Ask Bob Rankin - Friday, March 16, 2018 at 10:59 AM
[HOWTO] Run a Deep Scan for Malware
What is a Deep AntiVirus Scan?
As you've noticed, the "quick scan" option is the default in almost every
anti-virus and anti-malware software. A quick scan examines only the most
common spyware hiding places, such as the Windows system folders, your
Documents and Settings folder, and the registry.
A deep scan, sometimes referred to as a "full scan", "complete system scan", or
"whole computer scan" examines every bit of your computer's RAM memory, hard
drives, and removable drives. A deep scan will also scan your startup programs
and the Windows registry for any traces of malware.
Malware (viruses, spyware and other nasties) usually comes in the form of an
EXE or DLL file, but it can also hide in a JPG file (graphics image), a DOC
file (Microsoft Word), a PDF, and many other places you wouldn't expect. If a
virus or rootkit is lurking anywhere on your hard drive, external drive, flash
drive, or on a CD/DVD disk, a deep scan should find it.
Because it must open and scan through every file on every drive, a full scan
will take a lot longer than a quick scan. You should set aside at least two
hours to allow a full system scan to complete. You can continue to work while
the scan is in progress, but performance will probably take a significant hit
due to the disk-intensive scanning operation.
How often should you run a full or deep scan? Most experts agree that a
scheduled quick scan will do a good job of protecting you, if run on a daily
basis, along with real-time malware detection. These are standard features for
almost all anti-virus software, even the free versions. I would definitely
recommend a full scan if you suspect that your system is infected. Beyond that,
a full scan once a month seems more than sufficient. If you're paranoid, or
just have CPU cycles to burn late at night, schedule a deep scan to run weekly.
How to Start a Full Scan
There are many different anti-virus programs available, so it's not always
obvious how to initiate a full anti-virus scan, and which options are
important. Below are step-by-step instructions for deep scanning with the most
popular free anti-virus programs. Click the desktop icon or the mini-icon in
the task bar to open your program's main menu, then jump to the appropriate set
of instructions. If you don't have an anti-virus program yet, or you want to
check into free alternatives to the paid security software you now have, see my
related article on Free Anti-Virus
Programs<http://askbobrankin.com/free_antivirus_programs.html> before
continuing.
Avast Free - Full Scan
* On the Avast main menu: click "Protection"
* Click the "Scans" option
* Under "Full Virus Scan", click "Settings"
* Under "Scan Areas" select "All harddisks", "All removable media",
"Rootkits (full scan)", and "Auto-start programs and modules loaded in memory".
* Select the "content" radio button under "Recognize file types by"
* Check the box next to "Scan all files"
* Click OK to save settings
* Click "Full Virus Scan" to run the scan.
AVG Free - Full Scan
* On the AVG main menu: click the gear icon next to the green "SCAN
COMPUTER" button
* Click the gear icon next to the "Deep Scan" option
* Under "Full Virus Scan", click "Settings"
* Under "Scan Areas" select "All harddisks", "All removable media",
"Rootkits (full scan)", and "Auto-start programs and modules loaded in memory".
* Select the "content" radio button under "Recognize file types by"
* Check the box next to "Scan all files"
* Click OK to save settings
* Click "Deep Scan" to run the scan.
You might have noticed that the instructions for deep scan with Avast and AVG
are almost identical. That's because AVG was purchased by Avast in 2017.
Avira Free - Full Scan
* On the Avira main menu: click "Open" on the line that says "Antivirus"
* Click the "Scan" icon
* Select "Full Scan"
* Select "Start Scan"
MalwareBytes Anti-Malware - Full Scan
In addition to the full scan option in your antivirus program, I recommend that
you download the free MalwareBytes Anti-Malware
(MBAM)<https://askbobrankin.com/is_this_your_new_internet_security_tool.html>
program and run the full scan option in this program as well. MBAM scans for
all types of malware (not just viruses) and sometimes finds things that are not
detected by other anti-virus scanners. MBAM makes it easy:
* On the MBAM main menu: click the "Scan" button
* Select the "Custom Scan" option and click the "Configure Scan" button.
* Under "Custom Scan" options check all the boxes
* Select the disk drive(s) you want to scan.
* Click "Scan Now" to start the scan
Windows Defender Offline - Full Scan
If you are not able to start your computer due to a malware infection, the
Windows Defender Offline
(WDO)<https://askbobrankin.com/extra_security_windows_defender_offline.html> is
a stand-alone deep scan utility that runs from a bootable CD or USB flash
drive. You can also use WDO as an adjunct to the full scan option of your
installed anti-virus software.
Too Much of a Good Thing
Let me repeat a caution here that I've mentioned before. It's okay to run a
dedicated anti-virus program along with an on-demand scanner such as MBAM. But
I strongly advise that you run only ONE dedicated anti-virus program at a time.
If you run two or more, the real-time virus detection engines can actually
fight with each other. Each will think the other is an attacking virus, and the
ensuing battle for supremacy can bring your system to a crawl.
I actually tested this once on a Windows 7 system. After installing Microsoft
Security Essentials, Avira, and Avast, my system came to what seemed like a
complete halt. I hit the power button to reboot, and 20 minutes later it was
still cranking away. Trying to open any program or navigate the web was like
swimming in wet cement. If you want to install a second antivirus program to
run a "second look" scan, be sure to use the option to disable real-time
protection in the first one.
Do you have something to say about running a deep antivirus scan? Post your
comment or question below...
________________________________
Article information: AskBobRankin -- [HOWTO] Run a Deep Scan for Malware
(Posted: 16 Mar 2018)
Source: https://askbobrankin.com/howto_run_a_deep_scan_for_malware.html
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