how frequently should i do a virus or spyware scan? / answer this the best and ill pick u as the best answer!!

Question

i want to be safe so how frequently should i scan my computer for viruses or spyware

Answer 1

Well... since virus scans can be expensive, I wouldnt get a scan unless you comp is doing weird things and being slow. You could have what is called a worm. They slowly attack your comp (like 2 years) and then all of a sudden it gets slower and slower. I would sugjest you get a scan for that. I would say every 6 months. catching a virus early can do wonders for you. You also can get a virus thingy, it costs less. If you have one, then just put it on while your asleap. That way, you will wake up to a nice running comp! Good luck! Hope this helps! Bye. Luv/Kodi

Answer 2

2

Answer 3

Give your spyware and virus scan on the background, so that it doesn't disturb whatever you are doing. I recommend you to do a scan once every week. You can use Windows Live OneCare Safety Scanner if you do not have any virus or spyware scans installed in your computer.

However, Windows Live OneCare Safety Scanner could take hours. Not only it scans for viruses and spywares, it also scans for invalid registries, junk system files and help you to defragment your system. After the scan, you could free up at least 50 MB in your system. That's enough to store 75 to 100 photographs.

Answer 4

It really depends on your online usage as well as how much you download from other computers. If you go online frequently and download stuff you should scan everything that you download and do a whole system scan once a week. If you don't download frequently than you could get away with once a month....but you need to remember to keep your program up to date because new viruses are created everyday

Answer 5

It depends on what you use your computer for. If it's not connected to the Internet (this is, of course, assuming you aren't asking about the computer you were on), then you only need to test the things coming in via disk (CD, floppy, flash drive, etc). Well, unless you're on a network which isn't connected to the Internet, but that's unlikely. A program like Symantec Antivirus Corporate Edition has real-time protection, so actual scans aren't that important. Prevention is a much better place to start than fixing the problems. Treat your computer like you do your body. If you care about your health you exercise, eat well, aren't promiscuous, don't smoke and don't drink a lot of alcohol. This translates to not going to porn sites, not accepting cookies from sites you don't trust, not accepting images in e-mails you don't trust and not using Internet Explorer as your web-browser. If you do lots of prevension you won't need to scan often, just like you won't need blood pressure medication.

Answer 6

Other than scanning for viruses or spy-ware,you should avoid
getting spy ware into your computer so that your computer is
safe.Other than avoiding spyware ,you should often update your
vision of your anti spyware or anti virus.A virus or spyware scan
should be done monthly or weekly if you are often exposed to
unsafe website .Some reliable source of anti spyware or anti
virus programn are symantic(norton anti-viruses).

Answer 7

depends on how much your on the net,i like to make time to do it once a week,i update all programs and then run them,i use registry booster,windows defender,etrust vet antivirus,spybot search and destroy,ad aware se,and run ccleaner last of all with the registry booster to pick up any errors.very important that you reboot your pc after running each toolthen start another,but once a week\fortnight at the most should be sufficient.i also recommend zonealarm spyware and firewall all these programs except vet where downloaded as trial versions then i have searched the net for serials\cracks and now have full versions.

Answer 8

at least once a week u should do a scandisk, defrag, virus scan, spy bot and destroy is the best and safe thing to do i do mine every friday nights

you should get these to keep ur computer safe
Spybot - Search & Destroy
adaware
McAfee virus Scan and/or Vet

dont use zone alarm or nortan 2005 and down they are there own virus

Answer 9

Usually once a week is enough unless you frequent a lot of questionable sites (porn) then everyday. Also if you use a lot of chat programs or P2P programs then do a scan everyday. It all depends on where you go and what you do online.

Answer 10

I use Spyware Blaster (freeware) http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

and Spybot Search and Destroy (also freeware) http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html

With both of those programs installed & configured properly I've been scanning with Spybot & AdAware (also freeware) once a week and very little gets through.