MSE Scheduled Scan

Bigaldoc · Post by **Bigaldoc** » 23 Jul 2011, 11:38

After my initial run with MSE, given the stuff it found with what I assume was a "quick scan," I set it to do a full scan early Saturday morning at 3 am when no overnight backup has to run.

I arose this morning and that scan had been running for THREE hours and had barely made a "few bars" on the progress bar after all that time. Fearing that my use of the machine would either be hampered or possibly interfere with the scan, I cancelled it.

I've reset the scheduled time for 10 pm on Friday night which will give it about 8 hours of time during the night. My question is - will I be better off to change the allowable CPU from the default 50% as shown in this clip? Or possibly I should un-check that box and let it have ALL the CPU time.

Post by **HansV** » 23 Jul 2011, 11:50

If you're going to let it run a full scan while you sleep there is no need to throttle the CPU usage. Limiting it is intended to enable you to keep on using the computer while a scan is running.

tedshemyers · Post by **tedshemyers** » 23 Jul 2011, 11:51

I would change this setting overnight to as much as possible. Once you complete the full scan, the quick scan should be sufficient for future scans unless you suspect a problem.

Bigaldoc · Post by **Bigaldoc** » 23 Jul 2011, 12:14

Thanks to you both. I've un-ticked that box and I'll see if that helps on the next run.

Post by **HansV** » 23 Jul 2011, 12:25

By the way, how many disk space is in use? On my PC, about 440 GB is in use, and a full scan with MSE takes about 75 minutes. I haven't excluded any folders or file types from the scan.

Bigaldoc · Post by **Bigaldoc** » 23 Jul 2011, 15:21

Hmmm... If you mean hard drive use, on two internal drive, consisting of four partitions, I have "only" about 120 gig in use.

By that measure, a full scan should FLY for me, would you think? Mebbe I ought to close all running apps and try again to see if it'll finish faster without the throttling.

Post by **HansV** » 23 Jul 2011, 15:41

My PC might be somewhat faster than yours, but scanning 120 GB shouldn't take many hours...

PaulB · Post by **PaulB** » 23 Jul 2011, 15:53

While I have not taken any accurate timings, I don't believe a full scan takes more than 1-2 hours on my system. The graphic below shows the settings used for my scans. YMMV depending on the amount of data being scanned and the speed of your processor.

I'm a little unclear what some of these settings mean. For example, what is the difference (if any) between removing the check mark to limit CPU usage or leaving it checked but setting the percentage to 100%?

Given your expertise, Al, I'm assuming your system did not go to sleep or into hibernation during the scan. I leave my system in the balanced power plan modified to turn off the display after 10 minutes and put the computer into hybrid sleep after 20 minutes. If I forget to change the settings to never allow sleep, I'll find that the scan either never started or did not complete because the computer went to sleep.

Another question... are all your disk partitions on all your disks accessible by the OS that is running MSE? I seem to recall that you run XP, Vista and 7. Or do you run MSE in all partitions?

MSE.JPG

Post by **HansV** » 23 Jul 2011, 16:06

PaulB wrote:For example, what is the difference (if any) between removing the check mark to limit CPU usage or leaving it checked but setting the percentage to 100%?

None, obviously.

PaulB · Post by **PaulB** » 23 Jul 2011, 16:18

I sometimes over-think these situations. If you are offered option A and option B and they both appear to be the same, a red flag goes up and I ask myself, Why?

Bigaldoc · Post by **Bigaldoc** » 23 Jul 2011, 23:07

HansV wrote:My PC might be somewhat faster than yours, but scanning 120 GB shouldn't take many hours...

Well it DID; I'm DISGUSTED and I'll not do that again. Either it's been caught or WILL get caught when it tries to get into my system or I'm gonna be SOL !!!

After your post this morning, I un-ticked the throttler box and started a full scan. It just NOW completed, after 7Â½ hours !!! Unbelievable. Right now I'm too angry to talk so I'll post a few questions for you in the morning after I've had a little sleep and (hopefully) some rest.

Either it's my hardware, OS or we don't have the same MSE settings.

Post by **HansV** » 23 Jul 2011, 23:53

That's very strange, but if the full scan ran to completion, there's no need to run one again - a quick scan from time to time will do unless you suspect your PC has been compromised.

Bigaldoc · Post by **Bigaldoc** » 24 Jul 2011, 04:04

PaulB wrote:... Given your expertise, Al, I'm assuming your system did not go to sleep or into hibernation during the scan. ... Another question... are all your disk partitions on all your disks accessible by the OS that is running MSE?

Hibernation - no, BUT I never thought to disable my screensaver. However I do think the scanning was continuing during the times the screensaver was active - not positive though.

Yes, I do have xp, Vista and Win7 but run XP most of the time still and that's where MSE is. It is able to access the other partitions so that wasn't a problem.

Bigaldoc · Post by **Bigaldoc** » 24 Jul 2011, 04:15

HansV wrote:
PaulB wrote:For example, what is the difference (if any) between removing the check mark to limit CPU usage or leaving it checked but setting the percentage to 100%?
None, obviously.

I'm not too sure about this one either, Hans. I un-ticked the CPU box and I don't think that reverts to 100% for MSE. The reason I think so is that shortly before 5 pm I didn't want to abort the scan but my image backup was due to start at 5 pm.

So, I had to run Shadow Protect to change the image time to 9 pm and SP ran as normal - there was not a moments delay as I would expect if MSE had 100% CPU. I see Paul has his ticked and set to 100% - that might have been part of my problem.

Yes, it could be my machine - I have a Pentium 4 processor of 3.2 GHz with 3 gig RAM and yours is probably much better than that. It could also be that MSE runs faster in Win7 than in XP.

You ARE right that I shouldn't have to repeat this (as I said in frustration earlier) and I don't think I will. If it doesn't stop something from sneakin' in then it isn't very effective anyway. Maybe a fella ought to run a full scan a few times a year, I can't decide.

tedshemyers · Post by **tedshemyers** » 24 Jul 2011, 18:17

There has been significant discussion in the other forum about MSE (i do use this on all my PC's) on XP. MSE seems much faster on Win 7. Have you upgraded to the latest version of MSE?

Security Essentials Version: 2.1.1116.0
Antimalware Client Version: 3.0.8402.0
Engine Version: 1.1.7104.0
Antivirus definition: 1.109.220.0
Antispyware definition: 1.109.220.0
Network Inspection System Engine Version: 2.0.5854.0
Network Inspection System Definition Version: 9.196.0.0
Policy Name: FEP clean-up policy

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