Just thinking a little while drinking alot of coffee. Can a virus/malware/ect. hide in you printer? Should a person have there printers turned on when running a scan for such things that are bad.

That's an interesting question. And it is one that doesn't come up frequently. The short answer is yes, it is possible for printers to be infected/hacked/remote controlled. The longer answer is that it is harder to do it to a printer than a PC. So infections are rare and mostly involve network printers. And as for scanning for viruses on a printer, none of the AVs actually scan them as far as I know, so leaving them connected would not make any difference. One way to make sure is to only connect the printer when you need it. Otherwise, leave it off. That's what I do.

Here's an interesting article on the subject. (It's from last year, but still worth a read)

The Surprising Security Threat: Your Printers

Thank you for getting back. I went to that site, very interesting. I do leave my printers off when not in use; just because they don't use power and create heat. Now I also leave them off for security. THANKS for the info.

No problem! Glad to have been able to help.