Scanning schedule?

Is there a recommended schedule for scanning a PC for
viruses/trojans/malware/etc.? I use most of the programs
suggested in this newsgroup (Spyware Blaster, Ad-Aware,
Spybot S&D, WinPatrol, CW Shredder, etc.), plus I have
active anti-virus and firewall in place. I run each of the
scans daily, and I always seem to find something lurking.
At times this seems like paranoia, but I'm trying to
prevent greater problems. Is daily too often? Or is there
no such thing as too often? The problem is that these
scans take quite a while to run. Any recommendations would
be appreciated!

Steven
Wed Oct 06 15:49:58 CDT 2004

In my opinion weekly is fine unless you have reason to suspect otherwise or
have poor performance or unusual activity on your computer. I suggest that
you use an antivirus program like Norton that monitors your computer all the
time for suspicious activity, can keep itself up to date automatically, and
also scans ALL of your emails no matter who they come from. Also be sure to
use a strong password for your user accounts as many trojans or worms will
run a dictionary attack against the administrator account [assuming you are
using W2K/XP ], keep your computer current with critical updates at Windows
Updates which you may be able to do automatically, and consider implementing
the minimum Internet Explorer security settings in the link below. A lot of
the stuff your scans find may be relatively harmless such as a tracking
cookie that AdAware always will find. I would also only scan with one
program for parasites such as AdAware and keep the other ones in case you
run into a difficult problem such as a home page hijacking where it often
helps to try various programs.--- Steve

http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/default.aspx

"Susan" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:0efc01c4abd6$e1661050$a401280a@phx.gbl...
> Is there a recommended schedule for scanning a PC for
> viruses/trojans/malware/etc.? I use most of the programs
> suggested in this newsgroup (Spyware Blaster, Ad-Aware,
> Spybot S&D, WinPatrol, CW Shredder, etc.), plus I have
> active anti-virus and firewall in place. I run each of the
> scans daily, and I always seem to find something lurking.
> At times this seems like paranoia, but I'm trying to
> prevent greater problems. Is daily too often? Or is there
> no such thing as too often? The problem is that these
> scans take quite a while to run. Any recommendations would
> be appreciated!

Susan
Thu Oct 07 07:08:14 CDT 2004

thanks, Steve...I think I'll relax a little and take your
advice!

>-----Original Message-----
>In my opinion weekly is fine unless you have reason to
suspect otherwise or
>have poor performance or unusual activity on your
computer. I suggest that
>you use an antivirus program like Norton that monitors
your computer all the
>time for suspicious activity, can keep itself up to date
automatically, and
>also scans ALL of your emails no matter who they come
from. Also be sure to
>use a strong password for your user accounts as many
trojans or worms will
>run a dictionary attack against the administrator account
[assuming you are
>using W2K/XP ], keep your computer current with critical
updates at Windows
>Updates which you may be able to do automatically, and
consider implementing
>the minimum Internet Explorer security settings in the
link below. A lot of
>the stuff your scans find may be relatively harmless such
as a tracking
>cookie that AdAware always will find. I would also only
scan with one
>program for parasites such as AdAware and keep the other
ones in case you
>run into a difficult problem such as a home page
hijacking where it often
>helps to try various programs.--- Steve
>
>http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
>http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/default.a
spx
>
>"Susan" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message
>news:0efc01c4abd6$e1661050$a401280a@phx.gbl...
>> Is there a recommended schedule for scanning a PC for
>> viruses/trojans/malware/etc.? I use most of the
programs
>> suggested in this newsgroup (Spyware Blaster, Ad-Aware,
>> Spybot S&D, WinPatrol, CW Shredder, etc.), plus I have
>> active anti-virus and firewall in place. I run each of
the
>> scans daily, and I always seem to find something
lurking.
>> At times this seems like paranoia, but I'm trying to
>> prevent greater problems. Is daily too often? Or is
there
>> no such thing as too often? The problem is that these
>> scans take quite a while to run. Any recommendations
would
>> be appreciated!
>
>
>.
>