Two questions about scanning entire system for spyware and viruses...?

Question

I am scanning my whole system right now with the free version of a program called Malwarebytes, for "malware"/malicious programs and anything bad it will detect. My questions are:

1. Can websurfing all around the 'net and watching You Tube while it is scanning, hurt anything?

2. I have a lot of pictures that are very precious to me of my spouse-to-be and I certainly do not ever want those picture files harmed, lost, or corrupted...can any scan like this or any malware scanner, adware scanner, or virus scanner, harm my picture files in any way? Is there any risk at all, of them getting lost or damaged, from being scanned?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

1) On you first question, I would advise against web surfing/you tube while scanning as while doing so you are downloading more information and moving files around. I usually prefer to scan while the computer is not in use. That being said, your scan will still be effective, but any new potential spyware you get while surfing would most likely not be scanned.



2) Files in general should not be harmed while scanning your system. Pictures and other files that do not pose any threat to the system will be left untouched. Even a malaware that the scan comes across will not be instantly deleted but depending on the settings in the scanner it will be moved to a quarantine folder.



3) Malwarebytes does not as far as I know scan for viruses, just malware. You can use a free service at www.trendmicro.com/housecall which scans for both virus's and spyware.



Goodluck

Answer 2

With regards to question 1 - Aside from your computer's performance being affected slightly, there is nothing wrong with surfing the web while scanning your system. In fact some scanners run continually in the background while you do what you normally do with your PC!



And question 2 - To give you peace of mind: Once data has been written to a disk, even if the worst were to happen and you formatted the disk, then overwrote all of the data, then formatted it again, then 'Accidentally' took the hard-drive out and hit it repeatedly with a lump-hammer - your data would still be recoverable by tech-wizards with data recovery tools (and microscopes and lasers - cool!) - in fact, I've seen footage of a US Government official 'Recycling' a hard drive 'Securely' - where the drive is formatted, low-level formatted, then hit with a hammer, then put through a metal-chipper, then melted down, and then the contents put through a chipper again!



That's quite expensive though, so yeah, make a copy of your pics on a CD ;)



You have nothing to fear! :D

Answer 3

1) Websurfing will not harm anything because the scanning will continue in the background.

2) Regarding your precious pictures, it is advisable to get a backup on some removable media like CD's or any external hard disk. By doing this you need not worry of any virus attacks in future also.



Good luck

Answer 4

Websurfing will not affect the scan but could slow it down



And just put the pics on a CD and save them to it if your worried they will get lost.