How often should I scan for viruii .. AVG runs every single morning

[dahunan]

AVG runs every morning and it seems like too much work for the hard drives .. 🙂 .. should I let it run every morning or just once a week like Norton?

 

[warcrow]

I would say once a week is fine. It also depends on how active you are with email/internet activity.

 

[imported_waldo]

I don't scan nearly that often...I scan probably once every few weeks. If you are aware of what you download and from where, you run a firewall, don't use IE, and have a runnign AV, you should be ok most of the time. You will know when you are doing somehting that could jepordize your system, you'll get that all too familiar eerie feeling, followed by deep breaths, and thoughts running through your head of...should I open it? 🙂

 

[dahunan]

Yes.. I was fine with once or week or not even that often... But I installed the new version of AVG and it defaults to scanning every morning.. seems like overkill...

 

[BlueWeasel]

As others have said, there is really no need to scan that often if you:

(1) Monitor the websites you visit and the files you download
(2) Keep your spyware/malware/AV software up to date
(3) Don't open anything you don't trust.

Using a browser other than IE is certainly recommended, but not necessary. I use Firefox and IE about 50/50 and I never have virus problems. I don't use real-time scanning either, as I think it's just a waste of resources for a PROJECTED system.

I probably run the manual scan of all my drives maybe once or twice a month.

 

[mechBgon]

At work, I have our systems check for new antivirus definitions every 15 minutes (as well as one minute after log-on) and do a daily backscan at lunchtime. And I've never worried about it being "too much work" for the hard drives... it's not like it deprives them of their quiet time or something.

As you might guess, I have a zero-tolerance policy for malware :evil:

 

[n7]

I've gotten kinda lazy to be honest.

Now that i have learned a bit about keeping my PC clean, i haven't gotten a virus for a long time.

I have my router, but i only manually run Antivir every few weeks when i remember too, & maybe every few weeks for Adaware scans as well.

Common sense + keeping Windows updated + Firefox + manually scanning files i download & am unsure of = works well for me.

 

[Gerbil333]

I scan every 3-4 months, or when something's fishy.

In the past 5 years, I think I've had 1 minor virus, no doubt due to a few fishy sites. Pop up blocking and my firewall are much better now, so I don't waste resources with AV software.

 

[Malak]

I don't even keep an AV installed, but every now and then I download a free one and do a quick scan. Like once every couple months. Only ever encountered one virus on my machines, nimda, which I detected and removed without an AV...

 

[Nothinman]

should I let it run every morning or just once a week like Norton?

Why not just leave the file access monitor run? That way you don't have to schedule scans and you'll know immediately if there is a problem, not a week from now.

 

[mundane]

I'm getting the impression that this new feature of AVG is an encouragement to upgrade so you can create custom scheduled tasks =)

 

[MrChad]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

should I let it run every morning or just once a week like Norton?

Why not just leave the file access monitor run? That way you don't have to schedule scans and you'll know immediately if there is a problem, not a week from now.

Agreed. I only run a full scan if I suspect there's a problem (such as when the real-time scanner displays a virus warning).

 

[AdamSnow]

I never scan... I always just let the active scanner pick anything up as it comes in.

 

[mechBgon]

So... if an infected file comes in, and the antivirus definitions begin detecting that threat a week later, then it's succeeded in getting past your defenses because you never backscan. Nice strategy you got there 😉

Is it really THAT much of a burden to you guys to let the scanner scan your drives? Heck, my system is done with a scan in about five minutes (granted, A64 + 15000rpm SCSI, and no 1TB archive of video files, but still...). Schedule it to run at 4AM if it bugs you. 😛

 

[Nothinman]

So... if an infected file comes in, and the antivirus definitions begin detecting that threat a week later, then it's succeeded in getting past your defenses because you never backscan. Nice strategy you got there

If the file ever runs or gets copied the scanner will scan it again and it'll get caught.

 

[meltdown75]

i don't do sacns, actually i no longer keep AV software on my computer. once in a while i visit the trend micro site and do a scan. i guess i'm just not paranoid enough to bother. if i get a virus and it messes everything up, i'll have fun doing a fresh install. ehehe sad, i know

 

[RalphTheCow]

Originally posted by: diegoalcatraz
I'm getting the impression that this new feature of AVG is an encouragement to upgrade so you can create custom scheduled tasks =)

Yup, sort of nagware. I have it set for 7 PM, and whenever I'm there I just cancel it. I figure it will run enough when I'm not there. But I'm thinking of switching to an AV with a higher detection rate after reading Schadenfroh's review.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

So... if an infected file comes in, and the antivirus definitions begin detecting that threat a week later, then it's succeeded in getting past your defenses because you never backscan. Nice strategy you got there

If the file ever runs or gets copied the scanner will scan it again and it'll get caught.

And if it's simply in his, uh, "shared folder" and he never executes it himself, but it's pulled by another system somewhere...? I suppose some antivirus software will scan-on-read prior to letting it get sent across the network, but considering how simple it is to let the antivirus scanner do its thing in the dead of night, or at lunchtime as the case may be, I'd rather scan. To each his own.