KAV scanning time

[Rasheed187]

Hi,

Does anyone know what a full system scan time (recommended mode) should be? It's going to take 7 hours on my system, is this normal? I'm talking about KAV personal the latest (trail) version.

Or is there maybe something wrong with my system, I know back in the days NAV would scan the whole system in about 1 hour, and the last time I did a full scan took 2 hours with Bitdefender Free.

Of course I now have more files on my PC, I have about 8GB of used space, but 7 hours can't be normal I think. Can anyone recommend me a fast an good scanner?

[VikingStorm]

Hmm... that is pretty long for just 8gb of used space. KAV5 took around 6-7 hours to go through my HD with about 60gb used.

[gelbaum]

NOD32 is probably one of the fastest on-demand scanners around. You can give it a shot and compare. In addition to having a lightning-fast core engine, it does not have the same unpacking capabilities that KAV does.

KAV is *really* big on unpacking archives and executables, so if you have a lot of those files, you can expect KAV to take a pretty long time. The first time I installed KAV it took forever, then I saw that it was opening ZIP files in compressed Outlook PST files - some of my PST files are 1Gb in size. It took about 2 hours just to get through those. I had one ZIP file with 150 files compressed in it, in a PST file with 7,000 emails in it.

[kloshar]

{QUOTE-> Hmm... that is pretty long for just 8gb of used space. KAV5 took around 6-7 hours to go through my HD with about 60gb used. <-QUOTE}

6-7 hours? I have 40gb disk using and full scanning never takes more than half an hour.

[AMRX]

dear Rasheed187, i don't think 7 hour scanning time is normal for 8GB data even if they are all packed or compressed. i never used KAV 5 in 9x platform so i can't comment about it. NOD32 is a good choice for a fast scanner. F-Prot 3.15 and TMIS 2004 has faster scanning time.

[VikingStorm]

{QUOTE-> 6-7 hours? I have 40gb disk using and full scanning never takes more than half an hour. <-QUOTE}
My system is almost identical to yours, so I must have heavy files, since I've never had any "fast" AV scans I could sit through, usually do it at night. Not even with NOD32.

[steve1955]

I am using Kav(4.5 not 5) on one of my PC's and it scans just over 16gb in 49mins(all options enabled!) when I tried 5 scan times were very similar so it seems like something isnt quite right with your set-up,have you made sure all remnants of NAV have been removed from your PC?
Try running the cleaner available on the symantec site:-
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nav.nsf/docid/2001092114452606?Open&src=sg&docid=2004020915570606&nsf=nav.nsf&view=docid/2004020915570606?open&src=sg&docid=2004052711475306&nsf=nav.nsf&view=d4578f66d8f00a0188256d4e006aaa94/cf69c1202264d56d88256ea1006754d9?opendocument&prod=norton%20antivirus&ver=2004%20for%20windows%202000/me/98&dtype=&prod=norton%20antivirus&ver=2004%20for%20windows%202000/me/98&dtype=&prod=norton%20antivirus&ver=2004%20for%20windows%202000/me/98&osv=&osv_lvl=

[Mele20]

My experience with KAV 5.0 was that it scans much slower than 4.5 but I have had both installed on XP Pro so comparing scan times on my XP Pro to your scan times on W98SE is worthless. I have never tried KAV on my W98SE box and never would as that is a 5 year old computer than can't handle KAV any flavor.

I would suggest you consider putting NOD32 on your box. My W98SE box has had NOD32 for almost two years and it scans about 8GB in 16 minutes now with the latest modules update installed. Before the modules update about 10 days ago, which gave us much greater in depth scanning of some types of files, NOD32 scanned in about 12 minutes. That is with all files set to be scanned and deep heuristics but I don't scan email files. I don't use an email scanner as I download attachments to disk and then do a command line scan using advanced heuristics and I read mail in plain text only. So, a scan would take a little longer if I were using the email scanner but only a few minutes. NOD32 is very light on W98SE and it is IMO the best choice for that OS. A public beta of the new upgrade is due out any day. If you trial it though, be sure to turn off Windows Graphics in the GUI as that is a terrible drain on W98SE resources.

Edited to add that the scan times refer to NOD32 scanning while I am using the computer. A scan when I am not on the computer takes maybe 10 minutes now with the additional file types and depth of scanning.

[bigc73542]

With command antivirus I scan 8 1/2 gb in 3 1/3 minutes. deep scan in six minutes.

