Question on programs to scan with

I have a large number of files from a computer which I suspect may have been infected. I've carefully transferred them to a new and definitely clean system, and intend to scan them here before opening or running any of the files. Just so you know, I'm pretty knowledgeable when it comes to computers.

I'll follow the "Read & Run Me First" steps of course. However, I want to run a few programs which will thoroughly scan my hard drive, inside every file, .ZIP, archive, program, installer, etc.

Norton Internet Security definitely doesn't do this, I can tell it isn't unpacking and looking inside every file (a 1 1/2 hour scan is definitely too quick to be doing this). And there don't seem to be options anywhere to scan the hard drive more thoroughly.

One program I was looking at is Kaspersky, I've used this before and know how to change the options to scan very thoroughly (10+ hour scans that pick up things NIS doesn't!).

I'm not afraid to run full antivirus programs. I can install one at a time, uninstalling each previous one. I also can figure out how to change the options in each program to scan more thoroughly.

Are there any additional programs you might recommend? What are some of the more well-known and thorough antivirus/spyware programs? Is Kaspersky Anti-virus a good or trustworthy one? I know that program is designed by a Russian company, don't know if that's a bad sign...

 

Thanks for the advice!

Let me see if I've got this right: some antivirus programs don't scan inside compressed files that are self-extracting... like certain program installers, huh? And some antivirus won't scan inside compressed files until their contents are extracted.

So say I download some new program, like a single-file program installer, and manually scan it on my hard drive. When my AV says the scan is finished -- it might not have actually scanned the entire contents of this program installer file? The AV might just wait until I run the installer to scan all the program's files?

I've heard that when installing a new program, I should first disable AV or protection software. But if I did that in this case, would the program get installed and run without being properly scanned for malware? (Not even from the manual scan?)

1. So do I understand that right!?

2. Would it generally be a good idea to leave my AV/protection software enabled when installing new programs or program updates? Unless it were something I completely trusted, like a Microsoft Update?

3. I was wondering what antivirus/security software you use on your own system, for real-time protection?

I'm using Norton Internet Security 2008 on an XP Pro machine, but I ask these questions wondering about antivirus software in general.

 

There's no harm in keeping your antivirus software running during the installation of new programs and updates. If there is a problem, chances are it will tell you to disable the program in advance.

On my own PC I run AVG 8 and Spyware Doctor for real-time protection.

I do not recommend using Norton Internet Security. I see way too many people get virii using that program. It doesn't seem to be worth a damn.

 

Hi tech,

This is Mike from the Norton Authorized Support Team.

I wanted to let you know that Norton Internet Security 2008 does have the ability to scan within compressed files when manually scanning files.

To enable this option, open Norton Internet Security, select the "Norton Internet Security" tab at the top of the window, click on the "Settings" category, choose "Auto-Protect" and then choose "Configure." Select the 'Manual Scanning" option in the left pane of the window and then place a check in the box next to "Scan within compressed files." Click the "apply" and then "OK" buttons. After you enable this setting, you can then right-click on any compressed file and Norton will scan the file for infections.

Thank you,
Mike

 

First off, I want to thank everyone for their input.

"Michael York" is correct, that option does exist, also it's already checked.

It takes NIS2008 an hour and five minutes to complete a full system scan on this 125GB of files. When I run Kaspersky with scan options changed to be extremely thorough, the scan takes around 10 hours. Now perhaps that's overkill, but it just doesn't seem to me like both programs are being just as thorough at scanning inside all compressed files, like ZIPs, self-extracting archives, program installers, etc.

Some of the items which only Kaspersky found were less-threatening adware items, and some may have been false positives. Kaspersky scanned inside .DBX email store files for Outlook Express and found some bad email attachments. NIS2008 had .dbx listed under Exclusions by default, so it didn't scan the email files on a manual scan.

My gut feeling is NIS2008 wasn't quite as thorough as Kaspersky (with those super-thorough scan options I set) on the Full System Scan.

I feel that NIS2008's real-time protection is good (no antivirus program's real-time protection is perfect). If anyone thinks there's an antivirus out there that can definitely protect them when they're visiting questionable websites, I think they're misinformed or deluding themselves.

Based on things I've heard, as reliable as that may be, there may be better antivirus programs out there, but I'm not jumping to conclusions until I've done further research. NIS2008 might not be the best, but I still feel they're good. For all the problems I've heard about Norton, I've heard plenty about other reputable antivirus, like Kaspersky, AVG, etc.

At this time, I just had a number of files from a possibly infected computer that I had to be sure were clean, so I wanted to scan them with several programs to be extra sure I found anything.