Windows 10: Incorrect number of infection in Safety Scanner

I run windows safety scan and the infecction count goes up to 16 but when it gets to 90% finished it says no infections foundwhy is my infection count climbing to 16 and then when almost finished it say no infection found?

:)

 

Microsoft safety scanner finds no virus?

Hello Anxious,

I am Jaspreet Singh.

Microsoft Scanner works in steps.

So at first stage it will detect what may be an infected file and it will add that to a list. This is the number you see when you see the scanner progressing. These are not actual infections, just suspicious files.

Once the scan is done the safety scanner will match the suspected files with the most recent database of threats and then tell you the actual infections on your system. If the last number is 0 it means no actual infection was found.

 

Microsoft Safety Scanner > Files Infected count

There's a bit of a UX problem with the scanner. As it is running it may encounter files that are suspected of being infected but indicate a count as: "Files Infected: XX"

This suggests the files are infected and apparently no list of these potentially infected files are provided.

1. Change the label to "Possible Infected Files"
   
2. Write to the msert log the list of possibly infected files for further review/action.
   

I say this as I let the tool run for over 3 hours, racking up over 20 "Files Infected". My computer was disconnected from the Internet during the scan. So I was surprised that the files in question were somehow "cleared" despite a lack of Internet connection.

From the log:

Results Summary:

----------------

No infection found.

Failed to submit MAPS report: 0x80072EE7

Failed to submit clean hearbeat MAPS report: 0x80072EE7

Microsoft Safety Scanner Finished On Sun Apr 30 13:20:56 2023

If the suspected files couldn't be submitted, then how were they cleared? Which files were suspected?

I appreciate the tool just cannot trust the results.

 

Unable to Load Microsoft Safety Scanner Web Page


Hi, Which specific URL are you having problems with?

Does this help?
You cannot download the Microsoft Safety Scanner because of a malware infection - Microsoft Support
"If a malware infection is preventing you from downloading the Microsoft Safety Scanner to your computer, use one of the following methods to download and run the tool.Method 1: Run the Microsoft Safety Scanner from removable media

Save the Microsoft Safety Scanner to removable media on an uninfected computer, and then run the tool on the infected computer. To do this, follow these steps:........................................"

You can also get the scanner here e.g.
Microsoft Safety Scanner Download