How often should I scan ?

Discussion in 'other anti-virus software' started by Ashak, Oct 12, 2002.

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  1. Ashak

    Ashak Registered Member

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    I use Kaspersky Personal Pro, and it updates automatically every day which is great. I also have the scanner set to run daily which generally takes between 15-18 mins. No problem as I run it late at night.

    Is it necessary to run it every day or should I just run it every week or so? Once the anti-virus bases are updated is it necessary to run the scanner as well?

    One more question. Is it necessary to have the KAV monitor in the sys tray or does it run in the background regardless? I assume it's the latter, but then what's the point in having it pop up in the sys tray if it isn't necessary? This happens when you hit the KAV monitor button from the programmes/start menu.
     
  2. LowWaterMark

    LowWaterMark Administrator

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    People have different opinions on how often to perform a full disk AV scan when they have the AV's resident scanner (aka. the KAV Monitor in your case) running all the time. You see...

    When a new AV scanner is installed, and the latest virus signatures have been downloaded, a full system scan should be performed right away. It kind of sets a baseline, if you will. At that point, you can have some confidence that your system was clear of viruses. If you leave the resident scanner active all the time, and have it update its signatures daily, it would be difficult for a virus to get on your system. (The running scanner would see any virus as it is being written to the disk. Some people rarely run a full scan after this.)

    But, what about new viruses? Ones you might get prior to your AV product having a signature defined for it. In my opinion, this is why you should periodically re-run a full system scan.

    So, how often should you do it? Like most things in computing and security, the answer is - it depends. How safe are your computing and networking practices? Do you download a lot of files or visit potentially dangerous web sites? Are you always riding the leading edge, technology-wise? (Using the latest and greatest the day its first released?)

    In the case of these aggressive computer users, I think a full scan, run nightly, when they aren't using the system anyway, is not a bad idea at all. If a person has very safe practices, especially in the handling of emails and files, then perhaps a weekly full scan would be good. (This is what I do, by the way.)

    Also, when a major update comes out from my AV vendor - i.e. a large update for a new ITW virus, or if they release a new scanning engine, I always run a full system scan, to validate my baseline again.

    What I know about KAV is second hand, but, I think the KAV Monitor is only active when the icon appears in the systray. I think it should be there all the time (started automatically when you boot). You want it active - protecting you at all times. Unless you find an option in KAV that specifically states to "Show icon in systray" - which you could turn off by un-checking it - I don't think you'll be able to get rid of the icon without disabling the active, in-memory scanner. (A current KAV user may be able to validate this.)

    Best Wishes,
    LowWaterMark
     
  3. root

    root Registered Member

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    Great reply LWM. Yes, you need to run the monitor resident in the systray. If you do not, you have no resident protection, you have no email protection from KAV and you have no protection against scripts running on web sites.
    I personally rarely do a system scan, because I have an email program, (Poco), that is not succeptable to most of the exploits M$ stuff is, and I triple scan all my downloads. Two AV scans and TDS3.
    Paranoia takes all the fun out of surfing and computing, unsafe practices take even more fun out of it. Find a happy compromise and use your head and you will be ok. :D
     
  4. Ashak

    Ashak Registered Member

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    Great replies guys, very useful. I may need to adjust my setup so that the resident scanner runs on boot. Slightly confusing before because the KAV control centre shows the scanner as running despite the fact that it doesn't show in the systray.

    I think I'll carry on with the daily scans as it doesn't interfere with other programmes as it's set to run when I'm not around anyway. Although I'm quite cautious with downloads, and e-mails in general, I can get careless so it doesn't do any harm to be on the safe side.

    Thanks for your help LWM and root, much appreciated :)
     
  5. Grasshopper

    Grasshopper Registered Member

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    I don't know if this is a stupid question but , will running full system scans every day be hard on your hard drive?
    Just curious .
    Regards.
    Frank
     
  6. root

    root Registered Member

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    Probably not that bad, but I would think unless you download every day or have an insecure email client, it surely would not be necessary every day.
    I think using the brain is much better than a daily scan.
    Just me. FWIW. :D
     
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