Windows Defender Antimalware and MS Access data corruption

[Guest SueBaske]

I have entered the wrong topic here because there is no option to select (say) 'Interaction with other applications'.

 

I am in the process of developing a very complex Access database for use by a local charity. It is going to plan except for the fact that, although I have designated as ‘Trusted’ the folder and subfolders where the data is stored, whenever Windows Defender Antimalware runs while data is being input, the record being updated becomes corrupted.

 

The problem happens no matter whether I am working offline on the test data on my own laptop or whether someone else is doing the input on the LAN on their PC, connected to the live back end database.

 

Whilst the database is being developed with test data this has been an irritation; but once the database is in daily use it will lead to great inconvenience as the corrupted record will have to be re-input, with the result that all the records on related tables will have to be reassigned to the new Autonumber ID of the record that was corrupted.

 

I contacted Microsoft Support Team about the problem some months ago (sorry, can’t find the case number), and today have contacted them again (case number 1392066640). The only suggestion I have had from Microsoft was to disable Antimalware, which seemed to stop the problem but is obviously not an option as it compromises security on the database, which would make the data vulnerable to hacking. It has not happened recently so I thought the problem had been sorted but it is still happening and I am getting very frustrated as the time is coming near when the database will be in everyday use.

 

The technical details of my laptop are as follows:

 

Processor AMD A10-9600P RADEON R5, 10 COMPUTE CORES 4C +6G 2.40 GHz

 

Installed memory 8.00 GB (7.39 GB usable)

System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

Windows edition Windows 10 Home 2017 (activated)

MS Office edition Office 365 Home & Student, 5-user (2 used)

Office account *** Email address is removed for privacy *** (automatic renewal due 4th August 2017)

Office version Microsoft Office 2016

 

 

 

The error was generated during input to a text field on the Comments short text field of a particular record: after clicking OK and hitting the Esc key, the original data reappeared in the front end but on viewing the back end table, the field contained 3 symbol characters. The symbols disappeared as soon as OK was clicked on the error message, but I think they might have been ΠΠἳ.

 

The Microsoft Access error message generated was: “Cannot open database “ [the database name is shown only as ‘’]. It may not be a database that your application recognizes, or the file may be corrupt”.

 

I have written a document showing a screenshot of the error and documenting in detail what I have tried to do to diagnose the problem. If you contact me I could send it.

 

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