My computer is four years old and has a 2 GHz processor. I use Windows XP Pro. When I bought the computer I subscribed to Norton Internet Security and I have kept this subscription current since then. I can remember that, when I had about 40,000 files on my hard drive, a full system scan using Norton's anti-virus scanner took about thirty minutes. Now I have 169,000 files which take up 31GB of my hard drive. I just finished running a full system scan. Nothing bad was found, but the complete scan took fourteen and a half hours. I can still use the computer while the scan is going on, but it slows down noticeably. Is it typical for a scan to take so long? I know that I have more to scan now, and that the number of known viruses, worms, spyware, etc. to look for is always increasing, but I just want to know whether this is excessive. Thanks for any info you can provide.
2006-10-11 10:56:31 · 12 answers · asked by wild_turkey_willie 5 in Computers & Internet ➔ Security
You are right, 14 hours sounds like a very long time. I am sure that mine takes about 1.5 hours, with about the about the same amount of precious archives. You might consider rebooting into SAFE mode and running a scan to see if it is MUCH shorter.
I'm running a 3GHz P4 with 512MB of RAM. Just maybe, everyone with Windows 2000/XP should be working with 512MB of RAM at this point.
2006-10-11 11:01:23 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
2
2016-08-21 04:00:21 · answer #2 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That is a long time. It may be that it was cleaning up viruses. What I would do is to make sure I ran a spyware program to get rid of programs I didn't want. Also delete your cookies and temporary internet files. That will give your program fewer files to scan. You can also delete unwanted files, but be careful you don't take away any shared files.
You can also try to defrag your computer. This will make it run more efficiently, and make it easier for Norton to find your files.
I found that Norton did slow down my system a lot and I don't use it anymore.
2006-10-11 11:18:53 · answer #3 · answered by Don't Know 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
That depends on the software package you use. You can download a free version of AVG (go to their website grisoft.com) and with my 80 gig hard drive it takes a bit over 20 minutes. Never timed it with a stopwatch or anything. It caught one virus in the 6 months I've had it and there was no problem. Put it in Vault and Deleted and that was the end of a problem that didn't happen. By the way my hard drive is about half full.
2006-10-11 10:59:49 · answer #4 · answered by Marissa 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I have over 200.000 files that approx 27GB and my anti-virus scanner takes only 10 minutes to complete the whole scan..I have 2GB Ram Dual Core Intel Pentium 4 DDR and Panda 2007 Anti-Virus prog
2006-10-11 11:08:24 · answer #5 · answered by ★HigHTƹcH★ 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I don't believe that a computer scan should take that long under any circumances. I believe that the most a computer scan should take is one hour and that's a long time! I think that you should call Norton Security and tell them that your computer scan takes 14 hrs. and see what they say. I think you should call them immediately because there maybe a virus that blocks computer scans of such...
CALL NORTON SECURITY!
2006-10-11 11:11:24 · answer #6 · answered by TOMUCH IS GIVEN MUCH IS REQUIRED 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
hi, i recommand you to use a more powerful and easy to use security suite. CA eTrust Internet Security Suite
CA's eTrust Internet Security Suite R2 offers a powerful set of tools to thwart all kinds of online mayhem. Like its better-known competitors Symantec Norton Internet Security 2006 and McAfee Internet Security Suite 2006, eTrust Internet Security Suite blocks phishing attempts, criminal hacker intrusions, and pop-up ads; quarantines spam; stops spyware; and keeps the kids off objectionable Web sites. Its new interface is attractive and, despite a few minor quirks, easy to navigate. Best of all, its virus scans are fast and its full-system scans won't bring your PC to its knees.
You can get a detailed slidshow of CA eTrust Internet Security Suite in here:
http://network.sitesled.com/internet-security/
Best Wishes && Good Luck!
2006-10-11 14:39:15 · answer #7 · answered by virus.geek 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋
I think that is excessive.
Try these. They work and they are free:
Run the tool and then download the free spyware and virus protection programs:
Malicious virus removal tool:
http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwar...
Ad-Aware Free download:
http://www.lavasoft.de/software/adaware/...
AVG Download free
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1
Good Luck
2006-10-11 11:00:16 · answer #8 · answered by phy333 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Use CCleaner to clean the unwanted log files, cookies etc., That should help you to speed up the process. It is a freeware.
Hope this helps.
2006-10-11 11:03:34 · answer #9 · answered by Nalli 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
depends on the virus program and the amount of files.
2006-10-11 11:05:32 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