How Often Should You Run a Full Scan? Explaining Tips to Reduce Scan Time

With the increase in cybercrime, individuals and businesses alike are required to actively use security software. Among them, a full scan, which performs thorough scanning, is an effort that should be carried out regularly, if not daily.

This article explains the recommended frequency for performing such full scans, and tips for improving the time burden, which is a bottleneck.

Table of Contents

1. What is a Full Scan?
1. Function to Scan All Files and Programs on a Device
2. More Detailed Check Than a Normal Scan
2. Effects of a Full Scan
1. Reduces the Risk of Overlooking Threats
2. Minimizes Attack Damage
3. How Often Should You Perform a Full Scan?
1. Regular Implementation is Ideal for Full Scans
2. Aim for Once a Week
4. Time Required for a Full Scan
1. About One Hour Per Scan
2. Can Be Troublesome Due to the Amount of Time Required
5. What is EXO Security’s ‘AGENT’, Effective in Reducing Full Scan Time?
1. Achieves Efficient Scanning with Reduced Load on the PC
2. Full Scan Can Be Performed in a Shorter Time Than Other Products
3. Contributes to Improving Security Measures with Frequent Full Scans

1. What is a Full Scan?

First, let’s reconfirm what a full scan is all about.

1-1. Function to Scan All Files and Programs on a Device

The full scan function implemented in many security software programs scans all files and programs on the device where the security software is installed to check for potential threats.

PCs and smartphones store and execute various data and programs that are not normally visible, in addition to the files and apps that are used on a daily basis. Some malware may hide in such minor data in order to escape the monitoring of security software, but a full scan can quickly detect, isolate, and eliminate such threats.

1-2. More Detailed Check Than a Normal Scan

The main feature of a full scan is that it allows for a much more detailed security check than a normal real-time scan. Because it checks data that is not subject to normal scanning, it can catch malware that is difficult to find.

2. Effects of a Full Scan

Performing a full scan is mainly useful for achieving the following two effects:

2-1. Reduces the Risk of Overlooking Threats

First, a full scan can significantly reduce the risk of accidentally overlooking threats.

This does not apply to malware that cannot be detected by security software, or to new types of attacks that do not resemble any past malware, but it will reliably isolate and eliminate even hard-to-detect threats.

The strength is that it can cover check points that were insufficient with real-time scanning alone with periodic full scans.

2-2. Minimizes Attack Damage

If malware that could not be detected by real-time scanning is already running, running a full scan to isolate the malicious program can minimize the damage.

In recent years, there has been an increase not only in programs that publicly execute malicious programs immediately after infection, but also in programs that operate covertly without the user’s knowledge. Even against these threats, performing regular full scans can prevent the spread of damage and keep it to a small incident.

3. How Often Should You Perform a Full Scan?

Compared to real-time scans, full scans take longer, so running them every day is not very realistic. So, what is the ideal pace for performing full scans?

3-1. Regular Implementation is Ideal for Full Scans

• Before getting into specific numbers of days, the premise is the necessity of performing full scans regularly. A full scan is a function to detect threats that were missed by daily real-time scans, so it is ideal to decide on an implementation date and perform it as a regular event.

Irregular full scans may delay the discovery of threats that have been missed from daily scanning, which could cause enormous damage to devices and organizations.

3-2. Aim for Once a Week

In conclusion, there is no clear ‘frequency of once every so many days’ for the frequency of full scans of security software. For example, Kaspersky, a major security software company, recommends an ideal full scan frequency of once a week, which is a standard frequency that leads to low-risk device use.

Of course, there is no doubt that the more frequent the full scan, the better, but real-time scanning is superior from an efficiency standpoint for daily scanning. For this reason, it is also important to consciously use real-time scanning and full scanning separately.

4. Time Required for a Full Scan

The biggest difference between real-time scans and full scans is the time it takes to perform them.

4-1. About One Hour Per Scan

When running a full scan, the actual time required varies depending on the amount of data and specs within the device, but keep in mind that it takes about one hour per scan.

Also, because the PC’s resources are taken up by scanning during a full scan, performance may slow down when using other apps. Therefore, it is necessary to anticipate a decrease in business performance while a full scan is running.

4-2. Can Be Troublesome Due to the Amount of Time Required

The reason why most people use real-time scans on a daily basis instead of full scans is because they take a lot of time and the device’s performance also decreases during the scan. Real-time scans can be completed in tens of seconds to several minutes, and most threats can be covered by this, which is also one of the reasons why they are preferred.

When performing a full scan, it is necessary to take the above points into consideration, such as running it after business hours.

5. What is EXO Security’s ‘AGENT’, Effective in Reducing Full Scan Time?

Because a full scan is not a scanning method that can be easily performed, the frequency of implementation may decrease, or implementation may be left unattended altogether. What is effective in solving such problems is the ‘AGENT’ provided by EXO Security.

EXO Security is designed to operate the client’s AGENT in a lightweight manner, and does not require a lot of time for a full scan. In addition, it has a mechanism to skip files that have been confirmed to be safe, so the more you run a full scan, the shorter the time will be, and it will not be a burden even if you run it every day.

5-1. Achieves Efficient Scanning with Reduced Load on the PC

The feature of AGENT is that the load on the device is small. Normal security software consumes a lot of PC resources during a full scan, but AGENT can minimize the load of a full scan.

As a result, it is possible to reduce the load on the PC and operate with little adverse effect on performance.

5-2. Full Scan Can Be Performed in a Shorter Time Than Other Products

AGENT not only has a small load, but also can perform a full scan in a shorter time than other products. It will be useful as security software that can suppress the time required for scanning and operate without increasing the burden on business.

5-3. Contributes to Improving Security Measures with Frequent Full Scans

The fact that a full scan can be done in a short time means that the hurdle to running a full scan is lowered and it becomes easier to perform. By performing full scans not only once a week, but even more frequently, you can always keep an eye out for all kinds of threats and create an opportunity to enhance company-wide security.

Summary

This article summarizes the usefulness of full scans of security software and the frequency of implementation. Threats that are missed by general real-time scans can be greatly reduced by utilizing full scans as appropriate.

If you have not run a full scan for a long time, we recommend that you review the scanning method and frequency, which are the basics of security measures.

Also, if you are concerned that your existing security software takes too long to scan, or whether it can respond to new types of cyber attacks, please consider introducing AGENT provided by EXO Security.

For pricing information, please contact globalsupport@jiran.com.