[Lisa]

Hi Rasheed,
This is slow - my work pc is a W98se pc with 128MB RAM and a 500MHZ processor with an 11GB HDD and with v 4.5 it would take about 1 hour to 90 minutes to scan the drive this is with several large pst folders (1GB) and several 500MB zipped psts. I suggest maybe running the scan in safe mode or with your other programs in system tray turned off to see if one of these is interfering? Of course make sure you are disconnected from the internet first.

I would also do as Steve1955 suggests - check all old remnants of NAV have been removed.

Regards

Lisa

KL UK

[Rasheed187]

Thanks for all the tips, I will try the NAV remover app and safe mode tip, I will also download NOD32 and maybe Fprot, but the thing is everyone says KAV is the best and it did find one trojan on my system. But 7 hours can't be normal.

Btw, I scanned my system with TDS and it didn't find anything, is it fair to say that I don't have any trojans one my system ? Or do I still need to scan my whole system? I already follow all basic rules that will protect me from getting a virus of trojan in the first place. The trojan I got was from a warez site, stupid mistake, I won't download illegal software anymore. ;)

[steve1955]

Hi Rasheed
I'd have a read of Lisas' post ,she works for Kaspersky and has 4.5 on her PC is this cos its still the better product?(less bugs!)
If I were you I'd download and try that version and form your own opinion can be had from:-http://kasperskylab.co.uk/files/homeuser/
If the key file you got the trial of 5 wont work I'm sure Kaspersky would sort you one out

[Mele20]

Here's 4.5 30 day trial with a key. From The Mul's post here a little over two weeks ago. This is where I got my trial from:

http://kasperskylab.co.uk/files/homeuser/kavpers45.exe

[Chuck57]

I've got a year old box, 1.3mhz Athlon and 512RAM, and using 4.5 A full scan of everything, about 9GB, takes between 30 and 35 minutes. I run a full scan once a week at a time when I'm not using the computer since Kaspersky does slow down my system, which is fairly powerful.

[Lisa]

Hi Steve1955,
I was talking in past tense my W98 pc is now beta testing Workstation 5.0, but when it was running 4.5 those were the times - with Personal 5.0 - maybe 90 minutes for the first scan - subsequent ones faster.


7 hours is NOT normal - if you mail me direct I can help further.

support@kasperskylab.co.uk

[steve1955]

Hi Lisa
Ive tried all the beta releases of 5 + release +latest release with latest mp and still feel 4.5 is by far the better product and I feel it should be put back on the main Kaspersky site just to at least give customers(potential customers!) the choice of which they use!

[Mele20]

{QUOTE-> Hi Lisa
Ive tried all the beta releases of 5 + release +latest release with latest mp and still feel 4.5 is by far the better product and I feel it should be put back on the main Kaspersky site just to at least give customers(potential customers!) the choice of which they use! <-QUOTE}


I agree 100%. Why should I have to go through contortions in order to purchase 4.5? I think 5.0 is one of the worst AVs I have ever tried (and I still have some of the ADS tags from it and am waiting for Kaspersky to issue a tool for us to remove them if we remove 5.0). On the other hand, I think 4.5 is an outstanding AV. I cannot understand why one cannot purchase it from the KAV website. I know a number of users who are very sorry they tried KAV 5.0 and they were going to get a different AV until I told them to try 4.5 which impresses them but then it is a big hassle to purchase. So, I think Kaspersky is loosing business by removing the best AV of all from their store site. Put it back! Another question, for how long will 4.5 be supported? Is there a policy on this at the Kaspersky site? Something like Symantec's support policy at their site where you know exactly for how many years a particular version will be supported?

[tahoma]

my kav5 does about 20 gb in an hour..and thats at maximum setting

and to add to what some other people have said. i have no problems with kav5, have recommended it to about 5 persons, all 5 have now purchased lisences and are very happy

[Rasheed187]

Oh and Lisa, can Kaspersky please fix the realtime monitoring function, I have it disabled but it keeps popping up questions (during startup) if it should remove a trojan, very annoying! :( I use SC Keylog2, that's why KAV notifies me.

[Mele20]

{QUOTE-> my kav5 does about 20 gb in an hour..and thats at maximum setting

and to add to what some other people have said. i have no problems with kav5, have recommended it to about 5 persons, all 5 have now purchased lisences and are very happy <-QUOTE}

So they don't mind all the crud KAV 5.0 places on every single file on their computers? I just left Streams running in Safe Mode last night after letting it run for TWO hours as it removed the crud (ADS tags) that Kaspersky placed on my files without asking my permission and which Kaspersky thought fit to leave on every single file AFTER I uninstalled 5.0! Thus forcing me to use Streams to remove KAV crud.

