grrr.. virus checking takes forever on my laptop

i have norton anti-virus and today it took me 3 and a half hours to scan 498,000 files! i dont have a lot of personal files on my computer at all, and compared to my parents comupter which has tons of my dads work documents etc, i have more items to scan and it takes longer apparrently...

i have absolutely NO IDEA why this is, ive got my dad to have a look and weve found that there are a lot of random windows program files with funny names with letters and numbers like D94T0094$ (you know what i mean, the kind that you look at and try to find what they do but theyre absolutely useless but you guarantee if you deleted them then your computer would DIE)

there are tons of those random programs and also lots of Java/HP (the make of my computer) ones like updates and software setups, so im not sure whether to delete them or not, i think my dad said to keep them and hes probably right but they just annoy me taking up space and time on the virus scan but do absolutely nothing noticeable to make my computer better...

and also, i know this sounds really trivial but after id had to stay in with my virus scan for hours on end, me and my mum and my brother were supposed to be going to matalan to get him a coat, but my virus scan was still running. my mum felt the laptop charger and it was warm, and she was like Were not going while its still on, i dont want anything to go wrong. so we waited a bit and, to cut a long story short, they went without me! now that annoyed me enough anyway but then LITERALLY about three minutes after they left the house the virus scan STOPPED!!! so if only they were just a bit more impatient, i could have gone with them as i wanted to in the first place. now im sat up in my room avoiding them, and when i talk to my mum next i can guarantee i will cry and have a go at her even if i dont want to...


anyway that was a bit besides the point, but the gist of my rant is--

HOW AM I GOING TO DECIDE WHAT PROGRAMS TO GET RID OF WITHOUT WRECKING MY LAPTOP

WHAT ELSE COULD BE WRONG TO HAVE SO MANY ITEMS TO SCAN

HOW AM I GOING TO MAKE THE SCAN GO QUICKER?

oh also, there never used to be this many items to scan, there only used to be like 300,000 which is still excessive, and its gradually crept up.

i have deleted the internet cookies etc when i remember as that makes it go slightly faster, but not enough to make a significant difference...

HELP!

okay i think the rant is finally over. grrrrr

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9 replies since 4th August 2010 • Last reply 4th August 2010

Reply #1:

OMG DON'T USE NORTOOOONNNN!!!!! It's a major pain in the ass, use AVG it's free and it works and it spots viruses as they appear.
Get a piece of software called CCleaner, it's a free program that cleans up your registry, it will get rid of loads of unnecessary stuff and won't take all day about it.
Also defrag your system every so often it will stop up gaps on your hard drive caused by deleting/uninstalling stuff and make it run faster.
There's a windows tool called Disk Cleanup (start/all programs/accessories/system tools/disk cleanup) this does take a while but compresses files to give you more space (it makes your file names blue when it has compressed them).
Message me if you need help, I can do this sh*t with my eyes closed.
One last thing, get rid of Norton.

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Reply #2:

Man, my laptop caught a bad case of digital warts the other day. The program that invaded me eventually stopped every click with an error message. Even when I tried to open my virus protection. Then, after a dozen error messages came up, I was directed to a site to buy (I'm guessing the virus's website)virus protection from a company I'd never heard of.

I bought Norton and the virus stopped it from being downloaded. They won't give me my money back. Happy

I eventually had to revert to a previous date in my PC's memory. I'm guessing the virus is still on here somewhere, but my PC works ok now.

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Reply #3:

There are tons of free anti-virus/spyware/malware programs out there that are better than Norton.
If you find a thing that stops your anti-virus working (I've had them) google the name of it (from a different machine), you will always find out how to get rid of it. Spyware Doctor is good at getting rid of those things - and do a registry clean after, they leave stuff lurking in there.

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Reply #4:

Goodness me D:
Sorry to hear that your computer had so many issues.
Ugh...it's sad how much we rely on our computers (I'm literally so lost without my computer!).
I totally get what you mean about the time. Mine usually takes an hour and a half to two and half hours to scan because I never clean my computer out! XD
So I usually do my scans overnight (though I use a PC. A laptop is something ya don't really wanna leave alone for 8 hours if it over-heats, ya know? :/)

I've never really heard too many good things about Norton. Like, it's suggested to me a lot, but no one really rants and raves about it.
I prefer to use free programs.
When my computer starts acting wonky, this is what I use, in order:
-Malwarebytes AntiMalware
-SUPER AntiSpyware
-Avira Antivir
-TDSS Killer
-CCleaner

Those usually pretty much knock everything out.
Though if you're still having problems, I suggest checking out MalwareBytes forum (just type it into google and it'll come up Happy)
Serisouly, that site has saved my computer from disaster and got it up and running for FREE.
The people there who help are so polite and will answer any computer related problem you might have in a pretty in-depth answer.
A very helpful site.
They might be able to help you decide what to get rid of on your computer Happy
(I suggest downloading HiJack This as they usually as for a HiJack This log).

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Reply #5:

i would try a different thingie other than Norton, but my parents have already bought a 2-year subscription for all our computers..! as far as i can tell (and im pretty clueless at it really!) the only thing thats wrong with it is just that it takes so flipping long!! but i think i will just have to learn to be more patient lol..

D: oh no Dessah, that sounds horrible! hopefully its working fine now..

CCleaner sounds good, i'm googling it at the moment!

defragging and disk cleaning, i think i may have used before (well my Dad did on my laptop!) so i'll have to do them again Happy

thanks Laurel, hopefully things will go well but i'll make sure to message you if they don't Happy

i never clean my computer out either Erica, its still got files from 2001 on!

well fingers crossed for figuring this out! thankyou guys for all the ideas and advice Happy xo

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Reply #6:

Thanks for the tips, I have AVG Free anyways and it works pretty well for me. I refused to by Norton, I bought it with my new laptop, it was like £20-£30 and then you have to pay that every year to keep registered with the programme, what a piss take!! Besides I've not heard good things about Norton.

What I have to bear in mind is that there are many anti-virus programmes that companies sell and I think that they have bad reviews and stuff on purpose to let some viruses in so that you then have to take it back to the shop to sort out (and pay another goodness nows how much more!!).

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Reply #7:

Also is there a free alternative to CCleaner
I know I sound cheap but I can't keep affording to pay out for my laptop!!

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Reply #8:

CCleaner is free, that's why I said it's a free program=P

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Reply #9:

i agree lollybot, that sounds like their kind of conspiracy!
i dont want to have to pay loads for maintaining my laptop either!

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