I was logged in as administrator. Any specific file I tried to run a scan on in the c: drive in the MyDocuments folder would result in this message, if that answers the question about which folder and location this occured. But even attempting to run a full-system scan of the C and D drive would produce the message blocking me from running it. So it seemed that any file or folder would be blocked, because I tried a few individually as well.
I'm using Windows XP, if that's what refers to the operational system.
I downloaded avast! last year, and it says 4.7, but I'm not sure if that implies 4.7.892. Is that distinct, or the same as what's simply displayed as 4.7 when I run the program?
But what developed today was that I deleted a file I had downloaded just when the problem started, which I had suspected had something to do with it because of the timing, and then the issue with avast just went away. It worked normally as soon as I got rid of that file. I wonder, is there a type of virus that blocks access to your virus scanner? But I had opened the file, so I would have thought that if it contained a virus it would have gotten into the computer and stayed regardless of whether I deleted the file it came in on. Strange. Because if it stops blocking the scanner, I can then run a test and find it. What would be the point?
I'm interested to hear what you have to say about this. Even though the problem just went away, thanks for the assist.