Using Avast Free Antivirus to Scan an External Hard Drive

Avast is a very powerful free antivirus program designed for the Windows operating system. When you perform a general scan of your computer, the program analyzes all of the files on your primary hard drive for traces of viruses and malware. The problem is that viruses aren’t just exclusive to your primary hard drive – other external storage devices like an external hard drive can be infected as well. You can use the Avast free antivirus software to perform a full scan of any external hard drive you own. You just have to configure the program in a very particular way to allow this to happen.

Step 1

Plug any external hard drive or USB flash drive that you want to scan for viruses into your computer. If you are scanning a USB flash drive, plug that flash drive into a USB port. If you are scanning an external hard drive, use the drive’s USB cable to attach it to your computer. Remember that most external hard drives also require an external power source, so be sure to plug the drive’s power cable into a wall outlet before continuing.

Step 2

Open the Avast free antivirus software on your computer. You can use either the desktop shortcut icon that was created during the program’s installation or the icon in the “Avast Free Antivirus” folder of your computer’s “Start” menu.

Step 3

Click the button labeled “Scan Computer” on the left side of the Avast program’s main menu. The window that opens on screen will feature controls that allow you to scan your hard drive for viruses and malware in a number of different ways.

Step 4

Locate the section of the window on screen that reads “Removable media scan.” This section allows you to simultaneously scan all removable and external storage drives on your computer. Click the button labeled “More Details” to expand this section.

Step 5

Click the button labeled “Start” in the “Removable media scan” section of the window on screen. The Avast software will now scan all of the external and removable drives connected to your computer. Any viruses or other types of infected files that are identified will be immediately quarantined by the program. Wait patiently for the scan to complete to get a detailed breakdown of everything that the program found on the selected drives.