Virus check time

S

stuart

Registered User
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Any suggestions on who long a virus check should take?

Machine is a compaq pressario 2100, about 2.5 years old
Intel Celeron 2.00 ghz, 1.99 ghz, 192MB of RAM

Around 235,000 files checked in total, run once/twice a week
Live update run once a week also
Latest version of Norton Anti-virus

Not sure how much of aboev is relevant

Currently taking 1.5-1.75 hours when left alone, no other programs running

I have checked for disk clean-up and defragmenting hardrive and neither are recommended from the tests

stuart@buyingtolet.ie
 
That sounds a bit on the slow side, for the processor you have. How big is the hard drive, and how 'full' is it? Anything over 75% could slow performance generally.

Also, I'd recommend running a disk clean-up and defrag anyway, even if Windows tells you it's not necessary - but if the HDD is very full and/or you haven't done it in a while, the defrag may take a few hours, too!
 
How big is the hard drive and what percentage is free? Virus checking is most I/O bound rather than processor bound so the speed and size of the hard drive (and related components) is probably of more relevace than the speed of the processor.
 
Norton should be doing real time protection (checking files as they are opened, run, modified, backed up, etc.) rather than full sweeps of all files, many of which will not have changed since the last scan - in which case running a full scan is not something you should have to do frequently. Look through the config and see if real time scanning is/can be enabled.
 
I find the "Stinger" excellent.

It's a standalone program, it's free and it will clean the most recent threats........

[broken link removed]
 
I've taken off a lot of programs that were hanging around
Defragged twice over the past few weeks and run a disk cleaup

I have also cleaned up the desktop and placed everything into foldes
(At the instruction of a pcworld employee)

The computer in general is running a lot quicker

Thanks for all the help
PS could cleaning up the desktop be of any relevance
 
Yes, best keep the desktop clean, especially if there are multiple users of the machine with their own profiles. Every time you start up or shut down, the system has to load or save the contents of the desktop and their position, etc.

Leo
 
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