How Often Should Full Scans be run with Antivirus

[roger_m]

Hey @roger_m , i know it's off topic, but why did you choose 360 TSP? If i'm not wrong, i read something concerning privacy about it, and the test results could be better, isn't?

In terms of protection is has very good signatures and is usually one of the first antiviruses to detect new threats either via signatures or its heuristics. However, it is let down by its behaviour blocker, which needs improvement. I use it because I can configure it to prompt me whenever it finds a threat/suspicious file and let me choose what action to take, including whitelisting the file, so it's not detected again unless its modified.
The vast majority of antiviruses only have auto quarantine, which is something that I hate.

I can live with the average behaviour blocking, as I never encounter malware, so the chances of me actually running an infected file are very low.

As for privacy issues, some people are suspicious of and avoid all Chinese software.

 

[Tiamati]

As for privacy issues, some people are suspicious of and avoid all Chinese software.

Yep, that was the point haha

to prompt me whenever it finds a threat/suspicious file and let me choose what action to take,

I've been trying Kaspersky free lately, and it let you do this too... Maybe you should take a look

 

[Divine_Barakah]

I install a security product, install updates, run a full system scan and then reboot the system. I might run a full scan once a month but it is not necessary.

 

[bribon77]

Sometimes I do it but it is silly to scan with your antivirus, because if it detects something that would notify you, the most logical thing is to scan with an antimalware with a different engine than the one you have in real time. To check if your AV has stopped something happening.

 

[Sampei Nihira]

Sometimes I do it but it is silly to scan with your antivirus, because if it detects something that would notify you, the most logical thing is to scan with an antimalware with a different engine than the one you have in real time. To check if your AV has stopped something happening.

Quite right.
But if other engines detect an FP, can you manage it?
Because statistically more engines you use and more FP you could have.
So better not to overdo it on antimalware on-demand softwares.

 

[koloveli]

they are time consuming, prevent you from performing heavier tasks on the computer, and never find anything.
infections hardly happen if you have good practices on the internet

 

[bribon77]

Quite right.
But if other engines detect an FP, can you manage it?
Because statistically more engines you use and more FP you could have.
So better not to overdo it on antimalware on-demand softwares.

Yes, but if three scan antimawares tell me that there is something, the most logical thing is that there is.
But I am with you, do not overdo it.

 

[Bikeman0I17]

Thank you all for the replies, i may just choose to run it once a month maybe before system image, or may not bother as much as i used to once a week, With my old PC Defender used to take 3-4 Hours to do a full scan, with my newer I7, think it's maybe 30 minutes, though i do have alot of files, especailly if all the external drives connected

 

[Tiamati]

newer I7, think it's maybe 30 minutes, though i do have alot of files, especailly if all the external drives connected

In this case, an i7 will hardly make a lot of difference... External drives and mechanical HDDs usually are o bottleneck as they limit the amount of data that can be read per sec. An SSD would certainly reduce the scan time a lot more

 

[Bikeman0I17]

Very True, i don't often scan the externals, maybe once a month if that, Have Seagate 8TB in external enclosure usb 3.0, Western Digital Passport 2tb, Hitachi in Enclosure External, and 1 Western Digital Elements 500gb older usb 2.0 external. Maybe that is why mine used to take 8 hours, as every week used to have all drives attached for my weekly scans in the past lol

 

[Azure]

I never use full scan with windows defender.I assume that its real time protection would catch anything a full scan would find.I do use second opinion scanners once in a while though.

I have used full scan on W10 with Windows Defender. And pretty much every time there seem to be a bug that caused high CPU even when the scan had already finished
No matter how much time passed, the CPU wouldn't go down. Exclusions didn't help either. Only rebooting the PC helped.

 

[plat]

Yes, the SSD makes it, hands down. I should clarify: with i7 and SSD a full scan is ideally around half an hour IF machine is totally idle. When multitasking/gaming, the time balloons to over an hour on here. The scanner isn't optimized, it's inefficient and doesn't use multi-threading and if you deleted the caches, it's scanning the same all over again. Not beefing about the real time protection cuz I'm on it. Just the scanner, this is where the quick scan and third party tools shine. It's a waste of time and resources to run it at Full, even if you don't notice it's running in the background.

 

[Tiamati]

d if you deleted the caches, it's scanning the same all over again.

I just hope i'm not cleaning it accidentally with ccleaner or wise cleaner

 

[SumTingWong]

Full scan biweekly or monthly and when I backup my system because I don't want to backup an infected system stage.

 

[upnorth]

Wow, dosen't people do full scans, like never ever? Seems a majority in this thread anyway and yeah @harlan4096 is correct, it's been debated/talked about before.

Still, a little food for thought. If AV companies/vendors and developers know it's useless, why add the option at all.

Personal I do it similar like member @Tiamati , perhaps once every month and I also use the built-in schedule as it simplify and I usually can do other things anyway without any speed or slowdown issues, but I also do it when I suspect the machine been hit. Now that dosen't automatic means NSA, FSB or even the Chinese suddenly walked in and wants my dirty little secrets. They can ask mom instead as she's very effective , but for example if I noted the browser or the machine suddenly acts odd after I strolled around on sites I normally ain't using.

Do it also in Safe Mode if possible. If not, use a second opinion scanner. Can actually sometimes find things that one can't otherwise. Been there done that. Dormant/sleeper malware etc.

We encourage you to check your protected system with a second opinion scanner from time to time, just to be sure that your main antivirus/antimalware hasn’t missed anything. Scanner-only products typically don’t have any issues running alongside protection products so it’s safe to use them. Cloud based scanners are nice light-weight options here.

Why it isn't a good idea to run multiple full antivirus products at the same time

You've surely heard it before: Never run two antivirus at the same time, it's trouble! But why exactly? Take a look under the hood of modern protection software and learn how stuff works.

blog.emsisoft.com

 

[Hindenburg]

Generally, I recommend that all people run full scans after they have been infected.

Thankfully, pron sites don't infect me all the time like they used to.

 

[Viking]

Still, a little food for thought. If AV companies/vendors and developers know it's useless, why add the option at all.

Probably because the average person want/demand it.

 

[RoboMan]

Full scans should be made only in two scenarios:

• When you just installed the antivirus
• When you suspect you're infected/your antivirus caught something

Other than that, I make ocassional quick scans, and random AppData & Program Data scans.

 

[Tiamati]

Now that dosen't automatic means NSA, FSB or even the Chinese suddenly walked in and wants my dirty little secrets. They can ask mom instead as she's very effective

 

[ForgottenSeer 59295]

Well I wouldn't follow these recommendations but this is the reply I go off Emsisoft when asking about scan caching and how it worked with their product.

No, I do not believe we as of yet use scan caching, so no performance gain should be seen. I usually recommend weekly malware scans, and monthly custom scans using settings appropriate to accomplish a full scan.

And they continued to tell me how to set up schedule scans but might help you with your decision.