Win 10 back up error

[Greg Della-Croce]

I have a Win 10 system, I use Windows 10 Backup process. The backup fails with the details saying: "Operation did not complete successfully because the file contains a virus or potentially unwanted software". I have narrowed it down to the User > GDC (GDC is my main user profile). I have not gone through the folders in this GDC folder by folder.

My AVG does not show any viruses. I have used Malware also shows no virus.

Any ideas on what could be done?

 

[Norton]

Try turning off AVG, it may be blocking access to "User > GDC".
Right click on tUser > GDCfolder and select scan with Malware bytes.
If nothing is found re-enable AVG and download
CCleaner
https://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download
Malware Hunter
http://www.glarysoft.com/malware-hunter/
Super Antispyware
http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/superantispyware_free.html

Turn off AVG and scan the your HD with CCleaner, Malware Hunter and Super Antispyware. If nothing is found, it may be your AVG settings.

I know everyone has their AV program preferences, however, I'm not a big fan of AVG or Norton AV programs.

Good Luck

 

[Regedit32]

Hi Greg,

Welcome to the Forum.


Given the amount on redirects and pop-ups when browsing the Internet, its probable if you have a potential threat being detected that its in your browser cache. Try clearing your browser cache of cookies and data etcetera, then re-run the backup.

Also run a scan on the drive you are backing up to. The potential threat may be there.

 

[Greg Della-Croce]

Thanks for the idea! I will try these today and get back to you all to say if it solved the problem or not.

Greg DC

 

[Regedit32]

Just to let you know.

Literally minutes after I posted my comment to you I got a very similar error message to your own regarding my own Backup. Talk about coincidence.

I took my own advice, and opened File Explorer, then right-clicked on my back-up drive and selected to Scan it for infections. No infections there.

So then I cleared my browser caches, and as an extra precaution, ran the Disk Cleanup app that comes with Windows 10 (just type Disk Cleanup in your search box).

After doing those three things I went to backup and started it again. Worked fine with no alerts about virus.


The tools Norton mentioned are fairly popular. Ccleaner is good at digging out all the caches in the %userprofile%'s %localappdata% directories. I prefer to do this manually myself, but the tool definitely works and is free too, so worth trying.

The other two tools do similar things: scanning for malware on your system.

I'm not a fan of SuperAntiSpyware though. While there are settings you can adjust, for the novice user it can be rather aggressive in pointing out cookies that it suggests removing, which in fact are just session cookies that save you the hassle of re-signing into websites or your online email etcetera. But that is just my opinion - again the tool is free and most certainly works - so if you feel like trying it don't let me persuade you. If you do not like it you can always uninstall it.