to download the file again.
4. Adjust Registry
Along with the antivirus program, Windows also monitors and scans files you download from the internet. However, if it encounters an error while scanning your downloads, you can try to bypass the process temporarily by modifying the Windows Registry.
Many users reported that by doing this tweak they fixed the virus scan failed error. But before we continue, it’s important to remember that making changes to the Windows Registry without your knowledge can have serious consequences. So make sure you follow the steps precisely and back up your registry files beforehand.
Stage 1: Press Windows key + R to launch the Run command. In summer regedit In the Open field and press Enter.
Step 2: Use the address bar at the top to navigate to the entry below.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies
Stage 3: Expand Policies and look for the Attachments key.
If you can’t find it, right click on Policies, go to New and select Key. Now name it Attachments.
Step 4: Now right click on Attachments entry, go to New and select DWORD (32-Bit) Value. Name the new entry as Scan with AntiVirus.
Step 5: Double-click the ScanWIthAntiVirus key, change its value to 1 and press OK.
Close Registry Editor and restart your computer to apply the changes. Then start Chrome and try running a virus scan again.
5. Reset Chrome
Finally, if the solutions above don’t work, you may need to reset Chrome to its default settings to get around the issue. It is important to know that resetting Chrome will remove all extensions, cache and your settings preference. So be sure to use this as a last resort.
To reset Chrome, type chrome://settings/reset Enter it in the address bar at the top and press Enter. Under ‘Reset and clear’, click ‘Restore settings to their original defaults’.
In the confirmation popup box, click Reset Settings to confirm.
Safety first
The internet is full of malicious people who want to exploit the slightest vulnerability. Chrome’s built-in security tools are your first line of defense against them. To further ensure your security, consider enabling Advanced Protection mode in Google Chrome.
