# Can too much Anti-virus scanning damage a computer



## outherebrothers (Oct 14, 2008)

Hi,

Just a quick question, i had an old laptop that eventually died as it had so many viruses. So i got a new, improved one and i'm so paranoid about viruses that if i even think somethings wrong i do a full virus scan with avg 8.5. I've done about 15 scans in less than 3 months, add to that about 100 washes with cc cleaner and windows washer.

Will this in anyway damage my laptop? I know all the scanning/washing is unnecessary and i'm trying to be less paranoid 

Thanks for any help in advance


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

Ccleaner and Window Washer will damage your machine more than anything else. Ccleaner's registry cleaner is just as bad and as dangerous as any, and removing all those "unneeded" files is also risky. If you are that desperate for disk space, get a larger drive. Neither of those programs removes viruses or malware.

Generally, an AV has a "resident" component that scans every file as it is accessed so that full scans are less needed. But 15 times in 3 months does not sound like too many. Most AV's already have scheduled scans, though. Just make sure you also scan with other anti-malware scanners.

Free anti-malware:

Dr. Freeware Boot CD Avast Scanner (also has partitioning tool, file recovery, drive cloner/imager)
Dr. Web Cure-It
Comodo Anti-Malware
Threatfire Free Edition
MalwareBytes trial
A-Squared
PrevX CSI Free Version
Spybot S&D
RunScanner
Ad-Aware
SuperAntiSpyware
Spyware Eliminator
Emco Malware Destroyer
Spyware Doctor
All-Seeing Eye (Monitors system - pretty annoying at first until all safe processes have been approved, but settings can be changed)
Arovax Anti-spyware
Trend-Micro Rootkit Buster
F-Secure Blacklight
Bootzilla (Bootable anti-malware CD with many other tools.)

"Instant" Anti-virus (No installation--just download and run the scanner):

Dr. Web Cure-It
McAfee Stinger
Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool (This one installs but offers to uninstall after the scan. A fresh download contains the most recent virus definitions.)
PING with Clam (A bootable disk imaging CD with added anti-virus)

List of freeware security software
Guide to Free Security Software (ScanComplete Site)

Virtualization Solutions (Malware attacks become impossible because either the browser or the whole operating system are isolated from the real system):

SandboxIE (Virtualizes IE, Firefox, or any other browser and works on most other programs, too)
VMWare Browser Appliance (Runs in the free VMWare Player. The Player also will run any of 100's of preconfigured operating system and appliance images downloadable for free from VMWare, and you can even make your own VM's to run in it with the open-source VMmanager)
Artificial Dynamics Safe Space (Similar to SandboxIE, safe browsing and protection from malware and hackers)
Fortes Grand Virtual Sandbox
Microsoft Web Sandbox (Open-Source) (In development but usable)
Returnil Virtual System (The Premium version allows you to save all changes inside the virtual OS to the real system, but even the free version has a virtual drive where items can be saved outside the virtual container)
Windows Steady State (Now supports Vista, too)


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## outherebrothers (Oct 14, 2008)

Hi,

Thanks for the reply, with cc cleaner i very rarely do a registry scan as i know messing about with that is an absolute no. I just use it to get rid of the temp files and mozilla cache, recent activity and stuff like that.

Windows Washer again i just use it to wash the junk files away, i didn't know it had a registry clean on it? Does it?  It's not really for space (i have 50 gb's free) it's just a habit for me to wash it every day, dunno why. What damage would Window Washer do?

Thanks for putting my mind at rest about the Avg scans, at least i know i'm not overdoing it as much as i thought 

I will look into some of those products you mention, thank you :up:


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## flavallee (May 12, 2002)

ohb:

I use *AVG8* for antivirus protection and *Malwarebytes Anti-Malware* and *SUPERAntiSpyware* for malware protection.

I have AVG8 set up to do its thing when I'm surfing and checking email. I rarely run a full scan with it.

About once a week(usually on the weekend), I update and run a scan with Malwarebytes and SUPERAntiSpyware and allow them to fix anything that they find.

I surf responsibly and don't visit porn sites or file-sharing sites or any sites that leave a computer wide open to infection.

Paranoid and over-kill with utilities(especially with ones that shouldn't be used) will cause computer problems and will cause you grief.

And don't allow others to use your computer, if you can avoid it.

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## outherebrothers (Oct 14, 2008)

flavallee said:


> ohb:
> 
> I use *AVG8* for antivirus protection and *Malwarebytes Anti-Malware* and *SUPERAntiSpyware* for malware protection.
> 
> ...


Hi, I also have those programs on my pc, i don't run those as often as i do with avg 8, windows washer and cc cleaner though.

Can you tell me what the problems are that overuse will cause? Only me and my girlfriend use the laptop and we both surf very responsibly, i actually haven't run the programs in a few days so i'm slowly getting better.


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## flavallee (May 12, 2002)

It all depends on what you have over-kill and over-use with.

I see over-kill frequently with toolbars. Besides reducing vertical viewing space, they use up system resources, some of them are problematic, and some of them contain spyware.

