external drive

[kidboy]

I was just running spybot and was wondering if it is nessasary to scan an external drive? How do you go about doing that?

Thanks,
kidboy

[md usa spybot fan]

There are no settings within Spybot to scan an external drive and it is not normally necessary. 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

There is a special scan for Spyware installers (files not installed yet) that can be limited to specific directories (actually it should be limited) which can be located on either internal or external drives. To activate this feature go into Spybot > Mode > Advanced mode > Settings > Directories and add directories. There is more on what this feature scans for here:

• Why does Spybot-S&D find so many Spyware installers / how is that Download directories setting used?
  http://www.safer-networking.org/en/faq/15.html

[Eviltechnomonkey]

It is possible to scan external drives with Spybot Search and Destroy it just isn't an obvious option. You will need to go to the settings button located on the left side of the interface. Under there will be an option called "Directories."

If for some reason you do not see these options you will first need to click on "Mode" at the top of the interface and select "Advanced Mode."

Under directories you can drag the folder into there and it will add it as a place where you store downloaded files and thus will include it in its scan. I hope this helps. I had this same worry earlier when I was fixing a computer at work.