Scan Speeds

On our test machine, Windows Defender completed a Quick Scan in one minute, scanning 11,288 files. We then performed a deeper scan on a full 100GB hard drive, which completed in 26 minutes, 42 seconds. Next up was Bitdefender, and the initial Quick Scan took just 49 seconds. With the free version of Bitdefender, scan choices are a bit limited, so we dragged and dropped the entire 100GB folder on to the program to scan. That took just seven minutes, 10 seconds, which is a lot quicker than Windows Defender.

AVG doesn’t have a Quick Scan option, though it offers lots of ways to configure scans, so they only check the bits of your PC you want. The default is a full, deep scan. This is advisable with all AV products, to make sure your PC is completely safe. However, with our custom scan of the 100GB hard drive, it took 9 minutes, 48 seconds. Much faster than Windows Defender, but not as quick as Bitdefender.

Winner: Bitdefender