Spyware and Virus Scans with multiple User accounts in XP

G

Guest

Hi guys. My name is Todd and I am an MCSE (2003). I was wondering if anyone
has found the solution to my problem...

Scenario: I have a computer that's bogged down with viruses and spyware
that I remove with multiple spyware programs (adaware se, spybot) and virus
scanners (avg, trend, pandasoftware)...nothing unusual here. But then I get
to a computer that has 4 users (i.e. mom, dad, child1, child2) and I take
care of all of the problems under the main account (dad).

Question: How the heck do I perform just 1 scan to cover all of the
different users. The way I normally do it, one account will be all clear
good to go..then I'll log into another account and it's got all the problems
the first user had and more. Then I have to start all over waiting for the
different scans like it's another computer! This multiplies the time it
takes to clean a computer (3 accounts = 3 times the work!)

I've tried booting into safe mode and running all of the scans from the
administrator account but that just adds another account to scan! Nothing
works!

Thanks for your help in advance,

Todd

MCSE 2003
MCSA
MCP
MCDBA SQL Server 2000
 
Y

Yves Leclerc

You would probabily need to do the complete scan as the "hidden"
Administrator account.
 
P

pcbutts1

Both Ad-Aware and Spybot have custom scanning features in fact I think they
all do. Since most spyware/adware is downloaded, installed and run from the
current users temp and/or temporary internet files folder what you should do
is add those users Document and Settings folder to a custom scan for your
antispyware scanners.

--


The best live web video on the internet http://www.seedsv.com/webdemo.htm
NEW Embedded system W/Linux. We now sell DVR cards.
See it all at http://www.seedsv.com/products.htm
Sharpvision simply the best http://www.seedsv.com
 
K

Kerry Brown

MCSE_TODD said:
Hi guys. My name is Todd and I am an MCSE (2003). I was wondering if
anyone
has found the solution to my problem...

Scenario: I have a computer that's bogged down with viruses and spyware
that I remove with multiple spyware programs (adaware se, spybot) and
virus
scanners (avg, trend, pandasoftware)...nothing unusual here. But then I
get
to a computer that has 4 users (i.e. mom, dad, child1, child2) and I take
care of all of the problems under the main account (dad).

Question: How the heck do I perform just 1 scan to cover all of the
different users. The way I normally do it, one account will be all clear
good to go..then I'll log into another account and it's got all the
problems
the first user had and more. Then I have to start all over waiting for
the
different scans like it's another computer! This multiplies the time it
takes to clean a computer (3 accounts = 3 times the work!)

I've tried booting into safe mode and running all of the scans from the
administrator account but that just adds another account to scan! Nothing
works!

Thanks for your help in advance,
Click to expand...

Unfortunately some spyware cannot be removed unless you scan while logged in
as each user. Webroot Spysweeper seems to do the best job at removing
spyware from all users while logged in as Administrator but I have seen
cases where I had to log in as each user in normal mode, run HijackThis and
some process explorer tools, note the offending files and registry entries,
then reboot from a CDROM with BartPe to fix things.

Kerry
 
G

Guest

First to respond to the above replys...
I mentioned that I already signed in as the Admin account and it didn't work.

I also checked the custom scan options in both spybot and adaware and both
programs default to everything under my computer, which is what I have been
scanning. If I am scanning other users files, it seems like it would stop
the need to log in as each user, but that's not the case.

Thanks to both of you for trying, but I'm still looking for a solution.

I think you're right Kerry in saying that there's probably no way to do it
without logging in with each user. I haven't used spysweeper although many
people whose computers stop working have it installed and it may not be
working all that well.
(no idea if they've actually run it or updated it recently).

I feel this is a problem with XP and I hope to see a fix in the new "Vista"
which will replace XP one day.
click here for more info-
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/default.mspx

Anyway, keep the ideas coming if you have any!

I actually learned how to schedule Spybot to update and run automatically
every night which I hadn't learned before...that's a great trick! You go to
advanced mode, settings, scheduler - if anyone's interested.
Adaware has command line options which would let you do it too, but they
apparently only work with the paid versions of the program (it doesn't auto
scan or auto update automatically without the paid program.)

Thanks,

TODD
 
P

pcbutts1

Why did it not work? It is not an XP issue. There are programs that will
scan everything they are just not free. You already know about SpySweeper
try Ewido I think it is better then Spysweeper in scanning. Here is a link
to the trial version.

Ewido Security Suite Trial version
http://www.pcbutts1.com/downloads/ewidosetup.exe


--


The best live web video on the internet http://www.seedsv.com/webdemo.htm
NEW Embedded system W/Linux. We now sell DVR cards.
See it all at http://www.seedsv.com/products.htm
Sharpvision simply the best http://www.seedsv.com
 
G

Guest

I have used ewido before and while I was impressed that it said it took about
9000 files off of an infected computer, I still removed hundreds of infected
files afterwards using adaware and spybot. I think it's a great program (and
a necessity for removing the likes of Aurora / Nail.exe malware), but it
doesn't fix the problem I'm having.

If the files are all being scanned then the programs should find/remove all
of them not just selectively from 1 logged in user. It doesn't matter if
it's a paid program or not.

Thanks for your continued imput!

MCSE_TODD
 
J

jtpryan

Are you doing a smart scan or a full scan of all files with AdaWare?
If the latter, then accounts should have nothing to do with it. I was
just doing this very thing on 3 systems last night, but I only had to
do it once on each, and each one had multiple accounts.

Kinda proud of that "MCSE" aren't we...;+}

-Jim
 
G

Guest

I was doing a full scan every time.


I have done this on many computers and it's always the same. Did you try to
sign into another account on the computers you were working on last night and
run another scan to confirm all was clear? If not...try it and you'll see
what I mean.

Todd

p.s. It's new as of this summer....so yes...pretty proud of it. :)
 
K

Kerry Brown

pcbutts1 said:
Yep those are current. I don't know why it is not working for you. The
only folder that needs to be added is the other users C:\Documents and
Settings\other user name folders\ to the scan.
Click to expand...

Neither Adaware or Spybot properly scan the user hives of the registry for
users other the currently logged in one.

Kerry
 
K

Kerry Brown

pcbutts1 said:
Ad-Aware does by default. If you click on the gear icon at the top and
select tweak settings, under scan settings by default it is set scan the
registry for all users
Click to expand...

I know it's supposed to do that. It doesn't always work. I have often seen
Adaware find more registry entries when you log in as each user in turn (in
safe mode) and do another scan. Harmless really as the files themselves are
already gone but it bothers me nonetheless. Some versions of Purity Scan
seem to cause this behaviour. I have seen others too but can't recall
specifics right now.

Kerry
 
G

Guest

Hi friends

I'm Pirouz Foroozi
When I want to shut down or restart my computer, I always get the following
message from windows:
"Other people are logged on your computer. shutting down might cause
them to
lose data. Do you want to continue shutting down."
Do you think that other people will be able to copy my photos and other
documents?
How can I get rid of them?

Thank you very much indeed for your help.
Regards
Pirouz
 
A

AMDX2

this means they havent logged out from using it. it's a thing about multiple
users. if someone used yer pc with their account etc. it's nothing to worry
about.
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Similar Threads

Anti-virus scans for other user accounts 4
Anti-virus scans working for other user accounts 2
Newbie to XP - Administrative accounts and user accounts 2
virus or spyware problem!!! 5
user accounts 1
Spyware,Virus??? 3
XP issue. Can't access user accounts 4
user account not recognized 6

Top