How much can I depend on the Microsoft Standalone System Sweeper

F

fsinc

Guest
Hi guys.

My target machine was a Windows XP, Service Pack 3 machine.

Symptoms present were:
When trying to browse to google.com I got the error.
"404 not found" ngnix.

I check the hosts file but nothing was in there.

The only thing that I could think that would cause this was a virus.

I put in the system sweeper and booted. I downloaded the latest security essentials definitions from the link provided by system sweeper and browsed and installed them from system sweeper. I then performed a scan of the target system. System sweeper came back and reported that the system was clean of malware/viruses.

I thought this cannot be so. I had an old Avast Bart CD laying around that i had cease to use since the system sweeper had com out. I downloaded the latest definitions for that and give it a run. The Avast Bart CD found a number of viruses infecting some files such as the windows pagefile ect. After the CD rid the target system of these and I rebooted the 404 error was gone.

My mistake was not generating a report file from the Avast Bart CD so I could post it as an attachment here to better understand why the MS System Sweeper did not detect any of these malicious software. Am I using it incorrectly, or in a wrong scenario?

Anyone else had these experiences?

What do you use for offline scanning?

Thanks for all replies

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