Estimated time remaining?

[ickier]

Why do you show time elapsed during a scan and not an estimated time remaining?

I don't so much care how long it's taking as much as I'd care how much longer it has to go before being done.

Comments?

[exile360]

Greetings

This feature and others like it (progress bars, percent complete etc.) have frequently been requested in the past, however the unfortunate reality is that to add such an estimation is woefully inaccurate (every scanner I've ever used that has such a feature taking FOREVER to once it reaches "less than 1 minute" or "99% complete" will attest to that fact). It would also increase the time required to actually perform the scan, since MBAM would have to first check the total number of files and folders to be scanned, the number of processes running in memory, the number of registry keys and values to be checked, estimate the size of the files to be scanned (since individual file size is a factor in the length of time required to scan a file) and all of that would have to take place before the actual scan even begins, otherwise any time estimate or progress bar would be inaccurate for the duration of the actual scan itself and would jump up or down in the amount of time remaining or percent complete as the scan progresses.

That unfortunately is what it boils down to, you get an estimation of the time to complete that is either completely inaccurate, adds a massive amount of time to the actual scan process itself, or both.

That does not mean that it won't ever happen, but these are the reasons that we've not done so already.

Either way, thank you for the suggestion, we do appreciate it .

[mountaintree16]

I think that it is a good idea as well, but I agree with what Exile said.

I know with Kaspersky it gives me an estimate and usually when it says 99% less than 1 minute, the scan takes at least another 8-12 minutes... so I'd rather just not have it there at all lol.

Edit to clarify here, I meant with the Kaspersky quick scan this happens. I can't remember if it is the same on the full scan, but probably.

Edited October 29, 2011 by mountaintree16

[Grantwhy]

silly suggestion time

how about, instead of estimating the time remaining, you show the total number of objects to be scanned and how many have be scanned so far?

eg:

            objects scanned: 111,111
total objects to be scanned: 999,999

(and maybe show it as % completed/remaining?)

that way, at least users would have an idea of how much of the scan is left (without the program having to provide a estimate of time remaining)

apologies if this has been already suggested - I'm new to the forums

[exile360]

Same issue there. That would mean that before the scan even begins, MBAM has to basically scan the system just to see how many total objects there are to be scanned, which is redundant and would just make the scan take longer. The number of processes running at any given time, the number of files and folders in the locations that MBAM scans and the number of registry keys and values are never static (just think of your Temporary Internet Files folder, the number of files in there changes each time you visit a new webpage), that means MBAM would have to make this calculation every time a new scan is performed before the actual scan even begins.