Defender scanning SSD. More files scanned than listed

[kbz1960]

Hi. I just got a new laptop and installed a 256gb SSD in it and have installed nothing but drivers etc. I'm running a full scan with defender and it has been running for 4:12 now and the bar has hardly moved past a quarter inch. I found a command to run that tells how many files on your disk. It list I have 249,048 files and defender has scanned 300,00 files so far.

Should it be running this long? Why is defender scanning more files than is listed in the command?

Thanks

 

[COMPUTIAC]

It would help to know what the exact command you used.

 

[kbz1960]

This one. dir /s /a-d c:\

The scan has been going for over 5 hours now.

 

[kbz1960]

I hate to stop it now since a new full scan will take forever too. I'm sure there is no viri or malware on it as it is brand new and all I did was update windows.

 

[kbz1960]

I finally canceled it. Ran superantispyware quick scan, 15 cookies. Malwarebytes quick scan, nothing. Ran ccleaner. Ran a quick scan with defender and it was done in no time. Started a full scan with defender again. Started at 444,000 some files and is still barley a quarter inch on the bar.

Might leave it run while I go to work. The laptop is set to not sleep. Seems it shouldn't take so long.

 

[kbz1960]

To update. It was done when I got home. A ton more files than the cmd prompt command listed. Guess at least it did finish. Not a clue how long it took.

 

[COMPUTIAC]

I don't understand why it would take so long to finish a scan.
Hopefully someone who has done this before will stop by over the weekend, with more advice.

 

[majulook]

Check the settings and the logs of defender to see whats going on.
Do you have defender set to scan inside of archive files such as zip and cab files (I believe this is the default setting). The CMD line you used will not open archives such as zip and cab archives to show files inside of them.

 

[kbz1960]

Hi, Where do I find the logs?

 

[whs]

Defender will find nothing anyhow. I recommend to scan with Malwarebytes. That is a powerful scanner that finds things - if there is something.

 

[CountMike]

Defender will find nothing anyhow. I recommend to scan with Malwarebytes. That is a powerful scanner that finds things - if there is something.

There are other, specialized anti malware programs you can use if you suspect something specific: Download Malware Removal & Repair Tools for Windows - MajorGeeks

 

[majulook]

While scanning with other tools is a good idea and a best practice, I believe the OP is wondering why defender sees more files than the CMD he ran.
If defender is set to scanning inside archives such as zip and cab that would explain defender seeing more files, since the CMD is just a file count that does not count files that are inside of archives such as zip and cab.

This is a very good setup and config explaination of defender for win 8 and 8.1 https://www.winhelp.us/configure-windows-defender-in-windows-8.html