Why do my virus scans take 5 to 6 hours????

My PC-Cillin anti virus program was driving me crazy because it would take 5 hours to scan.  So it was about to expire and I decided to download AVG.  Well right now it has been running 4 1/2 hours so evidently it's not the program.  What is up with this??  Help!!!

[Global Moderator]

It pretty much depends on how many files you have in your drive.
How much space have you used in your drive? For example, 20GB out of 40GB

How do I determine that?

go to my computer - right click the drive - select properties.
a diagram will shown 

122 gb free space

[Global Moderator]

how much free space?

122 GB free?how big is the HDD?
depending on how big the drive, your computer speed and running programs that's possible.

1.  Defrag the file system before running the anti-virus / anti-malware scans.  These scans check files one by one for malware.  If each file is stored in one contiguous cluster block it takes less disk accesses to retrieve the file.  If the file is stored in clusters scattered all over the disk, it can take many disk accesses to retrieve the file.

2.  Before you "defrag" the file system, it's a good idea to check the integrity of the file system before you start moving files around on the disk.  You should also periodically check the integrity of the disk surface (identifying and marking bad sectors so you can avoid them).

3.  You may also cleanup your file system by removing unnecessary programs (uninstalling?), clearing out the contents of temporary directories, and clearing your browser caches.  The less junk on your system, the fewer files your anti-malware software has to thumb through.

4.  Cleaning, error checking, and defragging your file system (in that order) are standard maintenance functions that you need to perform on a regular basis to keep your system working well.  If it's been a long time (or forever) since you've performed these functions, you could probably reduce your anti-virus scan time to half of what it is now.

5.  The "Help" function of your Windows operating system should provide information and directions towards performing these functions.

[Moderator]

My scans run while i'm asleep.
AVG does have a schedule feature. In the main window click on scheduler and then Edit...you can change this to any time.
Mine updates at 3AM and runs at 4AM...the only 2 hours i'm not awake.

4 1/2 hours is a lot. It shouldn't take that long. Start with dahlarbear's advice.

My PC-Cillin anti virus program was driving me crazy because it would take 5 hours to scan.  So it was about to expire and I decided to download AVG.  Well right now it has been running 4 1/2 hours so evidently it's not the program.  What is up with this??  Help!!!

Your scan time is also dependent on the "power" of your computer:
    o  Processor Type and Speed (CPU)
    o  Amount of L1, L2 Cache
    o  Front Side Bus Speed
    o  Amount of Main Memory
    o  Disk Access Speed
    o  Version of Operating System
    o  Number and Type of Files to scan

The point I'm trying to make is if you're using an older computer with the minimum amount of memory the factory put in, it's going to be a "dog"; a faithful dog maybe, but still a dog.

Having said all of that, I'm confident that you can reduce the scan time significantly if you keep your file system "defragged" and in good shape.

Okay here comes some more dumb questions.  My computer is only two years old.  I have 122 gb of free space. I have cable hookup.  When I had this computer set up I had the "computer guy" take out the hard drive from my old computer and put it into the new one to use as a backup file.  That drive is now full but I'm thinking when the virus scan is going it's scanning that whole drive too which probably isn't needed.  When I set up the scan should I just set to just scan drive C?  I did that the other day to test it and it only took two hours. 

Hopefully someone, who uses PC-cillin will come up here to help with those settings.

http://www.hackfix.org/software/configure/pccillin.html

With Pc-cillin open you are presented with a side bar of options, some options can be
configured here and others must be done via the top toolbar.

Side Bar options: (these options are also found in the top toolbar under File)

Scan:  This is where you can perform manual scans as required or set up scheduled
scans.

Scan wizard is your manual scan wizard.  Regardless of what you are scanning
(file/folder/system etc) the settings should Always include:

Under scan options.  All files and include boot sector should be selected
Under action when found: clean is the best option, be sure "back up files before
cleaning" Is selected.
Under action on uncleanable files: select Quarantine so files can be researched if
need be.
Select Apply to save your changes.

Web trap: This is where your web browser and web downloads protection is enabled.

Scan manager is to schedule scans on a timed basis.  Set as desired.

Broni I don't have PC-cillin anymore as previously stated.  I have AVG.

Oh, OK...sorry. With AVG, you right click on AVG taskbar icon, then click "Launch AVG Test Center". When it opens, you click on "Scan selected areas", not "Scan Computer", if you want to scan just one of your two HDs.

Thank you!

 

IS YOUR SYSTEM CLEAN? MY SYSTEM IS OLDER PRESARIO / SEMPRON 3000+ / 1gB MEMORY / 250 GB SEAGATE HDD....NOT A ROCKET BY ANY STRETCH OF THE IMAGINATION, HOWEVER IT RUNS GREAT AND AVG SCANS GREAT BECAUSE I CLEAN IT CONSISTENTLY.

