Anti-virus scans for other user accounts

[Guest]

When I run anti-virus scans in the adminitrator account (like McAfee, Spybot,
Ad-Aware), will it scan the other user accounts that I created? Or do I have
to open up each user account and run a new scan in each one?

 

[P. Di Stolfo]

Hello,

in general, as far as I know, you have the option to do a full system scan. This will search all accounts created for harmful files.

Greetings,
P. Di Stolfo

 

[GTS]

For virus scanners like McAfee, it is generally sufficient to run it from on
administrator account. For spyware scanners like Spybot and Ad-Aware, it is
best to run them on all accounts. This is absolutely necessary if you know
a machine is heavily infected. It's less critical if you're running them
for purely routine maintenance. Virus scanning mainly checks files against
a database of signatures of known infection items. Spyware checking also
searches the registry, among other things. It cannot check individual user
hives unless run under each user.

 

[Guest]

If I browse the internet using user A's account, can my computer get a virus
or spyware under user B's account?

 

[GTS]

In short Yes, but details can get complicated. Some types malware
parasites are more likely than others to cause global infection, user rights
at the time (admin/limited) might affect this, etc.