Vista - Anti-virus scans for other user accounts

When I run anti-virus scans in the adminitrator account (like McAfee, Spybot,
Ad-Aware), will it scan the other user accounts that I created? Or do I have
to open up each user account and run a new scan in each one?

Hello,

in general, as far as I know, you have the option to do a full system scan. This will search all accounts created for harmful files.

Greetings,
P. Di Stolfo

"ALP" <ALP@discussions.microsoft.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:E668BFEF-B8E7-4480-AB6F-B0F29EC5B4AE@microsoft.com...
> When I run anti-virus scans in the adminitrator account (like McAfee, Spybot,
> Ad-Aware), will it scan the other user accounts that I created? Or do I have
> to open up each user account and run a new scan in each one?

For virus scanners like McAfee, it is generally sufficient to run it from on
administrator account. For spyware scanners like Spybot and Ad-Aware, it is
best to run them on all accounts. This is absolutely necessary if you know
a machine is heavily infected. It's less critical if you're running them
for purely routine maintenance. Virus scanning mainly checks files against
a database of signatures of known infection items. Spyware checking also
searches the registry, among other things. It cannot check individual user
hives unless run under each user.

"ALP" <ALP@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:E668BFEF-B8E7-4480-AB6F-B0F29EC5B4AE@microsoft.com...
> When I run anti-virus scans in the adminitrator account (like McAfee,
> Spybot,
> Ad-Aware), will it scan the other user accounts that I created? Or do I
> have
> to open up each user account and run a new scan in each one?

If I browse the internet using user A's account, can my computer get a virus
or spyware under user B's account?

"GTS" wrote:

> For virus scanners like McAfee, it is generally sufficient to run it from on
> administrator account. For spyware scanners like Spybot and Ad-Aware, it is
> best to run them on all accounts. This is absolutely necessary if you know
> a machine is heavily infected. It's less critical if you're running them
> for purely routine maintenance. Virus scanning mainly checks files against
> a database of signatures of known infection items. Spyware checking also
> searches the registry, among other things. It cannot check individual user
> hives unless run under each user.
>
> "ALP" <ALP@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:E668BFEF-B8E7-4480-AB6F-B0F29EC5B4AE@microsoft.com...
> > When I run anti-virus scans in the adminitrator account (like McAfee,
> > Spybot,
> > Ad-Aware), will it scan the other user accounts that I created? Or do I
> > have
> > to open up each user account and run a new scan in each one?
>
>

In short Yes, but details can get complicated. Some types malware
parasites are more likely than others to cause global infection, user rights
at the time (admin/limited) might affect this, etc.

"ALP" <ALP@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:33AD1504-D769-495A-BDA7-4637307F2B15@microsoft.com...
> If I browse the internet using user A's account, can my computer get a
> virus
> or spyware under user B's account?
>
> "GTS" wrote:
>
>> For virus scanners like McAfee, it is generally sufficient to run it from
>> on
>> administrator account. For spyware scanners like Spybot and Ad-Aware, it
>> is
>> best to run them on all accounts. This is absolutely necessary if you
>> know
>> a machine is heavily infected. It's less critical if you're running them
>> for purely routine maintenance. Virus scanning mainly checks files
>> against
>> a database of signatures of known infection items. Spyware checking also
>> searches the registry, among other things. It cannot check individual
>> user
>> hives unless run under each user.
>>
>> "ALP" <ALP@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:E668BFEF-B8E7-4480-AB6F-B0F29EC5B4AE@microsoft.com...
>> > When I run anti-virus scans in the adminitrator account (like McAfee,
>> > Spybot,
>> > Ad-Aware), will it scan the other user accounts that I created? Or do I
>> > have
>> > to open up each user account and run a new scan in each one?
>>
>>