NORMAL PROCEDURE IS WHEN EVER I GET OFF OF INTERNET (DSL), I WILL RUN CCLEANER.......WEB TRACKS ERASER.....I USED TO RUN REGISTRY MECHANIC, WHICH IS A PRETTY GOOD PROGRAM, BUT CCLEANER SEEMS TO DO ME A GOOD JOB.  I ALSO USE AUSLOGICS DISK DEFRAG (MUCH BETTER THAN WINDOWS IN MY OPINION).

I WENT INTO MY FILES AND ELIMINATED ANYTHING THAT I KNEW I WOULD NOT USE, SUCH AS GAMES, TRIAL OFFICE PROGRAMS, ETC.  NORMALLY IT TAKES ABOUT 2-3 MINUTES TO DEFRAG; 1/4 TO 1 SECOND TO RUN CCLEANER; AND WEB TRACKS ERASER RUNS IN LESS THAN I/2 SECOND................THE KEY IS DOING THIS OFTEN AND CONSISTENT.  SURE, IT IS NOT REQUIRED THIS OFTEN, BUT ONCE THE SYSTEM IS CLEAN, KEEP IT THAT WAY. 

I BELIEVE THAT MOST OF YOUR PROBLEM IS REGISTRY RELATED......I USE THIS ILLUSTRATION WHEN TALKING TO LAYMEN ABOUT REGISTRY.........IF I TAKE ALL OF THE SPADES OUT OF A DECK OF CARDS, AND PUT THEM IN ORDER....THEN I TELL YOU TO GIVE ME THE QUEEN OF SPADES; YOU CAN ALMOST INSTANTLY PERFORM IT.  HOWEVER, IF I SHUFFLE THEM BACK IN THE DECK AND ASK YOU TO PERFORM THE SAME FUNCTION.......YOU CAN STILL DO IT, BUT IT WILL TAKE YOU MUCH LONGER.....UNDERSTAND?

ONE MORE THING IS MEMORY; I WOULD RECOMMMEND THAT YOU NEVER EXCEED 50-55% OF YOUR MEMORY CAPACITY.  I KNOW IT IS THERE, BUT IT IS "EASIER TO RUN THROUGH A ROOM THAT HAS ONLY A FEW OCCUPANTS, THAN IT IS TO RUN THROUGH A CROWDED ROOM"

I RECENTLY DID A REGISTRY CLEAN ON MY DAUGHTER'S COMPUTER AND SHE HAD NEVER DONE THIS, AND IT TOOK REGISTRY MECHANIC ALMOST AN HOUR TO SCAN HER SYSTEM; BUT IT REVEALED OVER 60K TEMPORARY FILES....SHE'S A CHAT AND EBAY FANATIC.  I GUESS OVERALL, ONCE YOU GET IT CLEANED, GET INTO THE HABIT OF REGULAR MAINTENANCE.

[Mod & Malware Specialist]

122 gb of free space.

But how much total space do you have?  In My Computer, it typically lists Free Space and Total Size.

[Global Moderator]

If you're using 80% of your hard drive with over 500,000 files, the scan is going to take a very long time (maybe hours) to scan them all for viruses.
This is basically what we are trying to ask. It is possible the antivuris is taking a long time because you are using a lot of space in your Hard Disk.

[Moderator]

gator,

You may want to do a scan for the capslock_virii.exe....

You guys are way over my head but let me just give some info.

free space - 122 GB
used - 19.6 GB
Capacity - 142 GB

I defrag once a week, run Ad-aware every day.  I make sure my windows updates are up to date.  I run Max Registry Cleaner once a week.  I get rid of cookies and temp files once a week.

I have asked this question in another thread.  If I do a search for pictures...in other words go to search and click on pictures.....I have over 44,000 of them.  I have no idea where these pictures came from.  They are logos, smiley faces...hundreds of them, square, circles, squigglies anything you can imagine are in there.  Someone told me don't delete them because they might mess up some programs but I'm thinking maybe the scans are checking out these 44,000 pictures and why are they there?

There is no way to tell where those pictures are from. We checked your computer for malwares, and right now it appears to be clean, so I doubt anything malicious is lurking around your computer.
As I said in other thread, your only way to find out what those pictures are is to open them one-by-one.
To make things easier for you...any graphic file, which is not in Windows, or Program Files directory should be safe to delete, unless you saved your own picture collection somewhere on your computer.

ok thanks broni

[Mod & Malware Specialist]

When going through your pictures, Picasa may be helpful.

My  free program Avira Antivir takes over 3 and 1/2 hours, I run it at 12 mid when things are slow, so its not the end of the world. I do have a lot of files.  Funny thing is, I'd rather have a slow free program that stays in the background than a high priced program that gets in my way all of the time by slowing down my pc......Its your choice.......

swalerroe7ab

Welcome aboard

You need to start your own topic.