Windows 10: Defender Full Scan timed at 35 hours remaining, will it ever complete?

I have previously always used Defender on a timed quick scan, which takes a few minutes.

But today, having an hour or two of spare time, I thought I'd do a full scan for the first time.

It has now been running for 4 hours, has scanned 548000 files, and tells me estimated time remaining 35.50 hours.

This is truly ridiculous, since I cannot possibly leave the computer switched on for all that time.

Is it normal for this to take so long?

:)

 

Windows Defender - Quick Scan

Windows defender no longer offers a quick scan option.

My options are:

• Scan
• Advanced Scan

• Full Scan
• Custom Scan
• Windows Defender Offline scan

Whichever option I check, the scan will need to run for hours to complete.

Is a quick scan available?

How do I restore this feature?

 

Windows defender custom scan does not scan external drives

I have Defender Windows 10. I tried using custom scan to select and scan external drives. The screen listing the drives comes up, but the "OK" button remains grayed out so unable to scan any of the drives listed. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Windows Defender not completing scans

Hi,

Thank you for posting your query on Microsoft Community.

As per the description, I understand that you are facing issues using Windows Defender.

I would suggest you to go through the below methods:

Method 1: Set Windows Defender to Automatic

You can set the Windows Defender service to Automatic, Disabled or Manual. Setting it to automatic might solve the problem. Follow these steps:

• 
  Click Start > type services in the Search box > click Services in the Programs list.
  
  2. Search for Windows defender.
  
  3. Double-click Windows Defender, and click Automatic in the start-up box > click OK.
  
• 
  

Method 2: Run SFC scan, it will check, if there is any kind of corruption on the operating system.

• 
  Press WIN+X.
  
• 
  Click on command prompt with admin.
  
• 
  Type sfc /scannow and press enter.
  
• 
  Reboot the computer once finished.
  

Method 3: Try the below link:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/931849

Hope this information helps. Please let us know if you need any other assistance with Windows in future. We will be happy to assist you.