Jump to content

Spyware on entire drive


Recommended Posts

I have three names or username logins on my Windows Vista computer. Do I have to go to each username, update and scan those profiles from within their profile with their own desktop?

Or can I go into Windows Explore and scan their user profile folder?

Or can I just go into my own user profile and that will scan the whole entire computer with all the usernames?

Link to comment
Share on other sites


Not going for the original joke I saw that Vista is malware... :whistle:

It is definately possible that some accounts have malware that is only started when their account logs in. So it would be safer to scan on each logon.

For example, it is possible to modify the properties of a malware so that it cannot start or run properly. In this case, a malware scanner may not be able to find it, even though it is still present. I'm not sure how concerned you would be about having remnants sitting around.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just don't want any malware to spread itself around all accounts. Now what if you went into Windows Explorer and right clicked on each account and scanned that folder as well as the main folder. Programs like Malwarebytes have an icon if you right click on a folder and you can set a scan going just for that folder. I did that and it did scan each individual username folder.

Sometimes I take out the drive and slave it to another computer via usb cord and do scans. Now the other day I did a SAS scan externally this way and found around 20 bugs. I then put the hard drive back into the laptop that it came from and did an SAS scan again within the computer itself. SAS then found around 60 more bugs. So what does this tell us about external scans?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Try this again.

Ok, now, Within Windows Explorer------------if I right click on their user profile folder and choose to scan this way ------------will that scan completely that profile?

Again: With Malwarebytes installed you will have an icon if you right click on any folder on your computer and you choose to "Scan With Malwarebytes"

Again, so if I do a complete MWB scan will it be best to do this scanning of the other profiles folder.

Or should it be better to actually log into this profile and do the scan this way. Or am I repeating a scan of the rest of the computer twice this way.

What I don't want to do is to do a complete scan then log out and log into another profile and scan again then go into another profile and scan again. This is with three profiles of course.

I am thinking that a complete scan will do the entire computer but neglecting a particular user profile that I am not logged into.

Windows is not loaded or copied three times just because it has three people using the computer with their own profiles.

Edited by forjonny
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Scanning the machine typically will cover detection of malware in every folder on the drive, but the registry entries for each profile are independent of each other so you'll have to scan each profile if you want to do a through job.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just talked to Malwarebytes forum moderator from an email not from the forum and this is what he told me about using Malwarebytes. Here is the Q+A:

Tom M., Mar-05 12:17 (PST):

Q: What is the proper way to scan a computer with multiple usernames on it with MWB?

A: Hello and welcome to the Malwarebytes consumer helpdesk. Thank you for choosing Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware as your malware security solution, my name is Tom M. and I'll be assisting you today.

Malwarebytes will scan all user profiles. Always scan in normal mode using the default quick scan option.

Malwarebytes does not recommend full scans to search for malware. Our scan engine is configured to find all the places malware loads in memory and hides from conventional scanners in the default quick scan option.

Q: So what are the full scans for anyway or when will you this full scan?

A: Full scans are for new external devices or to look for minor non threat remnants which will not be of any consequence to the system.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...