Why, you might ask, would I ever want to do this? The answer, I believe, is this. If you download it and run it, you will be given the options of running a Quick Scan, a Full Scan, or a Custom Scan. This morning I went to the above web site and downloaded the October version of this tool. I ran it and elected the Full Scan. It ran for 3 hours! It found no problems, as I would have expected, but I thought this is a small price to pay for yet one more layer of security protection. I do not believe that the version one gets through Automatic Updates will run a full scan. I say this because I have never seen this program running at all, so assume it must be running the quick scan.
Note that when I began running it there was an indication that this was the October version. I'll do the same thing next month and run a Full Scan of the new November version.
Questions? Just submit a comment with your question or e-mail me. (Click on the image below for a larger version.)
Are you adding this program to your "Securing Your PC" list? It seems strange that the version of this program that is installed via Windows Update is totally hidden and not executable by the user.
ReplyDeleteExcellent point. Maybe I should, but then I can't predict what Microsoft will do about it in the future. It's a new program every month, and they may do something different as early as this month (Windows 7). It apparently does run, when downloaded through Automatic Updates, a Quick Scan, but on a once a month basis, I'd like to run the Full Scan on my machines. I think I'll leave it as is, and those who read this will try it out once and maybe make a habit of it.
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