I don't know any details about what files are scanned and what are not.
On my system it scans about 28000 files, which is comparable to yours, I
think.
This is what the help has to say about scanning:
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Spyware Scan: Scan Setup
Run an intelligent quick scan
An Intelligent quick scan will run a complete scan on your computer in a few
minutes and can generally detect more then 99% of known spyware threats. An
intelligent quick scan searches and removes spyware, adware, worms, Trojans
and other installed or running malware. The quick scan does this by scanning
the most common locations, files, folders, Registry, process and memory
locations on your computer. Running this type of scan is recommended on
regularly due to its effectiveness and speed.
Run a full system scan
A full system scan will allow you to select various scanning options to
perform a more in-depth customized scan. A full system scan performs a
thorough scan of your entire system, including all fixed hard drives, and
memory locations. In addition to the full system scan's ability to detect
all known threats, you can optionally limit the scan by clearing scan types
as well as drive locations using the following scan options:
Scan Memory
A memory scan will do an in-depth scan of all of the processes that are
currently running, including checking each process's loaded modules for
spyware.
Scan selected drives / folders
A custom file/folder scan will allow you to select which additional hard
drives, folders, or files you would like to include in the scan.
Deep scan selected folders
A deep scan is an in-depth scan of your system. Because this scan is
accurate, it takes a much longer time to run.
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What it says about the deep scan is that it is "accurate." I suspect this
means that it computes MD5 hashes for each file scanned.
--
FAQ for Microsoft Antispyware:
http://www.geocities.com/marfer_mvp/FAQ_MSantispy.htm
I have MAS "deep scan" my C: drive (Win2K SP4). It
seems to work fine - the first time through it
detected and removed a spyware or two.
But - whenever I run it, when it finishes, the MAS report
says it only scanned about 22,000 files.
My defrag software (built-in) says I have over
100,000 files on my C: drive, which I'm sure is correct.
AdAware scans 165,000 "objects" (both scans executed under the same
admin-enabled login, and run at separate times).
Is MAS really scanning the whole drive? does it
skip 3/4 of the files for some reason?
thanks -
Newbeta
