when i run a spy sweeper or norton anti-virus scan do i have to run them on all users on the computer?

Answer 1

No, you don't need to run it on each User account, as long as you run them from an Administrator account, or from a limited account where you Elevate to Administrator if using Vista.

These programs scan the entire system, including all files and settings for each User Profile. Each Profile is on the file system, and it is the Shell extensions which allow each desktop to show independently. These Profiles are not actually in a seperate area in the computer.

So, when you run a Full System Scan, you run it for every account on the system. Now, you can run smaller scans, down to individual files, which only affect the area of choice. A Full System Scan will scan the entire computer system, including every User Account Profile.