Don't know where to ask this but.. I'll just post it here

Simple question.. probably a 12 year old can answer this question...
I have a laptop that I use all the time that has a update anti-virus on it ..
"Symantec Endpoint"..

So when my friends have virus's I take out there hard drives, and Via USB, plug them in and just do a virus scan...

SO the question I have (depending on the OS)... Don't you need to Have full permissions on the hard drive to scan the whole thing?
Or does the Virus scanner do that automatically ?

 

That's actually a decent question.... the virus scanner should scan all the files and folders, but if some have been locked by the user of the PC the HD came out of, these folders might be skipped. Personally, I think a better (and safer) option is to use a boot/rescue CD on the infected PC w/o removing the hard drive. There are numerous boot/rescue CDs out there and they're all free.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/AVG_Rescue_CD_for_CD_creation_d6434.html
http://www.majorgeeks.com/F-Secure_Rescue_CD_d6628.html
http://www.majorgeeks.com/Kaspersky_Rescue_Disk_d6501.html (I've used this one numerous times and it works really well, but scans can take some time)
http://majorgeeks.com/Avira_AntiVir_Rescue_System_d6005.html

... and Welcome to Major Geeks! :wave :major

 

I would personally go with.... F-Secure Rescue CD

http://www.majorgeeks.com/F-Secure_Rescue_CD_d6628.html

i found that this works best for me when repairing infected machines.

iain.t :major

 

The AVG one works well, too