utorrent Hash: element not found

Problem:

I keep getting Hash: Element not found errors.

Technical Details:

• uTorrent 3.2.3 (latest as of this writing)
  • Running about 30 Torrents (all downloading)
• Win 7 64 bit
• Dell N5050 :sigh:

Symptoms:

• Force recheck is disabled (sometimes)
• When I resume the torrent, as it halts when this happens, it proceeds smoothly until the next Hash: Element not found error
  • It doesn't happen at a particular %age

Solutions Attempted:

Searched online a lot to find a few below

1. Re-download elsewhere. Set download folder and change it and re-download the torrent. NO! DOESN'T WORK! and its FRUSTRATING that I'd to DELETE my 90% downloaded torrent!!
2. Good 'ol thump. Swear at the screen making heavy fist thumps and hand gestures. Surprisingly, this doesn't work!
3. Force recheck. Doesn't help and sometimes not available.
4. Disk I/O errors. Came across an article which said this might due to Disk I/O errors.
   • Realized I was using a DELL laptop
   • Realized HDD had failed on a previous DELL
   • Tried Solution #2 again. Same results.
   • Seemed like the most likely explanation to the problem, hence read articles about HDD checking and downloaded a few suggested softwares to check HDD Health
   • Interestingly, the HDD was a OK

None of these worked!

The working solution turned out to be pretty simple.

Check your Anti-Virus!

My antivirus was quietly quarantining a few suspected files.

Added those files to the exclusion list.

All is well again.