Windows Sec.Scan

[jonbar.1]

My Windows Sec.( monthly)Full scan usually takes 3-4hrs scanning around 1.6million files.
Why,today, did it take 5 hrs,scanning 2 million files?
Where did all the extra files come from?

[Joe22]

Hi jonbar.1
Suspect possible added progs/apps since last scan maybe the reason.
A bit of deleting/uninstalling of unwanted stuff will reduce the scan time.

[jonbar.1]

Thankyou Joe22.
Had not installed any extra stuff since previous scan.I am also a compulsive "deleter" of any unwanted stuff.My monthly scans usually take 3-4 hrs.
Another odd thing,by the way: when the scan ended, it simply said "No threats" " last scan not found". Usually it shows the number of files scanned and the length of time it took.It's as though the scan never happened. ,.... any thoughts?

[Enrique]

Good Morning jonbar.1,

Since you Posted I've been looking at getting you some answers/solutions ...............as its not a "feature" I use.


Meanwhile some light reading from Bill himself......................

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/micro ... ustom-scan

I many be some time..........

[jonbar.1]

Good morning to you too Enrique.
Thankyou, as always, for your response.

[jonbar.1]

Good morning to you too Enrique.
Thankyou, as always, for your response
Thanks for the link ; comprehensive scan info,which I will keep
I did notice,during the scan that a windows update was awaiting a restart....maybe that was significant?
Sorry about the false-start posting above!

[Enrique]

Hi jonbar.1,

If there is one thing from the link I Posted .............Please take note

" Because of the time and resources involved in a full scan, in general, we don't recommend scheduling full scans."

Have a look at ' Disk Clean-up' especially 'Clean up system files' ..............you may have large size in 'Windows Update Clean-up'

[jonbar.1]

Cheers Enrique.
I don't " schedule" full scans, I do one manually every month.
I have never had a problem until yesterday.
Sorry I don't understand what you mean by:
....."you may have large size in 'Windows Update Clean-up"

[jonbar.1]

Enrique. I have just started a "Windows Update Clean-up"
Have I done the right thing...I am very nervous!

[Enrique]

Hi jonbar.1,

So how much space did you get back from running Disk-cleanup ...... Clean up system files ...............

I ran it on my C drive and it cleared out 7GB ........ 6.9GB being old system update files.

[jonbar.1]

Sorry Enrique.
I didn't finish the process.I needed to go out.I understood that it takes 1.5 hrs to complete,so I cancelled it.
I'm not worried about saving a bit more space,I'm more interested in finding out why my attempted Full Scan showed no results,in the first place.I'll probably forget about it and see what happens when I do next months scan.
Cheers again.

[Enrique]

Hi jonbar.1,

"I understood that it takes 1.5 hrs to complete" ...........you must have a dog of a system. Mine took 7 mins.

You could have left it running..........

A Full Scan will Scan all connected disks........ so if you had a USB backup drive connected it would have done that as well.

"I'm not worried about saving a bit more space"............less space used, less files to Scan.............

[jonbar.1]

Thanks Enrique.
When I googled time taken to do the Windows update clean, the info was that it took up to 1.5 hours.( you always said to me ," check Google first!)
It had only been running for 5 mins but because I was going out, and wanted to see how the process progressed, as I have never done it before.
I'm probably not going to try it again.
......but,I would still like to find the answer to my question: why did the last Full Scan not show the scan details,Instead said: "No Threats" "Last Scan Not Found" ??
I will have a word with Microsoft.They should know.( they're surprisingly easy to contact despite their size!)
Cheers JB