Anyhow, I went to sleep while Streams was still removing crud and TEN HOURS later, the next morning, Streams was still removing the crud!! At this point it was in System Restore. I aborted the procedure at that point because the computer was running very hot. I think Kaspersky is horribly remiss in not providing a tool to effectively and quickly remove the crud when KAV 5.0 is uninstalled. I am very impressed, as I said earlier with KAV4.5 but after this horrible experience I can't imagine having anything to do with Kaspersky. Other than to get them to provide a proper removal tool. I think there are grounds for legal action because Kaspersky never asked my permission to place ADS tags on every one of my files and certaintly never informed me that those tags would remain FOREVER on my files even after I removed 5.0! I was not properly informed that using 5.0 would alter my computer forever unless I wanted to try and use Streams to remove the tags or I wanted to reformat. Had I been properly informed of what was going to happen if I installed and ran 5.0, I would never have gone anywhere near it. The least Kaspersky can do is to provide a removal tool.

I find it very difficult to believe that these 5 people you speak of are happy to have KAV put these tags on their files forever.

[PeterPasqualino]

Kav 5 Personal takes 1 hour to scan 3.3 GB on Maximum setting compared to 30 mins for AntiVir PE on Maximum Heuristics. I have P III 450 Mhz 256 RAM.

[the mul]

Well all I can say to all of these concerns is, I wont be trying kav 5 until I am completly satisfied and that takes a while for me to totally trust a new build like kav 5.
I think for now I will be staying with my trusty kav 4.5, which gives me no problems with scan times and kav 4.5 scans about 445,000 files, 2450 folders,1045 archives and 260 packed, all in 42 minutes, which for my machine aint bad at all.
I also forgot to say, this is with 7gig of hard drive space used up on my 20 gig hard drive.

;D The MUL ;D

[bigc73542]

{QUOTE-> So they don't mind all the crud KAV 5.0 places on every single file on their computers? I just left Streams running in Safe Mode last night after letting it run for TWO hours as it removed the crud (ADS tags) that Kaspersky placed on my files without asking my permission and which Kaspersky thought fit to leave on every single file AFTER I uninstalled 5.0! Thus forcing me to use Streams to remove KAV crud.

Anyhow, I went to sleep while Streams was still removing crud and TEN HOURS later, the next morning, Streams was still removing the crud!! At this point it was in System Restore. I aborted the procedure at that point because the computer was running very hot. I think Kaspersky is horribly remiss in not providing a tool to effectively and quickly remove the crud when KAV 5.0 is uninstalled. I am very impressed, as I said earlier with KAV4.5 but after this horrible experience I can't imagine having anything to do with Kaspersky. Other than to get them to provide a proper removal tool.I think there are grounds for legal action because Kaspersky never asked my permission to place ADS tags on every one of my files and certaintly never informed me that those tags would remain FOREVER on my files even after I removed 5.0! I was not properly informed that using 5.0 would alter my computer forever unless I wanted to try and use Streams to remove the tags or I wanted to reformat. Had I been properly informed of what was going to happen if I installed and ran 5.0, I would never have gone anywhere near it. The least Kaspersky can do is to provide a removal tool.

I find it very difficult to believe that these 5 people you speak of are happy to have KAV put these tags on their files forever. <-QUOTE}


No grounds for legal action. When you install software it gives you the choice to agree to their terms or not. Once you agree and tick the agree box to get it to install there goes your legal recourse.

[ronjor]

Alternate Data Streams is not known to all. I found out the hard way.
Although the antivirus entrys are better than malware, they are still "stuff" on your disk.
The antivirus programs that enter this data should provide a way to remove them.
Along this line, it will be interesting to see what happens the first time IE won't let you download a file because it is considered not acceptable to sp2.
Interesting times lie ahead for us poor Windows users.

[Lisa]

Hi, If users want to buy v 4.5 they can just purchase the key file option on the website and then use their existing software - alternatively contact Kaspersky direct and you will be given the link for 4.5 and you can then buy just the license key.



As to ADS - I will need to check with escalation team.

[the mul]

Here is that link to download kav 4.5 with a trial key for 30 days already installed, or u can just purchase a key for 1 year from kaspersky.

