.nofollow folder | Deep Scan taking forever with it

Capybara · 2025-06-14T17:17:48+00:00

There was an error rendering this rich post.

Bonjour !

When doing a deep scan, Bitfender Virus Scanner (Mac OS / Sequoia) takes several hours to scan an invisible folder calles .nofollow. Which appears empty even when your turn on system files visibility.

It looks like this mysterious folder contains a copy of my entire computer. But invisibly.

Does anyone know what is this folder ? Some sources say Bitfender creates it. What is it for ? Can it be safely just deleted ? Yes you can add it to exclusions but now we're playing a guessing game of might it contain trojans/viruses one day or shall we take a chance, which should not really be the point when doing a Deep Scan.

Thanks !

Find more posts tagged with

Comments

Flexx

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/104381/nofollow-folder-deep-scan-taking-forever-with-it

Kindly contact Bitdefender support by visiting https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/help/

Select, How to's & Troubleshooting Bitdefender products→Troubleshooting→I don't know→Contact Support→ You will get the option of chat, call or email.

To get an immediate update, kindly use the chat option. Also, ensure that no ad blockers or privacy extensions are enabled in your web browser, as they may prevent the chat window from appearing.

Bitdefender support may request diagnostic logs and will guide you through the process of generating them.

Regards

Alexandru_BD

Hello @Capybara,

Apparently, this can be solved by adding the path /.nofollow to the exceptions. Open the Bitdefender UI, go to Protection → Antivirus, click on the Open button in the Exceptions section, then in the window that opens click on the + sign below the list - to add something to the list - then type cmd + shift + C using the keyboard, and from the list choose the internal disk (Macintosh HD), then type cmd + shift + . (period) to see hidden files/folders. nofollow appears in the list of folders, click on it to select it, then click on the Open button.

This topic has been previously discussed here:

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/102863/10-2-1-5-on-macos-ventura-scan-management

(click on 'view post' and scroll down to view the comments).

I hope this helps.