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DeclanGray's avatar
DeclanGray
Iron Contributor
Apr 18, 2025

Cannot clean WinDefender files ?

I use Norton 360 instead of win defender. For some reason it appear to be running anyway. When I run BleachBit, I get a series of errors like this:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "bleachbit\Command.pyo", line 94, in execute
File "bleachbit\Windows.pyo", line 180, in delete_locked_file
PermissionError: [WinError 5] Access is denied.
Delete 11.2kB C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows Defender\Scans\History\Results\Quick\{89A2A8C4-B731-4CBD-9452-3EB401855C75}
exception when deleting locked file C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows Defender\Scans\History\Results\Quick\{A7A828A6-2B86-4622-93BA-BB1CCD59C72E}
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "bleachbit\Command.pyo", line 86, in execute
File "bleachbit\FileUtilities.pyo", line 404, in delete
PermissionError: [WinError 5] Access is denied: '\\\\?\\C:\\ProgramData\\Microsoft\\Windows Defender\\Scans\\History\\Results\\Quick\\{A7A828A6-2B86-4622-93BA-BB1CCD59C72E}'

What can be done to kill defender and get rid of the trash?

1 Reply

  • ElliottHayes's avatar
    ElliottHayes
    Iron Contributor

    Right-click on the BleachBit icon and choose Run as administrator. This will give BleachBit the permissions needed to delete protected files.

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