Computer Crashes When Running Anti-Virus Software

by Dan Stone
Anti-virus programs like Norton and McAfee can crash during scans because of system problems.


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An anti-virus program crashing during a scan adds insult to injury: you're already trying to do right by removing malware infections. There's no stand-out cause for crashing during a virus scan; while the crash may be related to a problem with the anti-virus program itself, the anti-virus program could be triggering or aggravating another existing system problem to cause crashes. However, frequent system crashes are a symptom of malware infection.

Infected or Unstable Anti-Virus Program

Instability within the anti-virus program itself can take down the system. Malware infections can embed themselves within program code and cause programs, including anti-virus software, to malfunction. The anti-virus program may also be unstable because of damaged code: update errors and disk corruption can alter parts of the anti-virus program and trigger crashes. The program may also crash the system if you're running more than one anti-virus program at a time since they can attack each other, causing system stability problems and degraded protection. Reinstalling the program may fix the problem as well.

Driver and Hardware Problems

The anti-virus software may indirectly crash the system by aggravating a hardware compatibility or driver issue. Hardware conflicts typically aren't widespread because the errors are isolated to specific computer parts and specific programs. For example, one such issue involves Kaspersky PURE Release 2 and a dated version the ASUS Data Security Manager driver. You can work around hardware compatibility issues by updating the anti-virus program and drivers to the most recent version. Obtain updated drivers through Windows Update or the hardware manufacturer's website.

Infected Files and Hard Drive Error Crashes

An infected or corrupted file can confuse and crash the anti-virus program. Unfortunately, the anti-virus will not be able to clean or correct the damaged file during the scanning process. The file will have to be deleted, repaired or cleaned through an alternative method such as running an anti-malware scan with a program like SpyBot 2 or Malwarebytes. You may be able to partially scan your system and avoid triggering the crash by running a quick scan or identifying and excluding the infringing file from the scan. You can also try defragmenting the hard drive before running a scan to work around errors caused by slow data access. Returning the computer to a restore point may return damaged files to functional states.

Safe Mode and Repair Solutions

You may be able to complete the scan by removing crash-causing elements. Before running the scan, restart the computer and enter "Safe Mode with Networking" by holding "Shift" while selecting "Restart" from the sign-in screen power icon.. Safe Mode with Networking disables any non-essential functions, which may remove the crash cause and allow the anti-virus program to complete the scan. You may be able to fix other crash causes by running Wise Registry Cleaner, Chkdsk or a Windows Refresh Install.

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