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

[pepper]

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!!!

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

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

[pepper]

How do I determine that?

[kuszmania9999]

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

[pepper]

122 gb free space

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

how much free space?

[kuszmania9999]

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

[dahlarbear]

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.

[patio]

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.

[Broni]

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

[dahlarbear]

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.

[pepper]

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. 

[Broni]

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

[Broni]

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.

[pepper]

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