KAV Personal - http://kasperskylab.co.uk/files/homeuser/kavpers45.exe


The MUL

[Rasheed187]

Alternate Data Streams don't work on Win9x right? So I don't have to deal with it when uninstalling KAV? I got scared for a moment LOL.

[flyrfan111]

{QUOTE-> Alternate Data Streams don't work on Win9x right? So I don't have to deal with it when uninstalling KAV? I got scared for a moment LOL. <-QUOTE}

Correct, it is a "feature" of NTFS. So even XP users that kept FAT32 won't have this problem.

[Rasheed187]

Question, does KAV 4.5 use less resources than KAV 5? I'm going to check it out after my trial period has ended. I wish it was more like Bitdefender Free, it loads quickly and doesn't use a lot of resources.

And is there a way to exclude a file from being scanned, I don't want sc keylog2 to be identified as a trojan! Because everytime I startup KAV I will have to click "skip" about 20 times, even though realtime protection is disabled!. :(

[Tassie_Devils]

{QUOTE-> Well all I can say to all of these concerns is, I wont be trying kav 5 until I am completly satisfied and that takes a while for me to totally trust a new build like kav 5.
I think for now I will be staying with my trusty kav 4.5, which gives me no problems with scan times and kav 4.5 scans about 445,000 files, 2450 folders,1045 archives and 260 packed, all in 42 minutes, which for my machine aint bad at all.
I also forgot to say, this is with 7gig of hard drive space used up on my 20 gig hard drive.

;D The MUL ;D <-QUOTE}

Pretty identical also here with that... I have a lot less actual files [about 220,00] but I have a vast amount [over 1200] of packed/zipped/rarred/sit formatted files some up to 300Mb and it takes around 45-50 mins also. Never been over an hour and that's with all options on, including extended data bases.

Best thing, follow Lisa's advice. :)

TAS

[PeterPasqualino]

{QUOTE-> Question, does KAV 4.5 use less resources than KAV 5? I'm going to check it out after my trial period has ended. I wish it was more like Bitdefender Free, it loads quickly and doesn't use a lot of resources.

And is there a way to exclude a file from being scanned, I don't want sc keylog2 to be identified as a trojan! Because everytime I startup KAV I will have to click "skip" about 20 times, even though realtime protection is disabled!. :( <-QUOTE}
According to their publicity Kav 5 uses 50% less resources than the previous version. I have a pedestrian PIII 450 MHZ 256 RAM and the real time scanner is no problem even on maximum although I mainly used the recommended medium level. The weekly on demand scan seems to use more so I let it scan without any other applications running. The only real problem I have is that once Kav 5 loads on startup I think it automatically scans all the other applications and processes which have also started which uses up lots of resources until it stops a few minutes later. Im not sure if this is actually what is happening on startup or even if this can be disabled perhaps others more familiar with Kav 5 can answer this.

[Rasheed187]

Wow, then KAV 4.5 most be really a resource hog. But why are numerous people claiming that 4.5 is better than 5.0? I don't get it. For me resource usage is a big deal, since I'm on a Pentium 2 with only 128 MB RAM. :(

And I agree, I don't think KAV should do a scan if it starts up, unless you want it to, it's really annoying. When it's up and running it does work smootly though.

[Don Pelotas]

{QUOTE->
And is there a way to exclude a file from being scanned, I don't want sc keylog2 to be identified as a trojan! Because everytime I startup KAV I will have to click "skip" about 20 times, even though realtime protection is disabled!. :( <-QUOTE}

Rasheed187, under "configure real-time protection", click troubleshooting , there is an excludeoption there.

[AgentX]

KAV 5.x uses 50% less resources than the previous version? I don't buy it. I hardly pay
any attention to the hypes and propaganda posters. Kaspersky Labs may claim such
phenomenal speed gain on some 1024-bit Conceptual(TM) HyperPC with oodles of Light-
Speed RAM, but it surely doesn't outperform 4.5.x on regular PCs.

I have tested both Personal Pro 4.5.x and Personal 5.x versions on an old Celeron 400
PC with 256MB SDRAM. Frankly speaking, version 5.x slowed down the machine by
extending the startup time to a few more seconds. I also noticed significant delay in
loading of applications. While the newer version may be using latest engine updates
and updated unpackers, the lack of customization makes it almost unusable on older
machines.

