BleepingComputer.com: Can Scanning Multiple Times Be Detrimental ?

Howdy,

Someone on another site mentioned that it is not a good idea to run multiple security scans on your computer everyday.

He said it is not good for your computer. He never explained why, I am assuming because of wear and tear.

I have Windows OneCare which runs a scan everyday. I also scan the computer with Malwarebytes and SuperAntiSpyware every day. Am I overdoing it ? Can it have a negative effect on my computer ?

I do not visit risky sites such as adult sites, file sharing sites, etc; but I figure why not be pro-active and try to catch something that might have slipped through within a day of its arrival rather than a week later.

Any thoughts on the subject ?

Thanks for your time,

Dennis Windows XP Home, IE-8, SP-3

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Well, I think that's nonsense.

My computer doesn't seem to be suffering and I run MBAM and SAS
everyday - better to be pro-active than play catch-up.

btw, did you ever find your desktop picture.

I am thinking he is referring to wear and tear on the hard drive.

Daily scans, IMO, can be over done. If you are not a risky surfer but still want to be safe then my suggestion would be to scan with one utility once a day and cut the others back to once a week.

Just my opinion. Others will have theirs. Your mileage may vary.

ThunderZ, on Jan 28 2010, 04:24 PM, said:

Ill take this one step further. I perform scans with McAfee every other week, and perform malware bytes scans every month around the first. The less your drive is in use the less wear and tear is done on your hard drive, and other components due to heat.

Thanks for the replies. I have been lucky the last year or so. Tracking cookies have been the only things found. My computer is now 6 years old so maybe it is time I give the hard drive a rest.


petewills,

I found it. It was in a picture album that I somehow missed. I remember your helping with the situation. If I neglected to post back and let you know the outcome, I apologize. I like to keep up with that so folks who took their time to help will know the outcome.

Thanks again.


Dennis

crytodan,

My biggest worry is that if I have picked up a infection of some sort it may be working in the backround doing damage that I am not aware of. My thoughts are to get rid of it right away. In other words is not possible that a Trojan could be stealing information but I would have no idea it was happening until I finally ran a scan ?

Am I being irrational ? (perhaps paranoid ?)


Dennis

This post has been edited by Dennis H: 28 January 2010 - 11:49 AM

Dennis H, on Jan 28 2010, 04:46 PM, said:

I think that if you practice good computer security habits then the likelihood of you getting infected is rather slim to none. If you are asking these questions, then I ask you if you trust the companies that produce anti-malware software that is currently installed on your computer. If your software is already performing real time scanning, then a full system scan is rather redundant. I would also like to ask you what firewall do you have?

I have Microsoft Windows OneCare. It includes a firewall along with anti-virus protection. I have been using it for a couple of years and it has caught a few thing however a couple of things have slipped by it in the past.

I picked up a Trojan in a e mail attachment that it did not catch but malwarebytes did when I ran a scan that day.

I once stupidly clicked on a security pop up window. If I remember correctly I ended up with the fake alert virus which Malwarebytes caught in a scan and removed.

Other than that I have had good luck but I realize that no one firewall will catch everything hence my daily scanning to play it safe.


Dennis

This post has been edited by Dennis H: 28 January 2010 - 12:14 PM

My system is nearly 7 years old.

Hard drives are cheap. Wearing it out would be the least of my worries.

If you have a decent backup, no problem.

Call my attitude 'anal', if you will; I would be worried, leaving my computer unscanned for long periods of time.

I have Windows Defender and Avast offering realtime protection,
but I always run MBAM and SAS, at the end of the day and will continue so to do.

As ThunderZ remarked, we will all have our own opinions.

btw, Dennis, I found tracking cookies for Vundo.variant on the one occasion
when I had not deleted the temps and cookies from IE8 after surfing, but I swear
only on BC.

MBAM picked up a switch-dialler, which SAS did not (perhaps it's not designed to do so)
and ever since I have run both.

FYI, I am most definitely not a 'risky' surfer.

A properly configured firewall will block what it is designed\configured to block. Do`t confuse it`s designed function and abilities with those of an AV or AM.

In the many years that I have been computing I have not been infected with anything but tracking cookies. The only times I have been infected was by my own fault to see how viruses react, and how to clean them. The last time I did a scan with MBAM nothing was found, and McAfee doesn't detect anything.

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I do like the above, however, leave it to me to take it even another step further, lol. I have my ZoneAlarm Antivirus set to only scan the system once a month. It has real time/on-access scanning running all the time so I figure it is going to catch whatever just from that and in my opinion, that and scanning once a month is good enough. I trust it and my firewall to either keep things out or catch it as soon as it hits my system and my operating system firewall should keep anything from installing itself on my system, so I kind of see actual scanning of the system by my antivirus program rather unnecessary.

Malwarebytes and SuperAntiSpyware do seem to catch different things so I run both once a month or so (try to run them inbetween the antivirus scans) just in case something slips by my protection and I run them any time something seems a little funky on my system. If I have any real concerns I will run an antivirus scan inbetween its sheduled times.

Hard drives might be cheap in most peoples opinion, but I see no reason to throw away the money and effort for a new one if I can keep the one I have working longer.

Stang777, on Jan 28 2010, 09:37 PM, said:

I guess some people do not value their data. I value my data on my drives. The drive maybe cheap, but the data isn't.

For me it isn't even just the data but the effort. I have all my data totally backed up, but still, I don't want to go through the hassle and inconvenience of replacing the drive and all that entails and I really do not have money to throw away on it either. I have better places to spend my money, like rent and bills and I don't consider a hard drive to be cheap. What is cheap to someone who has a lot of money is not cheap to those who do not, especially those whose hours at work have been cut for the last year with no relief in sight.

Also, I would be without my computer while I am replacing that, besides, who wants to waste the time? I don't want to spend my time shopping for and replacing the hard drive and reinstalling everything. My system is many years old, for all I know it would be hard finding a compatible hard drive and even if it isn't, it is still a hassle. I would rather spend my time off work doing things I want to do on my computer and repairing it does not qualify as something I want to do.

Seems like I have gotten a bit off topic here, sorry about that.

This post has been edited by Stang777: 28 January 2010 - 05:08 PM