To maintain security on our devices, something essential is to have a good antivirus. This type of program will alert us in case of mistakenly downloading a file that could be dangerous and will continually check if something is wrong. But, when should we scan manually with the antivirus? We are going to talk about it in this article. We are going to explain when we should not trust automatic analysis.
When to scan manually with antivirus
Generally it is not necessary to open the antivirus and give it a scan. The program itself is always working in the background, looking for files that could be dangerous and reviewing everything that we download from the network. But there are situations in which we must analyze it manually to avoid problems.
analyze something in particular
One of the reasons to perform a manual scan with the antivirus is when something specific needs to be checked . For example a file that you have recently downloaded, a folder where you save programs to install, etc. What you do is basically enhance security and check that everything is correct.
Although the antivirus will automatically be checking the entire computer, it may miss something or we simply want to make that check more complete. In this case, it will be necessary to open the antivirus and give it a manual analysis.
When installing it for the first time
It is also a good idea to perform a manual scan when you first install the antivirus . In this way, it will completely check the system in search of threats and will be able to launch an alert in case there is a problem that we must correct as soon as possible and thus prevent the entry of viruses.
This will also allow the antivirus to better review the system and from there perform more optimized automatic scans, without leaving any section that may contain security threats.
After installing some program
It’s a good idea to run a manual antivirus scan after installing any programs. Especially if it is a vital application for the system , such as software that has to use other installed programs or manage sensitive information that we may have stored on the computer.
In these cases, it is advisable to carry out a manual analysis with the antivirus and thus rule out problems. So right after you install the software, and before you even start using it, you can run a scan.
double check
Of course, one more case is when you want to double check . The antivirus will perform scans automatically, but you may want to check once more if there really is a virus or if everything on the computer is safe and there is no problem. This will help download many problems.
Therefore, it is as simple as opening the antivirus, be it Microsoft Defender or any other you use, and give it a scan. Sometimes you will have different options to make that analysis faster or much more complete, which will take longer to finish but will give more confidence.
In short, as you can see there are different circumstances in which it is convenient to carry out an analysis with the antivirus manually. However, our advice is always to use good security programs. You can even analyze files online.