How To Keep Desktop PC On During Anti-Virus Scan?

woodbine · 26 Jan 2018

Would appreciate some help to make security scans easier for me. I have an Acer Aspire desktop pc and use Superantispyware. Scanning requires all internet browsers to be closed, so there isn't anything I can do on the computer.

As the scanning can take a while, I have to sit by the pc and move the mouse occasionally, or the pc will go into sleep mode through inactivity. Is there a way to keep the pc on for the whole scan (just for the scan - not to use for anything else), because if it goes into sleep, obviously the scan is paused? Whilst the scan is running, I would turn the monitor off in case there are problems with the screen image damaging/burning the screen.

Thanks for any advice.

mrjimphelps · 26 Jan 2018

You could disable sleep mode on your computer - set it to "always on". I would strongly recommend that for a long, unattended activity like a full virus scan.

Is there a "smart" scan feature in SuperAntiSpyware? If there is, it will be a lot quicker than a full scan. You don't need to do a full scan everytime; doing so wastes a lot of time and puts a lot of wear and tear on your hard drive.

torchwood · 26 Jan 2018

Hi Woodbine,

first off SAS is NOT an A/V.
If thats all you've got get a proper one, plenty of free ones available, my AV of choice is Bitdefender and it can run whilst your using other programs.

As for your machine going into sleep mode during periods of inactivity - change the idle time settings in power options.

Roy

JoWazzoo · 26 Jan 2018

Agree on getting something (s) other than Super AntiSpyware. And I know of no major scanners that won't work in the background while you do something else.

Anak · 04 Feb 2018

Hi woodbine,

A long time ago I felt like you do and I came up with a solution that works for me.

First I went into Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Power Options and created a power plan called Always On.

In the linked tutorial above I left the radio button on Balanced and named the plan Always On, of course you can name your plan anyway you want.

In the next section I clicked on the down arrows and chose Never for each then tapped the create button.

How To Keep Desktop PC On During Anti-Virus Scan?-ao.png

How To Keep Desktop PC On During Anti-Virus Scan?-powopt.png

That created the plan, but I didn't want to have to drill into power options every time I was installing, uninstalling, running scans, or anything that I needed to have the machine on constantly so I created a shortcut called Power and pinned it to my taskbar. I used Option Four in this tutorial.

How To Keep Desktop PC On During Anti-Virus Scan?-powshtct.png

As far as pinning goes, you can sometimes see the CMD in the right-click context menu but I find it easier to just drag the newly created shortcut to the taskbar and drop it there.

When/If you decide to go this route and create the shortcut use this C:\Windows\System32\powercfg.cpl as the location.

~~~ ~~~~ ~~~

You can also change the plan instantly by using Option Two of this Tutorial, I say option two because you will have to know the GUID number of the Always Open CMD and place that GUID into the location for the shortcut.

Note

If you go this route you will need to create another shortcut with the GUID number of your normally running power plan to take you back.

Alejandro85 · 10 Feb 2018

woodbine said:

Scanning requires all internet browsers to be closed

This is a red flag to me immediately, hinting that you're using a particularly broken antivirus. Never knew of one that requires, or even suggest to close everything for a scan. While an AV scan will obviously slow down the computer while using it, it shouldn't prevent using it. Maybe there is a setting regarding that? Just a guess anyway.
Another thing is that if an antivirus scan provides any security value at all..........

Layback Bear · 10 Feb 2018

I have used Super Anti Spyware (Free) for years and the program has never ask to stop all internet connections.
I just did a scan to verify. It does the scan so quick your system shouldn't shut down. About 60 to 90 seconds.

If it does shut down follow the suggestion given above by other members.

Just set SAS to it's default settings and try the scan again.

Jack