Can spybot scan multiple hard drives?
- Thread starter j31c3n
- Start date
jjjdavidson
New member
As I understand it, Spybot S&D doesn't work like an antivirus scanner; that is, it doesn't scan every file on your system looking for malware "signatures".
Instead, it looks for known spyware in known locations, and looks for registry anomalies that are typical of spyware. That's why a full Spybot scan can take 10-15 minutes on a system where a full antivirus scan takes a couple of hours.
So--as I understand it--as long as you're not running a multi-boot system, Spybot should give you full protection regardless of how many data partitions you have. If you have a multi-boot system, then the /allhives option lets you scan registry hives relating to Windows installations on other partitions. (And it shouldn't matter whether those partitions are on different physical drives or not.)
Hope this helps!
Jay
Instead, it looks for known spyware in known locations, and looks for registry anomalies that are typical of spyware. That's why a full Spybot scan can take 10-15 minutes on a system where a full antivirus scan takes a couple of hours.
So--as I understand it--as long as you're not running a multi-boot system, Spybot should give you full protection regardless of how many data partitions you have. If you have a multi-boot system, then the /allhives option lets you scan registry hives relating to Windows installations on other partitions. (And it shouldn't matter whether those partitions are on different physical drives or not.)
Hope this helps!
Jay
I have 2 separate drives, one with Vista 64 on it and one with XP on it and Spybot will not find anything on the second drive. It just shows which users it has found on drive C, but never goes to drive e for the XP installation. Sorry forgot to say I AM using the /allhives switch (which in my opinion should be default ON!!).
I was hoping for a way to scan also without having to boot from the drive I want scanned, since it is crazy infected! AVG found over 177 items it removed, so I might have to try booting from it and see if I can run spybot then. glad this second drive isnt mine - yeesh!
Mike
Wish there would be an option to boot into dos mode and run spybot from there, since I think it would remove a lot more problems a LOT easier than the reboot and scan, but it doesnt get it all so you have to manually try and remove some, then run, reboot and scan, then hope it is gone
I was hoping for a way to scan also without having to boot from the drive I want scanned, since it is crazy infected! AVG found over 177 items it removed, so I might have to try booting from it and see if I can run spybot then. glad this second drive isnt mine - yeesh!
Mike
Wish there would be an option to boot into dos mode and run spybot from there, since I think it would remove a lot more problems a LOT easier than the reboot and scan, but it doesnt get it all so you have to manually try and remove some, then run, reboot and scan, then hope it is gone
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Hmmm....
If you use it to try to scan Vista users from the XP system, the reason it will not find those Vista users is that the systems security settings will not allow it. Try to browse with Explorer to e.g. D:\Users\Username\AppData and you'll get a "permission denied".
To get around that, you would have to give the scanning current system user access rights there.
Dos mode is not possible (while there might be FAT32 and NTFS drivers, the registry could not be accessed), but there is the WinPE boot CD thing
If you use it to try to scan Vista users from the XP system, the reason it will not find those Vista users is that the systems security settings will not allow it. Try to browse with Explorer to e.g. D:\Users\Username\AppData and you'll get a "permission denied".
To get around that, you would have to give the scanning current system user access rights there.
Dos mode is not possible (while there might be FAT32 and NTFS drivers, the registry could not be accessed), but there is the WinPE boot CD thing
Pep;
To be clear on the awnser to this question...
I frequently have additional drives I need to scan via a 3.5 USB Ext.Host Kit.
As its been mentioned above, there is no option for selecting specific drive letters? If so, can you add this feature?
Additionally, since the feature does not exist (as of yet), I loaded the drive letter within the download directory option in 'Settings". I started the 'Check for Problems' and saw it was starting to scan my C: drive, I then "Right-Clicked" and selected to 'Clear the List', upon which time I noticed Spybot begining to Scan the Downloaded Directories on the additional drive.
Is this performing the same scan as it had on my C: drive?
Also, can you add a side bar window (or optional pop-up), that shows outlined details as the scan is being conducted.
ie.
Drive Letter:
Current Directory:
Current File:
etc.
To be clear on the awnser to this question...
I frequently have additional drives I need to scan via a 3.5 USB Ext.Host Kit.
As its been mentioned above, there is no option for selecting specific drive letters? If so, can you add this feature?
Additionally, since the feature does not exist (as of yet), I loaded the drive letter within the download directory option in 'Settings". I started the 'Check for Problems' and saw it was starting to scan my C: drive, I then "Right-Clicked" and selected to 'Clear the List', upon which time I noticed Spybot begining to Scan the Downloaded Directories on the additional drive.
Is this performing the same scan as it had on my C: drive?
Also, can you add a side bar window (or optional pop-up), that shows outlined details as the scan is being conducted.
ie.
Drive Letter:
Current Directory:
Current File:
etc.
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