How To Schedule Boot-time Scan?

Hi - I have just moved over to BitDefender Total Security 2010, from a mish-mash of products including Avast.

Avast had an option to schedule a boot-time scan, which scanned the hard drive before Windows was loaded. I cannot find that option anywhere in BitDefender. Any help with that? The closest that I can get so far is to schedule the scan to start 1 minute after logging on, by which time Windows (and any malware) will have already loaded.

Perhaps the benefits of a boot-time scan are overrated?

Thanks for any input.

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Lionet

Hi - I have just moved over to BitDefender Total Security 2010, from a mish-mash of products including Avast.

Avast had an option to schedule a boot-time scan, which scanned the hard drive before Windows was loaded. I cannot find that option anywhere in BitDefender. Any help with that? The closest that I can get so far is to schedule the scan to start 1 minute after logging on, by which time Windows (and any malware) will have already loaded.

Perhaps the benefits of a boot-time scan are overrated?

Thanks for any input.

Hi Jack Sheet!

It's a good question indeed...

I have never used this function on my BD IS 2010 nor on the previous ones... so... I do not know why we do have this function besides the marketing dressing (boot scan, night scan, winter scan).

Let me suppose it is necessary for people with a good christian mood to give one minute to the malware to repent before complete destruction!

Well... I guess some malwares could be revealed only after windows's opening? after BD's update - so it is necessary to scan before closing the computer... or opening it?

There was a thread on this subject "opportunity of scans" but I could not find it.

Let's wait for a true serious answer from people who know the stuff much better than me... :rolleyes:

Oh, by the way, I advise you not to ask BD to shutdown after the scan if you use this function.

You would create a nice "go to sleep" loop, not as fast as the F8 key or the Suppress key but not far either.

Have nice scans!

Lionet, who will ask the Cheshire cat (*) when he meets.

(*) my favourite pet.

1eyedjack

I think that the purpose behind a boot-time scan is that expert malware has the potential to hide itself from anti-malware products, and that potential might require that it be loaded into memory in order to be effective.

It might not, of course, and in other specific cases its presence in memory may aid dedection. So I am not suggesting that a boot-time scan option is required as a substitute to other options, but as an additional option. There is no need for one at the exclusion of the other.

I should also expect a boot-time scan to complete faster, as there will be no other processes running that would make any demands on the CPU. The downside to that, of course, is that you would not be able to do anything else while it is running. But then you would normally only run a boot-time scan if you suspect infection and a normal scan does not pick anything up. In that case you would probably want it to go away and complete its thing before doing anything else.