In all probability, the number of "objects" your AV scans are the number of malware items for which it has signatures or other methods of detection, and has almost nothing to do with how many files it looks at. It may look at many files for each "object," and look at the same files for the next "object," if that's how it's reporting.

I'd consider 24 hours for a full system scan quicker'n a goose goin' at a junebug, but my full system scan goes through about 8 TB of hard drives (depending on what's connected at the time) and usually runs closer to 40 hours. I seldom see that, though, since the AV does it "in background" with no interference with what I'm doing when it does a scheduled run (weekly). You may be able to set up your AV to "run in background" and schedule when it should start a full system scan so you won't have to look at it until it gets done.

"Hangs" while browsing are sometimes due to a shortage of RAM and/or Temp space. Recent computers that have been most popular don't permit as much RAM as I'd like, but you might be able to add some. I've found web orders (in my case, most recently from Crucial) about half the price of local outlets, but there are several sources with equally good reputations. If you give them your computer brand and model number, they'll tell you what you can do.

A problem with adding RAM is that the SYSTEM will just use more of the RAM and do less swapping to HD Temp space, but "more is still better" if you can boost the RAM reasonably.

Browsing, and other, "hangs" may also be due to a shortage of Temp space. The default for most recent Windows systems is that Temp space cannot exceed 10% of hard drive free space, and failure to defrag could cause the Temp space to get tiny, especially in older versions that could only use 10% of the largest contiguous free space. Newer Win versions can write the Temp files across multiple free spaces, and defrag should be automatic in background so changes in Temp space shouldn't be a problem, although a small/medium sized drive that gets filled up can still cramp the drive.

While you can reset the percentage of free drive space allowed for Temp files in most Win versions, this IS NOT RECOMMENDED for most users. Adding another hard drive and moving some stuff off to it is usually a better solution. Another internal HD is nice, but external USB drives are also pretty good. (I wouldn't buy anything with less than 1TB now, although I do still use a couple of 500GB externals for "special archiving.")

The "other" - maybe the biggest - cause for hangs is the proliferation of "linked in" advertising that fails to load promptly. There's not a whole lot you can do about that, except to avoid sites that seem most annoying.

The main thing I'd suggest is that you quit worrying about how many "things" get scanned and only look at how many pieces of crap get removed/quarantined - and what those are. If you trust your AV you should almost never have to fret about what it's doing. If you don't trust it, get something else.

John