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Yesterday I uninstalled Avira antivirus and started using Microsoft Defender Antivirus.

Today I ran Full scan. After scanning about 3.03 million files in 45 minutes it found a threat in an old installation file that I had never run on my current computer, and it stopped scanning. I was not sure if it scanned all files so I started the full scan once again. After scanning about 4.24 million files in 67 minutes it again found a threat in another old installation file that I had never run on my current computer, and it again stopped scanning.

There are two things that are strange for me:

  • It seems that Microsoft Defender Antivirus stops scanning after it finds a threat, and then I have to scan the already scanned files again. That is a big waste of time for me.

  • I have checked in File Explorer that I have only about one million files on my SSD disk. So I don't understand where Microsoft Defender has found more than 4 million files.

I have Windows 10 2004 update.

iwis
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  • Maybe the reason for more than 4 million files can be they are hidden or system files. – Wasif Aug 04 '20 at 15:58
  • @WasifHasan: Nope, dir c:\ /s gives: 1 062 957 files, 666 159 folders; dir c:\ /s /a gives: 1 070 207 files, 673 074 folders; in File Explorer (select all files and directories on C:, right-click and choose Properties): 1 005 914 files, 212 079 folders. Total size: 150 GB. – iwis Aug 04 '20 at 16:53
  • Is Avira completely removed? See https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/uninstall-avira-free , for example. – DrMoishe Pippik Aug 04 '20 at 17:38
  • @DrMoishePippik: Yes, there are no Avira programs in Settings > Apps > Apps & features. – iwis Aug 04 '20 at 19:05
  • That does not prove that there are no lingering settings. Did you see the link? – DrMoishe Pippik Aug 04 '20 at 19:11
  • @DrMoishePippik, I have read the article. The article says: "If you restart your computer and Avira is gone, congratulations! You are now free to run whatever other antivirus program you like". I have no relevant Avira folders on my SSD, only some Avira logs etc. I haven't clean the registry, because I don't want to break something. – iwis Aug 04 '20 at 19:35
  • Microsoft Defender scans also files in archives and this is the reason why it shows the greater number of scanned files. – iwis Aug 05 '20 at 06:57
  • I ran a full scan again, and this time it finished correctly after scanning about 4.24 million files in 75 minutes, without finding any virus. It was a coincidence that during the previous scan it found a virus almost at the end of the scan. Now I am not sure if scanning continues after finding a virus, but it isn't so important, because I have achieved my original goal. – iwis Aug 05 '20 at 06:57

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