View Full Version : Context scan option
Hi
Can I just say that the engine used to scan drives/folders/files using the context menu option is horrendously slow?
For instance I chose my second drive (aka D:) as the target drive for a scan, combined data no bigger than about 40GB. I right click on D, choose scan with S&D, then take a holiday to Tahiti. Should be finished by the time I get back! :sarcasm:
Does this appear to be the norm? Are the developers working on a way to improve these times, or is this by design?
Hi eagle13,
this scanner should be used for single files or folders with only some files. Moreover, this feature wasn't designed for whole drives. :nono:
md usa spybot fan
2009-05-15, 20:30
eagle13:
Additional information.
... then take a holiday to Tahiti. ...
Without even considering inviting me or any other people who help out on this site "... to Tahiti" ... !!! :nono:
The right click "Scan using Spybot-Search&Destroy" context menu feature is a heuristic scan looking for patterns within files and is not designed to scan a large number of files.
The normal Spybot scan is primarily looking for installed spyware and normally does not do an in-depth scan of every file on the primary drive or referenced secondary drives. As indicated in the follow FAQ it is mainly looking for active spyware agents or registry entries that indicate that spyware agents are, could be or were present. See:
Why is Spybot-S&D so fast?
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/faq/1.html
There are different ways to search for spies. One would be to search the complete registry and hard disk for suspicious entries and files which would take a lot of time. Spybot-S&D works different and takes advantage of the fact that all spies have to anchor themselves at a few places over the system to get active. It starts to search at those places, following the information gathered there to catch the whole spy.
If there is something specific that you suspect that may be present on your "D:" drive, like spyware installers, please indicate what your are attempting to accomplish by using the right click "Scan using Spybot-Search&Destroy" context menu feature on your entire "D:" drive.