Most anti spyware/anti virus programs have a timer telling you how long its been scanning for while its scanning. Can you have this in the next version?
Personally I feel this would be of limited benefit as it just shows elapsed time and not how much longer to go, which it can't accurately estimate. I perform the same scan once a week (Sundays) and because I know how long this has taken in the past (duration is displayed at the end of he scan), I start it off, check my and go and do something else like Alan and come back to find finished.
However, if you change your scans the timer would be even less of use. I have Ewido and AdAware, they have timers, but I don't sit there watching them as I know roughly how long the scan takes, I check my watch and come back later when they will have finnished.