How often do you run a Virus Scan?

[Kaymish]

almost never i take a look in my running processes and services from time to time and nuke anything i don't know should be running plus the account controls are pretty good at catching stuff and i don't tend to visit those sorts of sites if you know what i mean

 

[Ze_Reaper_Of_Zeath]

I use Norton, so it scans when I leave it on. I'd say one every 2-3 days.

 

[Generic_Dave]

I use a lot of different wi-fi networks, and all the ones in col are VERY unsecure, so I tend to run it weekly...

I know its not the same thing but my mate worked in the Digital Hub in Dublin and this one chick was having trouble with her laptop and he couldn't find anything wrong with it, so he gave her a company one and took hers to run a defrag over night...he came in the next day and checked the log and the red bar was over 80% fragmented...some people never do anything with their computers.

 

[wastaz]

Seeing as virus programs are major resource hogs and generally annoying (see the mcaffee debacle a couple of weeks ago) I never keep one installed longer than a day. Once per 3-6 months I grab a virus scanner - install it - run it - uninstall it.

I've found that by using common sense and keeping the computer updated and not doing "stupid" stuff (like clicking on "click here for awesome jumpy annoying smilies"-ads) my computer is always clean. Because of this, I don't see the point in keeping a virus scanner around for longer than a couple of hours per 3-6 month period.

I seriously don't get how people manage to get infected with viruses, it's seriously not -that- hard to keep your computer clean, just use plain _common sense_ at _all times_ and you'll be safe.

 

[GodsAndFishes]

If the computers acting a bit slow or odd I'll tend to run one just in case, so roughly once a month.

 

[teh_gunslinger]

Well, there are a few ways to answer that question. I use Bullguard which has a realtime scan of data trafic and files. So there's that.
Then I scan most of the files individually I download, though not all. Depends on source.

Every forthnight I do a full scan of everything on the computer. Though I sometimes do one unscheduled if I have nothing better to do.

All in all I think I'm pretty decent when it comes to virus. Only thing I've found the last year or so was a tracking cookie from some ad crap.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

When it does it itself.

 

[tom_rebane]

i run once once a week deep scan, given amount of html exploits ive hit last week been running a scan almsot every day

 

[Captain Pancake]

My computer runs one whenever it damn well pleases. I think Norton has more power over my PC than I do...

 

[Denamic]

Once every day, as soon as my computer considers itself idle.

I have AVG Free Edition. That scans every Saturday night, and the thing's always clean.

With an i7 2.6 GHz processor running Windows 7 x64, so yeah, I don't even notice it scanning 'till it's done.

While running Crysis.

Scanning your HDD is mostly about HDD I/O, not your other specs.
You'll scan much faster on a 2GHz P4 with an SSD than any i7 system with an HDD.

I very much doubt this claim, all other factors equal.
Processor speed absolutely matters too. It's just that processor power has grown faster than HDD speed, so that tends to be the bottleneck more often than the processor. I've got a computer using 2.8GHz P4 with an HDD, and it uses 90-100% of the processor while scanning, implying that given a faster processor, it would scan more quickly. An old processor can be a bottleneck too.

I did say mostly.
And everything certainly does not factor equally.
Even if you've got 4 i7 processors in skulltrail, it'll only go as fast as your HDD allows.

 

[Rokar333]

I used to everyday, but since getting NoScript on Firefox I've dropped it down to once a week. I use AVG and if AVG is coming up with nothing and I know something is wrong I'll scan again with Spybot, which usually picks up things AVG misses.

 

[Sakuji]

I have never scanned on my current windows install. I do however reinstall windows on my primary HDD about once a year just for fun. Of course, I also tend to rebuild my PC about once a year also.

 

[Meat.Shield]

I'm running Linux, so never. I don't know if anti-viral programs for Linux even exist....

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

I do a trend micro quick scan every startup, and a system wide scan every week. With an 8 core processor, it doesn't impact me at all.

 

[Calatar]

Once every day, as soon as my computer considers itself idle.

I have AVG Free Edition. That scans every Saturday night, and the thing's always clean.

With an i7 2.6 GHz processor running Windows 7 x64, so yeah, I don't even notice it scanning 'till it's done.

While running Crysis.

Scanning your HDD is mostly about HDD I/O, not your other specs.
You'll scan much faster on a 2GHz P4 with an SSD than any i7 system with an HDD.

I very much doubt this claim, all other factors equal.
Processor speed absolutely matters too. It's just that processor power has grown faster than HDD speed, so that tends to be the bottleneck more often than the processor. I've got a computer using 2.8GHz P4 with an HDD, and it uses 90-100% of the processor while scanning, implying that given a faster processor, it would scan more quickly. An old processor can be a bottleneck too.

I did say mostly.
And everything certainly does not factor equally.
Even if you've got 4 i7 processors in skulltrail, it'll only go as fast as your HDD allows.

I didn't say everything factors equally. I said that if all other factors were equal, I don't think that would be the case.
And yes, that's the definition of a bottleneck, a limiting factor. I agree with you that an HDD is more likely to limit your scan speed than your processor nowadays, but I disagree to the extent you claimed, based on my personal experience. No real argument, just saying.

Also, re: skulltrail, can you do that?

 

[SpAc3man]

whenever McAfee tells me my computer is in danger.. Or on a Sunday at 12 if my PC is on then

 

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

I have AVG set to scan daily at noon, so it does it's thing whilst I'm off having my lunch.

 

[Junkle]

I scan every couple of days.
I use a combination of AVG and ZoneAlarm.
AVG gives the antivirus and ZoneAlarm lets me regulate which stuff connects to the internet. Makes a nice combo, and they're both free.
I tried Norton temporarily, but I ended up hating it.

 

[Wraithspine]

I tend to run a full system scan once a week. My virus scanner does a mini scan pretty much every time i switch on my comp, which is 2 - 3 times a day.

 

[Daniel_Rosamilia]

Well, I have 3 different types of scans on the laptop with Trend Micro, and it's running XP, and really prone to getting viruses, so let's see:

Windows system folder scan: Saturday, 6:00
C drive scan: Friday, 6:00
Full system scan: Daily, 3:00

Spybot S&D, on the other hand, has one a week.

So 10 scans a week.