Hello coal c.,
What do you mean “normal scanâ€. Quick or Full.
The quick scan is very useful. It looks at all of the actively running
processes on the machine, as well as files that are pointed to by the various
registry entries and other locations used by spyware to start automatically
or otherwise interfere with your system.
If you have a particular piece of spyware or other unwanted software that is
detected by Windows Defender, the vast majority of the time it should be
detected by the quick scan.
The full scan, in addition to performing all of the checks in a quick scan,
also examines every single file on your system. This is a quite
time-consuming peration if you have a lot of files.
I would always start with a quick scan - if it gives you a clean bill of
health, you can be pretty confident in the results. If the quick scan finds
anything, you probably should follow it up with a full scan to find any
additional junk that the malicious software dropped on your machine that may
have been missed by the quick scan. It's also a good idea to schedule the
full scan to happen periodically (every night, for instance) at a time when
you are not typically using your computer and the added time to scan all of
the files won't be noticed.
When you conenect to the Internet. Have your system updated (Try going to
Windows Update and applying all offered critical updates.
http://update.microsoft.com
Have your anti virus updated.
Be sure your Fire wall is ON
And don't be clicking without thinking.
Practice Safe Hex.
Here are links about "Safe Hex":
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=27971 - So How Did I Get
Infected Anyway?
http://wiki.castlecops.com/Malware_Removal_and_Prevention:_Introduction
http://www.claymania.com/safe-hex.html
http://www.aumha.org/a/parasite.htm - The Parasite Fight
http://msmvps.com/blogs/harrywaldron/archive/2006/02/05/82584.aspx - MVP
Harry Waldron - The Family PC - How to stay safe on the Internet
http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm - Eric Howes on
Rogue Antispyware Programs
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/default.asp - Protect Your PC
http://www.cert.org/homeusers/HomeComputerSecurity/ - Home Computer
Security
http://home20.inet.tele.dk/b_nice/ For some basic rules.
I hope this post is helpful, but we would highly appreciate it if you could
rate the pºst, so we can keep the community informed and saves somebody
else the hours of trawling through the web trying to find a solution.
Еиçеl
