Speedy scan

[Tenacious P]

For reasons best known to itself, my spybot scan is taking less than 3 seconds to do a full computer scan. Before last week's update (3rd December) it would usually take upwards of half an hour to do the same thing.
The normal post scan results are displayed.

Can anyone tell me if this is anything to be concerned about?

Thanks in advance.

[drragostea]

That sounds a bit odd . The "Scan for Problems" when you open Spybot or the Windows Explorer scanner? Are you presented with a "Congratulations, no problems were detected!" banner?

What version is Spybot-Search&Destroy (Help>About)?

[Tenacious P]

Hi there. Thanks for responding. Yes it's the "scan for problems" option on the spybot scanner & yes I do get the " congratulations, no problems were detected" message at the end of it. I'm running spybot version 1.6.0.31 & my last update was on 10th December.

[md usa spybot fan]

Tenacious P:

Go into Spybot > Mode > Advanced mode > Settings > File Sets. Make sure that everything is checked except the last two items which are for usage tracking. To do that easily, right click on the file sets list and select "Spyware check only".

Then click "Spybot-S&D" in the left hand pane followed by clicking on the "Search & Destroy" button. Start a scan by checking on the "Check for problems" in the right hand pane.

During the running of a Spybot scan ("Check for problems") the status bar in the lower left hand corner of the screen shows the following:
[list][*]"Running bot-check(xxxxx/yyyyy:zzzzzz)" where:

• xxxxx = Current check count.
• yyyyy = Total check count.
• zzzzz = Malware check being performed.

The total check count (yyyyy value) should be 349278 after the 2008-12-10. What is your scan showing?

[Tenacious P]

Hi Spybot Fan

Thanks for the detailed directions. After checking all the boxes you suggested under the "File Sets" option & performing a scan, it is now back to normal speed. I hadn't changed any of the options myself so it seems odd that it should have done this.
Anyway to answer your question: The "yyyyy" value I have is slightly higher than the one you posted at 350701. Is this ok or have I somehow managed to completely mess everything up?

Many thanks for your help with this.

[drragostea]

I can't be sure, but have you been downloading beta updates?

[md usa spybot fan]

Tenacious P:

It sounds like drragostea hit the nail on the head. The inclusion of the Beta.sbi file in the scan would add 1423 to the scan count (349278 + 1423 = 350701).

[Tenacious P]

Yeah I have. Am I not supposed to then? Does downloading beta updates cause the symptoms I have been having?

[drragostea]

I'm not saying that you "can't", of course anyone can . It's just that beta updates are just new updates that aren't released to the public yet, so it's like they're are still in testing. Downloading beta updates are a way for testing for false positive.

If your "symptoms" is the "speedy" scan, then I can't really tell you much about it. I don't think that it's the beta updates that is causing it, because after all it is just merely an update.

[Tenacious P]

Well after Spybot fan's suggestions all seems to now be ok & the scan is back to standard speed. But thanks very much to you both for all your help