5 Day scan and counting!

I have installed and run MS AntiSpyWare on two desktop
computers and had it work wonderful. It removed just
about all the problems I was having and I simply used 2
other progs to clean up the ones it missed. I now have
installed it on my fiance's laptop in an attempt to clean
it out too. It has now been running for 5 days. It went
through the first 20k files in about 10 5-10 minutes (the
amount of time a scan takes on my desktop) but then
slowed down. It has now been scanning files in the
C:\WINDOWS\system32\.......... I am now at file #41785.
I don't even remember my desktop having close to this
many files, and I have more programs installed on it. It
takes about 30 seconds to fully scan one file. What in
the heck is going on with this? I appreciate the help.
Thanks.

Tipster

Kill it. Use ctrl-alt-delete to end the scanning and restart the laptop.

In some situations, the scan loops and leaks memory. From your description,
it doesn't sound as though it is looping--it sounds as though there is
perceptable progress, but I would guess that it has eaten all the available
ram and is getting slower as it goes because of increase paging.

I'd recommend doing some cleaning with other products--Ad-aware, and Spybot
Search & Destroy, to get the system a bit cleaner before trying Microsoft
Antispyware again. You might also want to try Microsoft Antispyware in safe
mode (still after cleaning with other things first)--that gives it a better
shot at some threats.

I'm not one to give up on the product, but this is beyond what's
reasonable--interesting, though--hope the Microsoft folks reading this put
up a nice plaque on a wall or whiteboard for your record-setting attempt!

Keep us informed--I'd be interested to know what bugs are found in the end,
and how many entities (files, registry entries, etc.) I've seen some
reports of scans finding thousands of registry entries--but you don't
mention that?

--
FAQ for Microsoft Antispyware:
http://www.geocities.com/marfer_mvp/FAQ_MSantispy.htm

"Tipster" <CoreyTipton@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:3ec301c52038$b7eb3670$a601280a@phx.gbl...
>I have installed and run MS AntiSpyWare on two desktop
> computers and had it work wonderful. It removed just
> about all the problems I was having and I simply used 2
> other progs to clean up the ones it missed. I now have
> installed it on my fiance's laptop in an attempt to clean
> it out too. It has now been running for 5 days. It went
> through the first 20k files in about 10 5-10 minutes (the
> amount of time a scan takes on my desktop) but then
> slowed down. It has now been scanning files in the
> C:\WINDOWS\system32\.......... I am now at file #41785.
> I don't even remember my desktop having close to this
> many files, and I have more programs installed on it. It
> takes about 30 seconds to fully scan one file. What in
> the heck is going on with this? I appreciate the help.
> Thanks.
>
> Tipster

I notice that MSAS is getting stuck on files in the
C:\WINDOWS\system32\..........

--

Andre
http://spaces.msn.com/members/adacosta
FAQ for MS AntiSpy http://www.geocities.com/marfer_mvp/FAQ_MSantispy.htm

"Tipster" <CoreyTipton@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:3ec301c52038$b7eb3670$a601280a@phx.gbl...
>I have installed and run MS AntiSpyWare on two desktop
> computers and had it work wonderful. It removed just
> about all the problems I was having and I simply used 2
> other progs to clean up the ones it missed. I now have
> installed it on my fiance's laptop in an attempt to clean
> it out too. It has now been running for 5 days. It went
> through the first 20k files in about 10 5-10 minutes (the
> amount of time a scan takes on my desktop) but then
> slowed down. It has now been scanning files in the
> C:\WINDOWS\system32\.......... I am now at file #41785.
> I don't even remember my desktop having close to this
> many files, and I have more programs installed on it. It
> takes about 30 seconds to fully scan one file. What in
> the heck is going on with this? I appreciate the help.
> Thanks.
>
> Tipster