Is It Possible To Schedule A Pre-boot Virus Scan?

Greetings!

I'm a new user of BitDefender Total Security 2008, having upgraded from Avast! Anti-virus & Comodo Personal Firewall last week. With Avast! I was able to schedule a virus scan that would take place before the operating system booted. Is it possible to do this with BitDefender? I became aware of the BD RescueCD when I searched these forums before posting, but I'm not sure if that's what I'm looking for.

While I'm here, I was hoping someone could answer this question for me: is it safe/advisable to have BitDefender running alongside a separate anti-spyware resident shield, such as Ad-aware? Would this cause conflicts with BD's anti-virus package?

Cheers!

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alexcrist

Hello Paddy,

No, there isn't a way to schedule such scans. However, after the system boot_s up (and you log in Windows), BitDefender will scan all startup files (including boot sectors of the drives, if this option is enabled). What exactly do you want to scan before the system boot_s up?

BD Rescue CD is something different. It is a bootable disc, containing a modified version of Knoppix LiveCD, which includes the latest BitDefender for Linux scanning engines. With BD Rescue CD's help, you can scan and clean a computer without actually starting Windows, which makes possible cleaning viruses that inject themselves in critical processes (explorer.exe, winlogon.exe, etc...) and/or which are hidden by rootkit components (and are not visible at all while Windows is running).

About the antispyware question... it is very much recommended that you do not keep any other realtime antispyware protection, because it might interfere with BitDefender (or viceversa), causing the system to become unstable. However, you can keep other antispyware solution installed, but only as On-Demand scanners, and scan your PC once in a while.

BitDefender's Antispyware engine is getting more powerful with each update. I must say that I have installed other antispyware solutions on my PC (and laptop), but whenever I scan my systems with them I get no alerts (which means that nothing passed BitDefender scans).

Of course (don't get me wrong), BD's Antispyware engine in not the very best (which is why it is recommended that you keep another stand-alone antispyware solution installed, just for the moments when you have doubts), but it is very good, it improves every day and it is recommended that you keep it the only realtime protection

Cris.

Paddy

Hello Paddy,

No, there isn't a way to schedule such scans. However, after the system boot_s up (and you log in Windows), BitDefender will scan all startup files (including boot sectors of the drives, if this option is enabled). What exactly do you want to scan before the system boot_s up?

BD Rescue CD is something different. It is a bootable disc, containing a modified version of Knoppix LiveCD, which includes the latest BitDefender for Linux scanning engines. With BD Rescue CD's help, you can scan and clean a computer without actually starting Windows, which makes possible cleaning viruses that inject themselves in critical processes (explorer.exe, winlogon.exe, etc...) and/or which are hidden by rootkit components (and are not visible at all while Windows is running).

About the antispyware question... it is very much recommended that you do not keep any other realtime antispyware protection, because it might interfere with BitDefender (or viceversa), causing the system to become unstable. However, you can keep other antispyware solution installed, but only as On-Demand scanners, and scan your PC once in a while.

BitDefender's Antispyware engine is getting more powerful with each update. I must say that I have installed other antispyware solutions on my PC (and laptop), but whenever I scan my systems with them I get no alerts (which means that nothing passed BitDefender scans).

Of course (don't get me wrong), BD's Antispyware engine in not the very best (which is why it is recommended that you keep another stand-alone antispyware solution installed, just for the moments when you have doubts), but it is very good, it improves every day and it is recommended that you keep it the only realtime protection

Cris.

Thank you for a very thorough reply, most appreciated

alexcrist

You're welcome, Paddy.

Don't hesitate to post if you have other questions.

Cris.