Which locations/drives are scanned?

[ianmozzer]

Hi

This may be an obvious question, but one I haven't seen answered in the forums. Which drives are checked by S&D during his scan?

I assume all of the default OS drive (eg C:\) is scanned, but what about any attached external drives such as USB backup drives etc? During a scan, the status line shows what items are being cehcked, but not where he's checking them.

Following on from that, if all available locations are checked, is there a way to save time by restricting checks to specific drives?

Any thoughts welcome.

Ian.

[blues]

it didnt check my cd/dvd drives when i tried to scan a cd, but you can use the "rightclick scan" on the drives but i dont know if that is a recommended way to do it. maybe the "rightclick scan" is only ment to scan single files.

[Greyfox]

ianmozzer

The following extract from a post by md usa spybot fan may answer your question.




3. There isn't too much use in scanning auxillary drives for spyware since spyware has to be active for it to really be spyware.

4. There are no settings within Spybot to scan secondary or externals drives. In fact unlike anti-virus programs and some other anti-spyware programs, Spybot does not do an in-depth scan of every file on the primary drive. For a brief description of how Spybot scans see:

Why is Spybot-S&D so fast?
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/faq/1.html

[blues]

There isn't too much use in scanning auxillary drives for spyware since spyware has to be active for it to really be spyware.

why not check the files before installing something on the computer to prevent the spyware being installed in the first place? that is the point. for example cds/dvds with files in them.

[drragostea]

Well, some users may unknowingly downloaded a file and executed it or they (knowingly) reluctantly opened to see the contents (yearn; whether that is warez, games, cracks, or even a "e-mail" from the FBI or a Airline Company).

I have to agree with the quote.

--
While Spybot does not scan the "whole" HDD (single file for example), it scans for common places where malware "anchor" themselves.
http://forums.spybot.info/showthread.php?t=33198

[ianmozzer]

Thanks a lot guys, that's exactly the way I wanted it to work.

I've just added an external drive and didn't want S&D to detect it and start scanning it! Especially as its a backup drive and most of the stuff on there will be duplicates of what he's already scanned!!

Thanks also for the pointers to the smart way S&D scanning works.

Ian.