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Re: Old files in Dropbox cache seems to be with virus, is it safe to manual delete that?

Old files in Dropbox cache seems to be with virus, is it safe to manual delete that?

Patricia Fernandes
Explorer | Level 4
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Everytime the antivirus program scans my computer it indicates infected files in the Old Files folder in the Dropbox cache. It is possible? Is it safe to delete these files manually?

1 Accepted Solution

Accepted Solutions

Rich
Super User II
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@Patricia Fernandes wrote:

Everytime the antivirus program scans my computer it indicates infected files in the Old Files folder in the Dropbox cache. It is possible? Is it safe to delete these files manually?


It's likely a false positive. It happens often because the files in cache are fragments, not complete files, and many antivirus packages detect certain fragments as a virus. You can delete the files, but Dropbox will just recreate them as necessary, and if you delete them while syncing, the sync will need to start over. Best to just just leave them alone and add your .dropbox.cache folder to the exclusions list in your antivirus software.

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2 Replies 2

Rich
Super User II
Go to solution

@Patricia Fernandes wrote:

Everytime the antivirus program scans my computer it indicates infected files in the Old Files folder in the Dropbox cache. It is possible? Is it safe to delete these files manually?


It's likely a false positive. It happens often because the files in cache are fragments, not complete files, and many antivirus packages detect certain fragments as a virus. You can delete the files, but Dropbox will just recreate them as necessary, and if you delete them while syncing, the sync will need to start over. Best to just just leave them alone and add your .dropbox.cache folder to the exclusions list in your antivirus software.

Patricia Fernandes
Explorer | Level 4
Go to solution

Thank you, I will try this way.

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