As such, a Full scan is generally recommended only for heavily infected systems.showing obvious indications ( signs of infection and malware symptoms) that something is wrong. The length of time for performing this type of scan varies because it is so comprehensive and therefore can take several hours. A Full Scan is much more comprehensive and can take a long time since it checks the entire hard drive (all folders/files) which can number in the thousands to hundreds of thousands. In most cases when performing routine security checks no matter what anti-virus/anti-malware scanner you are using, only a Quick Scan is needed since it checks the areas of your computer most likely to contain malware.the most prevalent and common places where malware typically hides. Interference from the user (whether or not you use the computer during the scan).Interference from other programs attempting to update (download/install) components from the Internet.Interference from other security programs attempting to scan at the same time.Whether the scanning engine stalls, hangs or freezes.Other running processes and programs in the background.Competition for and utilization of system/CPU resources by the scanner.Whether external drives are included in the scan.cab, archived, compressed, packed, email, etc) that are scanned. Disk size and used capacity (number of files that have to be scanned).What action has to be performed when malware is detected.Type of scan performed: Deep, Quick or Custom scanning.Options to scan memory, boot sectors, registry and alternate data streams (ADS).Options to scan for rootkits, adware, riskware and potentially unwanted programs (PUPS).The program itself and how its scanning engine is designed to scan: using a signature database vs heuristic scanning or a combination of e How an Anti-virus Program Works.

It is not uncommon for some security scans to take many hours to complete while others finish quickly since the speed and ability to complete an anti-virus or anti-malware scan depends on a variety of factors.

Bitdefender full scan