Windows 10: File Properties vs Windows Defender: Number of files is different

If I right-click on Program Files, and select Properties, the number of files is 7,559.

But if I right-click on Program Files, and select Scan With Windows Defender, the final dialog says that 143,953 files were scanned.

Note that hidden files are visible.

Is there any explanation for the difference in the file counts?

:)

 

Page File

Set minimum and maximum to a constant number as suggested by others, that will help reduce fragmentation on the drive coz of different page file sizing.

 

Recent File List

Remove-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Applets\Paint\Recent File List" -name file1

Remove-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Applets\Paint\Recent File List" -name file2
Remove-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Applets\Paint\Recent File List" -name file3
Remove-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Applets\Paint\Recent File List" -name file4
Remove-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Applets\Paint\Recent File List" -name file5
Remove-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Applets\Paint\Recent File List" -name file6
Remove-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Applets\Paint\Recent File List" -name file7
Remove-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Applets\Paint\Recent File List" -name file8
Remove-ItemProperty -Path "Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
\Applets\Paint\Recent File List" -name file9
...

you get the idea. ( too lazy to put it in a for loop and test it.

or just open regedit and remove all the fileX from that key.

 

Reported number of files scanned differs, Defender window vs Notifications window

When I manually run a scan, Windows Defender will report 7720 files scanned (or some number in that vicinity). The Notifications/Actions Center will then present that there is a report "Windows Defender scan results" available to view.



Clicking that item opens the "Windows Defender Security Center" window which reports 5256 files scanned (or some number in that vicinity). The difference between these two numbers is seldom the same, but is always around 2464.

I have run consecutive scans 18 times this morning, getting numbers from 7774 to 7720 reported in the "Windows Defender Antivirus" window, and 5296 to 5256 in the "Windows Defender scan results" window. Differences in the count ranged from 2483 to 2464.

I can understand the variation in the file count from one pass to the next because of background processes (e-mail clients, auto-update actions, etc.) altering the number of files present, but why do the two reporting screens show such a large difference
in the count of files scanned per each scan?