How Do I Stop Norton from Deleting Files Automatically?

Why does Norton keep deleting files?

Norton products, including Norton 360, Norton Antivirus, and Norton Security, are antivirus and privacy protection software. They are famous for their powerful anti-malware engine and a vast range of internet security tools. Norton is a great antivirus, but it isn't perfect.

The full scanning and real-time protection provided by Norton for computers stop malicious files, but at the same time, they also sometimes incorrectly block downloads or delete files or applications that have been wrongly identified as harmful. How to stop Norton from deleting files? How to recover deleted downloads or other files? Go over this article and see what you should do.

How do I stop Norton from deleting files automatically?

How to stop Norton from removing files? There are two useful tips for you to prevent Norton from deleting files or folders and blocking downloads effectively.

Way 1. Excluding files or folders from scanning on Norton

Typically, Norton security products scan and remove files that are marked as harmful or have been marked as harmful due to poor reputation. If you are sure the files are safe, you can exclude them from Norton scanning. The following takes how to stop Norton from deleting exe files as an example to show you the detailed steps.

Step 1. Launch the Norton antivirus and click Settings under Security.

Step 2. Click on Antivirus, then choose Scans and Risks.

Step 3. Scroll down to find the Items to Exclude From Scans option and click on Configure [+].

Step 4. Hit Add Files and add exe files to exclude them from Norton scan. You can also click Add Folders to exclude a whole folder from the Norton scanning. Then, click OK.

Way 2. Disable Download Intelligence on Norton

Sometimes, when you download an obscure or lesser-known application, you might discover that the Norton antivirus blocks it. How to allow Norton to download a file? You could turn off Download Intelligence. Please learn how to stop Norton blocking downloads with the following guide.

Step 1. Right-click the Norton icon in the system tray to open it.

Step 2. Select Settings and click on Firewall.

Step 3. Choose Intrusion and Browser Protection. Move the On/Off switch next to Download Intelligence to the right to the Off position to disable malicious download detected on Norton.

Step 4. Then, press Apply to confirm it.

Note:✎...

In addition to Norton anti-virus software, Windows automatically deleting files can also probably be caused by Windows defender. If neither of the above methods works, you can check your Windows Defender settings to have a try.

How to restore deleted files from Norton antivirus

After learning the topic of how do I stop Norton from deleting files automatically, let’s have a look at restoring deleted files and programs. If you encounter the situation that the deleted files cannot be downloaded again, you can use the following two solutions to easily retrieve the files deleted by Norton.

Way 1. Restore removed files from quarantine

Generally, suspicious files and programs on your computer are not erased directly but are moved into a quarantine folder in Norton. All the quarantined items are isolated from your computer system to make sure that they cannot infect your computer.

The quarantined files, folders, and programs are available to restore or delete. If you want to know how to undo deleted files by Norton, here is what you can do.

Step 1. On Norton’s main screen, double-click Security, and then choose History.

Step 2. On the Security History page, open the drop-down menu next to Show, and select Quarantine.

Step 3. Pick the item you need to restore, then click Restore.

Note:✎...

You can also click on the Options button next Restore to do more with the quarantined files, like Restore & exclude the files and Remove the file from history.

Way 2. Recover permanently deleted files using professional recovery software

What if deleted files are not saved in quarantine? In this case, your files have been deleted from your computer hard drive completely. But don’t worry, you can use a professional data recovery tool to recover permanently deleted files with ease.

MyRecover is an easy-to-use recovery utility that allows you to retrieve recently and permanently deleted files in three simple steps. You can use it to recover files deleted by Norton, as well as other antivirus software like Avast Cleanup. It allows you to recover ZIP files, HTML files, Word documents, Excel files, pictures, videos, and more file formats.

It runs perfectly on Windows 11/10/8/7 and all Windows Servers, and you can install this recovery tool on your computer and recover your mistakenly deleted files now.

Step 1. Run the MyRecover software, hover the mouse over the hard drive/partition where the Norton-deleted files are located, and click Scan.

Step 2. Browse and preview the files you wish to recover. This tool offers file filter and file/folder search functions to help you find wanted items quickly.

Step 3. Check the files you want to restore and click on Recover x files at the right bottom. Then, select a saved path for the recovered files.

Apart from recovering files on computer, MyRecover also provides to retrieve files from SD cards, USB flash drives, external hard drives, HDDs, SSDs, and so forth.

The bottom line

After reading this guide, you must have known how do I stop Norton from deleting files automatically. Besides, you can also use quarantine recovery and data software recovery solutions to get back your deleted files with ease.