Windows Security's Quick Scan consistently reaches the same point and then stops. Afterward, it says the last scan isn't available, even though the interface may still claim a scan finished seconds ago; resetting the preview sometimes shows an older scan from several hours earlier. I recently clicked a link sent by a friend and later learned their account had been compromised. VirusTotal didn't flag the link as malicious, but I'm concerned that the scan failure could indicate malware. Has anyone else experienced this, and what's the safest way to check the computer?
2 Answers
Run a scan with a separate, reputable antivirus or anti-malware program and compare the results. If multiple scanners fail or detect something, disconnect the computer from the internet and follow a trusted malware-removal procedure. Also update Windows and your security tools before scanning again.
Try running a custom scan on the entire drive instead of using Quick Scan. Quick Scan can occasionally crash or hang because of a Windows Security issue, so this behavior by itself doesn’t prove the computer is infected.
A similar scan stopped after checking around 30,000 files and then reported that threat protection had stopped, so it may be a Defender problem rather than malware.
I tried the free versions of Malwarebytes and Bitdefender, but they didn’t report any threats. I’m still unsure whether the Windows Security scan issue is related.