AVAST DLL has overwritten Excel file

[Steve590]

Recently lost access to one of my Excel files and managed to recover the file with Recuva software.  It reports that the file has been overwritten by 'C:\Program Files\AVAST Software\Avast\defs\20010300\aswCmnBS.dll.  Has anyone else had any similar problems, I lost a lot of data in this spreadsheet and would like to recover it. I did not move or delete this file myself so I don't know why its been overwritten.

[Cluster-Lizard2014]

The file must have been deleted (ie. marked as free space) by something but the fact Recuva reports it is over-written by an AVAST file does not necessarily mean it was the culprit.

I just had a quick check on my PC and I too have what appears to be very similar AVAST "def" files and a number of other AVAST file types also cited by Recuva as those that has over-written other files. There are at least a couple of dozen of those.

If the file is not shown by Recuva marked as green, State: Excellent and with no over-written clusters then the chances of it recovering the file in full are very unlikely.

Recuva is usually reviewed as the best file recovery software available but if it can not help in this case then it might be worth trying others now:-

https://www.techradar.com/uk/best/best-free-file-recovery-software

I say this because like other Piriform software Recuva, Defraggler and Speccy have been inexcusably neglected by their new owners over recent years.   

 

[Pondus]

I say this because like other Piriform software Recuva, Defraggler and Speccy have been inexcusably neglected by their new owners over recent years.   

They are busy pushing other (payed for) software   

[Cluster-Lizard2014]

That would include the paid for versions of those programs too and when I last checked they have been similarly neglected.

I've posted elsewhere about the most up to date version of Speccy in particular. Apparently it uses a cpuz143 driver which is at least three years old now. It can not identify certain CPUs released since then correctly and reports system temperatures wrongly too.

[rocksteady]

@Steve590.
I know it is a bit late now you have lost data, but going forward I suggest you create a backup of your spreadsheet.
You can get Excel to always create a bakup file (.xlk) whenever you Save your spreadsheet.
In Excel, go: Save As > Tools > General Options > then click [ ] Always Create Backup.
You can direct the backup file to be saved on a different drive if you distrust your default drive.