> Thank you all for the replies and opinions. I wish more threads could be like this > one. > > I agree with Sune, he wants to scan and remove, then remove the scanners. > Yep, that's what I want to do. > > Best to do a system snapshot before the install, then restore when you are all done. > Or at a minimum use one of the registry/system checkpoint software packages that lets > you roll back your system to X in time. > Are you talking about the Windows XP "System Restore"? If so, I thought about that > but if one of the scanners wind up finding malware and cleans it, then when I perform > a System Restore, the malware will be brought back to life... won't it? > > The problem is almost all the above programs do not uninstall cleaning, leaving > registry entries, mru's, and files on the HD. > That's what I've been reading Urgh, I wish it wasn't like that. > > I will say the bits and pieces left behind are often not enough to slow the system > significantly. > But any kind of resulting slow down would hurt especially more for me since I'm > running a P4, 3.0 GHz w/ HT, 1GB mem. So I can't afford for there to be even a small > visible slow down afterwards.
I personally would not recommend installing all the virus scanners and then uninstalling them.
Maybe you should think about doing an "on-demand" (online) scan from some of the more trusted virus scanners? Here are three:
http://www.eset.com/us/online-scanner/ http://www.bitdefender.com/scanner/online/free.html http://www.pandasecurity.com/homeusers/solutions/activescan/
Last time I used any of them they installed via a browser plug-in which you could just remove once you're done with it, but that was years ago - I'm not sure how they work now but they definitely do not install any kind of real-time component.
ETA: I just clicked on them and ESET and Panda both download and install like their paid AV software and just do not include a real-time component. BitDefender seemed to be trying to scan through the browser.
Edited by Waremonger (05/19/12 12:38 AM)
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