Windows 10: Microsoft safety scanner says nothing detected after it showed a detected file during the...

Microsoft safety scanner says nothing detected after it showed a detected file during the scan process dialog...

:)

 

why does the safety scanner show infected files when scanning but when it gets through it says none were detected?

why does the safety scanner show infected files when scanning but when it gets through it says none were detected

 

microsoft safety scanner showing same files infected

If you're seeing these 15 infected files only during the scanning process listed next to the line titled 'Files infected', then that's a well-known situation that confuses many who don't understand how this, or any other Microsoft malware scanner truly operates.

During the scan itself, the Safety Scanner displays this Files infected counter that includes all of the individual fragments of potential malware it has detected using the signatures contained within the downloaded file. However, once the scanning portion has reached roughly 95% completed (per the progress bar), the scanning tool (and most other Microsoft scanners like Defender) perform a 'phone home' request using a cloud service also known as MAPS (Microsoft Active Protection Service).

What this MAPS request does for the Safety Scanner is allows it to not only verify that the items detected aren't actually a false positive detection, but also that the remediation (fix) for these particular items hasn't been updated or changed, as well as that the combination of items are truly 'active' malware and not simply leftover fragments of an already 'dead' or failed malware attack, which commonly occurs for example when a website file download is either aborted or fails to truly operate due to protections like SmartScreen filter or others built into either the Edge browser or Windows itself.

Once the MAPS process is complete, the reporting and any remediation instructions or other items required for the Safety Scanner to finish its process are returned to the client via the cloud and performed locally, at which point the Safety Scanner UI displays a final reporting of whether any truly active malware was detected and/or removed, which in many cases results in 0 (no) active items having been found.

If this no active malware infections result is what you're seeing, that's totally appropriate, since as the above description shows, the initial detections of 15 'Infected files' is only preliminary, so it's this final determination by MAPS that truly matters.

Rob

 

Microsoft Safety Scanner is unable to detect and remove ransomware?

Microsoft Safety Scanner is unable to detect and remove ransomware?

* Original title: Malware dectation.