Too forgetful to turn on computer for scan

I've now setup nod32 on 4 computers, but one computer requires special attention! The owner of this computer would like a scan to occur daily at 9AM. Unfortunately, he sometimes forgets to turn on his computer prior to 9AM. I notice that there are "if the task did not run" options on the NOD32 on-demand scan setup. My goal would be to have the scan run the next time he turned on the computer after it was scheduled. In Blackspear recommendations he mentions the problem of "overlap". I assume he means that if the option is not set correctly, multiple tasks could run at the same time? Which option makes the most sense:
run the task as soon as possible OR
run the task immediately if the time since... xxx hours

Also what happens if he turns the computer on and then off again before the scan can complete? This is likely because he tends to turn it on, check email, and turn it off.

 

Just set it to run at the next scheduled time. Once you set it up for 9am the rest is his responsibility. If he complains about the daily scan not being run tell him to complain to the guy he sees in the mirror every morning, You have done your part. The only other thing you can do is set the scan to run over night and tell him to leave the computer on.

 

Well, your response seems very logical, however, if his computer get infected guess who gets to repair it!? I've encouraged him to leave on at night with a scan that won't interfere, but no luck so far. Guess we'll leave it at 'wait until the next scheduled time' and hope for the best. Thanks for your feedback.

 

First so important to worry about , AMON is there to protect .

Guess who will become richer when clening his computer YOU, buddy !
And explain that particular user that there is nothing on that planet that will work for 100% "install and forget" , just a little maintanance is required to keep safe , protected and fine your computer/your life

 

Yes he can bill the guy for ID ten T rescue and repair work.

 

I guess the real question is there any way to get nod32 to scan when the computer is turned on after a scan was scheduled without risking multiple (overlapping) scans? This would be of interest to know. We are using Daily scans if that matters. I still don't have a clear understanding as to which of the two options is more appropriate

 

I would try "run the task as soon as possible" and see how it works out, if stacking occurs, then change it to "run the task immediately if the time since... xxx hours".

Cheers

 

Sounds like a plan. Thanks Blackspear

 

My pleasure.

Cheers

 

I tested your suggestion. There's some good news and some bad news! If you set it to 'run the task as soon as possible' and turn the computer on after the scheduled scan time it does start the scan. That's the good news! Unfortunately, if the computer is then turned off before the scan completes and turned on later, the scan neither continues nor starts over. That's the bad news! The status under 'Scanner Logs' says 'Cleaning' but it's not actually scanning (ie, the process is not visible in task manager). I believe this is a bug. Nod32 should be smart enough to say something like 'Interrupted' instead of 'Cleaning'. Of course, it would be even better if it could continue or start over the scan. In any event, I'll leave it at 'run the task as soon as possible' and hope for the best. If after a period of time I see numerous 'Cleaning' reports in his log, I will know that he is not allowing scans to complete. By the way, Nod32 allows you to delete the 'Cleaning' line if it's false (ie, not actually cleaning), but not otherwise.

 

paroots, I was giving your problem some thought and wondered if the machine had a power-on/down function by time in the bios - you could setup the machine to power-on BEFORE it's scan time... a quick googling found this article, which may, or may not be of some help:

http://www.geek.com/tipstrix/misc/autoon.htm

But in the end, if a human actually interferes with your scans, that's just something that either has to be worked around (change the scan time) - or - you'll have to give up on the deal....

hth

Greg

 

Perhaps rather than set the time of the scan, one could just set an event triggered scan that would run whenever the computer did get turned on?

Event triggered "The First time the computer is turned on each day"

 

I considered that too firepost - but I know when my clients turn on their computer, they don't want it slowed down because they turn them on to use them - not wait 15 minutes for the computer to become "usable"... but I also appreciate that it depends a lot on the computer spec and amount of scanning that needs to be done.

I'd also recommend that a system cleaner be installed at boot time - something like ccleaner (ccleaner.com) - because if it's set to remove junk at boot time, there is less junk to be scanned by NOD32 - it all helps!

 

Thanks for the responses. As far as I know, the computer does not have the auto power up feature. I was interested in the event trigger feature. I'm not sure it helps because the way I have it set now it will scan at 9AM if turned on or lacking that as soon as possible. The only outstanding problem, as I see it, is the fact that Nod32 does not know that the computer was turned off during a scan and, furthermore, does not continue or start the scan over. As mentioned, the fact that Nod32 continues to report a status of 'Cleaning' seems a bug which should be fixed. Ideally, Nod32 could pick up the scan where it left off or lacking that start the scan over.

 

I'll never understand people running on-access powered scanner daily for on-demand scans. Whats the point of having on-access enabled anyway (in this case)?

 

I don't know of any antivirus that has this ability. If your customer can't remember to turn his computer on for a timed scan then thats his problem - not yours.

Also, AMON would be protecting him anyway.... Tell him not to be so stupid and have some faith in his engineers choice of software

 

Yeah, what gives? Why does he have to do a scan every single day? Maybe I'm just lax, but I have NOD set up with Blackspear's settings and let AMON and IMON etc do their job. I run an in-depth command line scan weekly on a schedule, just to be sure.

Is there a special reason for the daily scans?

 

I used to do daily scans when I FIRST got NOD32 - all machines are now on weekly - but it doesn't matter, if you can't guarantee the machine will be on, when do you schedule it?

 

He doesn't, and it is not required unless they have someone doing Peer to Peer sharing. For the average user a single once a week scan is ample.

Cheers

 

Not for this average user, daily for me. But to each his own.

 

You have IMON as your first defence, AMON as your second, and a complete file check as your 3rd. Not much gets past the first 2 layers.

Cheers

 

Yes I understand the layers and the key words are " not much." People that want to scan less often are free to do so with no criticism from me. This helps me sleep at night and thats what it's all about isn't it? Anyway I'm not totally locked into this because if I turn the computer on late I have the scan set up to run at the next scheduled time.

 

Sure, however a scan is only going to find something that has gone past in the case where a signature has been updated and now the infiltration is detected by that signature, so the chance of this happening is very remote.

Sure, no problem here with that

Cheers

 

The chance is of enough concern that you'll concede to a weekly scan at least.

 

LOL indeed, it gives me a nice warm feeling when I see that "Number of threats found: 0"

Cheers