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victorsmiller
Former Member
Message 1 of 8

Why does Viruscan take over 3 days to complete?

I'm using security center 9.15 with virusscan 13.15.  I'm running a PC desktop with windows XP SP3, with a 200MB hard disk and 2 GB main memory.  I run virus scan once a week, but it always takes at least 72 hours to complete!  During this time it's almost impossible to get anything else done on my computer, since it seems to be slowed to a crawl.  I've defragged my disk (religiously) but that doesn't seem to make any difference.  Why is virusscan so **** slow?

Victor

7 Replies
exbrit
MVP
MVP
Message 2 of 8

Re: Why does Viruscan take over 3 days to complete?

200mb hard disk...do you mean 200gb?   I can only assume that you have a lot of zipped files on your drive.  Have you ever compressed the drive perhaps?

victorsmiller
Former Member
Message 3 of 8

Re: Why does Viruscan take over 3 days to complete?

Sorry, I meant 200gb.  No, the disk isn't compressed.  By contrast I've tried Prevx CSI anti virus, and the entire disk scan takes 16 minutes.  The current scan started on Friday night at midnight, and it's still going right now, and only 19% complete.

Victor

exbrit
MVP
MVP
Message 4 of 8

Re: Why does Viruscan take over 3 days to complete?

Something is wrong with perhaps.  It certainly should be doing that.  I suggest you contact Technical Support Chat and open a case, escalate it if necessary.  They can connect with your machine if necessary.

victorsmiller
Former Member
Message 5 of 8

Re: Why does Viruscan take over 3 days to complete?

Thanks, I'll try that again.  I did it about a year ago.  The only thing that tech support did was to have me run virusscan in safe mode.  That ran a bit faster -- it only took 8 hours!  Even so, that's both inconvenient (I don't really want to have to go into safe mode for 8 hours in order to run virusscan) and I don't think that that's really a solution.  The processor I'm using is a 2.94 Ghz Pentium 4.

Victor

exbrit
MVP
MVP
Message 6 of 8

Re: Why does Viruscan take over 3 days to complete?

With what you've got it shouldn't be nearly as slow.  But even on my Core-i7 @ 3.87ghz, 12gb RAM and 2 TB HDD x64 system it takes 2 - 3 hours.  Not that I run it very often.

It can make a lot of difference if you have, as I said earlier, a lot of zipped or encrypted files because it has to unpack each one in order to scan.  It also can be caused by disk read errors so it might be a good idea to check the hard drive for errors.

Go to Start/Run and enter Cmd.exe and click Enter.

In the Command prompt windows type in chkdsk C: /r (with the spaces and assuming its volume C:, if not change that) then click Enter.

It will error out saying volume is in use, check at next reboot Y/N?   Type in Y and click Enter then quit the Command Prompt.

Reboot and let the disk check proceed.  It can take some time.

It also can take longer if you the "Use Minimal Resources" checked in the configuration.

Open SecurityCenter

Click Advanced Menu (bottom)

Click Configure (left)

Click Computer & Files (top left)

Click Advanced (right)

Click Custom Scan (left)

See the pic below (click to enlarge) and it may be a better idea to only do a custom scan in future rather than a scheduled one as the latter will do a full scan regardless of settings.  (We are pleading with McAfee to introduce more flexibility in the settings).

Capture.JPG

Message was edited by: Ex_Brit on 24/01/10 1:04:49 EST PM
victorsmiller
Former Member
Message 7 of 8

Re: Why does Viruscan take over 3 days to complete?

Thanks, I changed McAfee to uncheck the "scan using minimal resources" and the virusscan went from 21% complete after 40 hours, to completing in another 2 hours.

Victor

exbrit
MVP
MVP
Message 8 of 8

Re: Why does Viruscan take over 3 days to complete?

You mean 42 hours?  Did you stop the scan first before you changed the settings because they wouldn't take effect until the next start?

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