KAV Personal Pro 4.5, on the other hand, offers extensive customization and tweakings
with the help of which an experienced user may choose wisely what to scan and what
not to. I can only hope that KAV Labs will release 5.x Pro version offering the same or
even better customization than its older version.

Rasheed, I would rather advise persons with older machines to think about getting
DrWeb, NOD32 or F-Prot for Windows antiviruses, given their super performance and
low system requirements.

Regards,
AgentX

[Rasheed187]

Thanks for the feedback AgentX, I will also check out KAV 4.5, about the other av's I'm not so sure, resources usage is important, but if KAV is better in spotting trojans I will choose for KAV of course. :)
And Don Pelotas, I hope I will be able to solve my problem, strange I didn't see this option, but I will check it out. ;)

[Don Pelotas]

{QUOTE-> Thanks for the feedback AgentX, I will also check out KAV 4.5, about the other av's I'm not so sure, resources usage is important, but if KAV is better in spotting trojans I will choose for KAV of course. :)
And Don Pelotas, I hope I will be able to solve my problem, strange I didn't see this option, but I will check it out. ;) <-QUOTE}

Rasheed187, it's in the bottom of the window you open when clicking "configure real-time protection" ( or "on-demand scan" fore that matter).I hope this helps.

By the way i think you should stick with kav 5 or 4.5, they are both good and have served me well thru the years. I guess i am one of the lucky one's in that kav 5 have giving me no trouble whatsoever, it uses around 15 mb memory on my rather antequated duron 850 :)

Regards
Don Pelotas

[Rasheed187]

Well be damned, I have disabled all the realtime protection options, I even have added the files to the exclusions list and still KAV will bug me about sc keylog2, so I have removed the app (not KAV). Seriously Kaspersky need to do something about this. :thumbsdown:

[Don Pelotas]

{QUOTE-> Well be damned, I have disabled all the realtime protection options, I even have added the files to the exclusions list and still KAV will bug me about sc keylog2, so I have removed the app (not KAV). Seriously Kaspersky need to do something about this. :thumbsdown: <-QUOTE}

I agree, it's not good if exclusion isn't working properly. However i do think it's good that kav detects it in first place. Several av's detects this as a keylogger/trojan. :)

Pest Patrol (http://www.pestpatrol.com/pestinfo/s/sc-keylog.asp)

[Fats Terminal]

KAV5 takes up a lot less memory than 4.5. My memory usage with v5 was generally from ~3MB minimized to ~8 MB with the interface open. I tried the KAV5 Pro beta and it used considerably more memory (without giving me significant extra options ) so I stuck with the home version. The problem with KAV5 is that it keeps filling up my restore points by adding every file it scans until the SR service shuts down. This has to do with the streams data issue I presume.

[PeterPasqualino]

How is KAV 4.5 Lite different from the normal 4.5?

[Blackcat]

KAV Lite has much more pre-set configuration options than KAV Personal and was the cheapest version, mainly marketed at newbies. Install, set and forget.

Since the new KAV 5, the Lite version has been dropped by Kaspersky from the new lineup but it is still available from some of their reseller sites; http://www.www.nest-soft.co.uk/kaspersky/kavlite.htm and definitions will still be available for the foreseeable future.

[Don Pelotas]

{QUOTE-> KAV5 takes up a lot less memory than 4.5. My memory usage with v5 was generally from ~3MB minimized to ~8 MB with the interface open. I tried the KAV5 Pro beta and it used considerably more memory (without giving me significant extra options ) so I stuck with the home version. The problem with KAV5 is that it keeps filling up my restore points by adding every file it scans until the SR service shuts down. This has to do with the streams data issue I presume. <-QUOTE}

Kaspersky is aware of the problem, it should be fixed in the next product opdate (sep/oct) :)

[PeterPasqualino]

A defragmented HD reduces full scan time. My normal scan time was about 1 hour which reduced to about 40 minutes after a defrag.

[Tassie_Devils]

{QUOTE-> A defragmented HD reduces full scan time. My normal scan time was about 1 hour which reduced to about 40 minutes after a defrag. <-QUOTE}
Very good point. Spends less time sorting the chaff from the wheat if your system is optimised to begin with. [Currently mine says 1 file defragmented, at 0.009% ;D O&O Defrag last night.]

I just checked my 4.5 mem specs. With the 3 running processes KAV has going, mine totals around the 15mb which is what someone else in here said. For me, that's nothing, I'd rather have it using a bit more to do the job.

TAS