I see over-kill frequently with programs(cleaners, boosters, optimizers, "eye candy" add-ons) that don't need to be installed and don't need to be running in the background. They add to performance reduction, they cause conflicts with each other, they generate error messages and freezes, and they cause damage to other programs and to the operating system.

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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

outherebrothers said:


> Hi,
> 
> Thanks for the reply, with cc cleaner i very rarely do a registry scan as i know messing about with that is an absolute no. I just use it to get rid of the temp files and mozilla cache, recent activity and stuff like that.
> 
> ...


I'm not familiar with WW specifically, but just in general have to wonder at the safety of programs that try to delete "unneeded" files. There have been far too many times when 1 or 2 files were lost that were actually important but had a file ending that made them susceptible to these programs. And some temp files are still needed, even if in the temp folder.

Most of these cleanup programs came out when disk space was at a premium and people needed to try to save as much as possible so their drives didn't fill up too fast. But drives are huge and cheap now.

Some backup files, though maybe "unneeded" in the strictest sense, may still be useful later. The boot.ini is a good example. If the boot.bak file or any of the other backup versions is removed, then you won't have it to restore if your original becomes corrupted. It's the same for all backup files--they are there as backups and created because someone thought that the file needed a backup for safety.

Disk Cleanup is just safer since it only deletes files that are 3 (I think, it may be 5) or more days old and so very unlikely to still be needed if not accessed in that amount of time.

As for Window Washer in particular, it's your risk and choice. If you have good backups and trust it, good luck.


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## perfume (Sep 13, 2008)

Dear outherebrothers,
I have Kas internet security suite 2009 ,which i run daily to scan all partitions! I make it a point to run Ccleaner to remove .temp files, every day. I use Defraggler to good effect twice to thrice a week. SAS and MBAM are run on a daily basis, not only for detection but they can remove any spyware and malware! I have been following this routine for more than a year! The distinction between "very careful" and "paranoid" is very thin.:up:


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## outherebrothers (Oct 14, 2008)

perfume said:


> Dear outherebrothers,
> I have Kas internet security suite 2009 ,which i run daily to scan all partitions! I make it a point to run Ccleaner to remove .temp files, every day. I use Defraggler to good effect twice to thrice a week. SAS and MBAM are run on a daily basis, not only for detection but they can remove any spyware and malware! I have been following this routine for more than a year! The distinction between "very careful" and "paranoid" is very thin.:up:


Hi,

Thanks for the reply  I guess if you've been doing it for more then a year withhout problems then i shouldn't worry. It's just since my old laptop died (it was 3rd hand, and when i got rid of the viruses, extremley sluggish) I've been so keen to avoid getting anything on this one. I think i just need to relax a bit and realise that i'm an extremely safe surfer as i don't go onto naughty sites etc so i should be ok to knock the OCD scanning on the head a bit 

Thank you everyone (Elvandil, flavallee and perfume) for all the very helpful replies :up:


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## perfume (Sep 13, 2008)

Dear outherebrothers,
I would recommend that you defragment the laptop hd once a week using Defraggler. It will increase the speed of your PC! Link :www.defraggler.com .Best wishes.:up:


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## Rich-M (May 3, 2006)

> Most of these cleanup programs came out when disk space was at a premium and people needed to try to save as much as possible so their drives didn't fill up too fast. But drives are huge and cheap now.


This says it all. So called junk on hard drive has almost nothing to do with how the pc runs, it had to do with a time when we always were looking for space when hard drives were 8 gb and weekly we tried to clean and scan everything to save space. Now the average user has a 250 gb hard drive and uses 15-18 gb of it.
And for ccleaner, there is never a reason to ever use that program and personally I have hosed enough systems with it for one lifetime.


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## flavallee (May 12, 2002)

I do fine with smaller hard drives because I don't install and keep a much of useless and unneeded programs. An example is the 7-year old Gateway 500S(E4000) desktop that I'm on right now. It's 38.2 GB in size and has 10.2 GB of used space and 28.0 GB of free space.

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## Rich-M (May 3, 2006)

flavallee said:


> I do fine with smaller hard drives because I don't install and keep a much of useless and unneeded programs. An example is the 7-year old Gateway 500S(E4000) desktop that I'm on right now. It's 38.2 GB in size and has 10.2 GB of used space and 28.0 GB of free space.
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------


Yeah that's fine for Windows XP but sooner or later Vista or Windows 7.0 where the OS is nearly 20 Gb alone changes all that. I have always gotten away with an 80 gb Raptor drive for "c" drive and then a 500 gb WD 7200 RPM drive for backup file and data and image files but now I am "pressing the envelope" as with Vista I am running 60 gb now and am back to controlling what is left on the way we used to. Soon I may have to go to 150 gb Raptors and these suckers are expensive but they are well worth it as the speed is quite noticeable!
Only a few years ago I was using the 36 gb versions successfully too.


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## Jason08 (Oct 13, 2008)

The problem I see with older computers that have less hard drive space than newer ones is newer programs take up a lot more space than older ones. So on my XP computer I use, the hard drive is 80GB (really is 71.0GB), but only 20GB remains.


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