Windows 10: Understanding a W10 & Defender anomoly - wrong number of files count (34million files??)

Hi,

TOPIC:
I would value help in understanding what -and how - to clarify an anomoly in Windows 10 + Defender - where the advanced scan ran for 3 days and was searching roughly 34million files. However, I only have around 1.25million on the target USB drive!
Please understand, it is not the amount of time it took is the issue. It is (a) the number of files reported, plus (later, after the scan) (b) Why does Defender show only a quick scan had taken place a few days before.
I apologise for the length but I thought that pictures might help.


INFORMATION:
I have run an advanced scan of one of my external usb drives in defender now twice, and received roughly the same results.
I seem to get an impossibly high number of files being searched (34million).
Before the advanced scan I did a chkdsk u: /f and chkdsk c: /f.

So, here are some screen dumps firstly showing progress over a couple of days:
The scan started on the 5th July.


The following screen dump was made at 13:40 on the next day (6th July), and you can see the scan has not yet finished..



The next picture was made the 6th July at 9pm - the scan still running. Allegedly 20million files... ??


The next picture on 6th July 11pm... 23million files??




Nearly finished... The next picture on the 7th July at 8am.. still running.


The next picture shows the scan finished. Taken on 7th July at 9:23am. Supposedly nearly 35million files.


So. Compare with a Treesize scan.



This is indicating what I was expecting - around 1.25million files.


Now, the last scan as you have seen showed the results of my advanced custom scan completed, but maybe with the wrong number of files.

But look what happens if after closing Defender down, I reopen Defender


I get the Threat History showing that only a quick scan has been done.. and not the advanced scan that took nearly 3 days.
Why is that ? Does a quick scan also run unknowingly while the long advanced scan is taking place.
That's it.

So can someone knowledgable help me to understand with (1) an explanation please, plus (2) also show me where I can find for myself the information.
The issues are (a) the number of files reported, plus (later, after the scan) (b) Why does Defender show only a quick scan had taken place a few days before.

Thanks in advance







Moved from: Windows / Windows 10 / Security & privacy

:)

 

I have added the file count column to my folder in File Explorer. However, the actual file count is not displaying.

• Using File Explorer, I navigated to the folder I wanted to view the file counts, I right clicked on the column labels and chose File Count.

• This is occurring on any folder when I try to use the File Count column

• I currently use Windows Defender and Malwarebytes

• I also tried changing the View to Detail Pane, that did not make any difference.

 

I have added the file count column to my folder in File Explorer. However, the actual file count is not displaying.

Hi Loren,

I appreciate if you could answer a
few questions to narrow down the issue and to provide you better assistance.

• How did you added file count column for folders in File Explorer? What are the steps did you followed?
• When you say, "actual file count is not displaying" is this issue specific to any folder or happening with all folders?
• Have you installed any third party anti-virus on your system?

Meanwhile, I suggest you to follow the steps below and check if this helps.

• Open File Explorer.
• Click on View from navigation pane and choose Detail pane.

Write to us with the above information and status of the issue to assist you further.

Thank You.

 

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?