How long should Webroot take to scan a terabyte?


Hello:
 
I am running the scan on an 2 TB external hard drive I used on an old PC that's almost half full (about 40 GB shy of a full terabyte). I started the scan at 10:30 yesterday morning shortly after purchasing the software and it's only at 25% right now after 21 hours of scanning.
 
The PC did go to sleep at some point in the night, but the last time I checked it before going to bed was around 11 PM and it was pretty much the same. The thing is, it does seem to be scanning. The Files Scanned is at 1.4 million and keeps ticking upwards, and it's found a few threats. 
 
Is this normal for a first time scan? Should scanning this many files take this long; should I just let it finish (I mean, at this rate it'll be Wednesday)? 
 
Also, if I run something like Minecraft of Illustrator while it's scanning, does it slow down, or pause the scan? 
 
Thanks.

2 replies

Userlevel 7
Badge +36
Hi wmccaul...........and Welcome to the Community!
It should take nowhere near the time you are experiencing. I would suggest a clean re-install of Webroot.
 
Please follow the steps below closely in terms of installing WSA on the target system/machine!
 
Download new Installer from Below link and save to Desktop.
Go to Programs and Features and uninstall Webroot/Then Reboot!
 
  • Make sure you have a copy of your 20 Character Alphanumeric Keycode! Example:SA69-AAAA-A783-DE78-XXXX
  • KEEP the computer online during the install to make sure it works correctly
  • Download a Copy Here (Best Buy Subscription PC users click HERE). Let us know if it is the Mac version you need.
  • Install with the new installer, entering your Keycode when prompted to do so in the install process
  • Let it finish it's install scan
  • Reboot Again!
Thanks,
Userlevel 7
Badge +62
Hello wmccaul,
 
Welcome to the Webroot Community,
 
May I ask if you are running a Mac? Are these your backup drives?
 
Please go into the Mac scan settings and uncheck Scan Mounted drives. Otherwise it will take foreverr to complete.
 
Here is the Mac User Guide for more information.
 
Have a look at this THREAD by our Mac Threat Researcher
 
And here .https://community.webroot.com/t5/Webroot-SecureAnywhere-Complete/How-long-does-it-take-to-scan-350-G...
 
Words from Wanderingbug below
 
In some cases, Webroot will detect a threat that is located on your backup, such as Time Machine. If the file are in the backup, then they cannot hurt your system. You would have to restore the files from the backup to get them on the system, and at that point the Real Time Shield in Webroot would find and remove them. Even though Webroot cannot remove these files, as space for newer backups is needed the older backups will be deleted. This will delete the threats from the backup as well.

We recommend if Webroot continues to detect these files that you uncheck the box next to them on the removal page. This will tell Webroot to ignore the files in their current location.

If you would like to remove these files manually from the backup in Time Machine, you can use the following steps:

Note: This action is permanent, and will impact all past backups on the given Time Machine drive, even backups from the distant archives on that drive. For this reason, be absolutely certain you want to remove an item before deleting it, otherwise you may end up missing data you would have wanted to keep.

1. Open the backup manager by pulling down Time Machine menu item and selecting, “Enter into Time Machine.”
2. Navigate to the directory location of the files/folders you want to remove.
3. Right-click on the folder or file you want to remove and select “Delete all backups of [File Name].”
4. Confirm the removal.

As the process is the same whether you are deleting the backup of a file or an entire folder, please be careful to only select the items you wish to delete. You cannot recover these files.

Another option available to Time Machine users is to exclude the files and folders from being backed up by the Time Machine. You can add them to the exclusion list which will permanently block the files/folders from being backed up in the future. By doing this, the infected file will eventually be deleted from the backup over time and prevent it from ever getting re-introduced to the drive should it be installed on the computer again.
 
I don't believe playing Minecraft will hinder the scanning of Webroot.
 
Hope this helps.

Reply