Where does malware usually hide?

I try to load most applications on my C: drive, and most of my data (esp photos and music files - not downloaded, but sourced by me) on various non-primary drives. Such viruses etc as I have had over the years have been almost exclusively on my primary drive.

Is this most people's experience?

It's of practical interest because scanning for malware can take a very long time if I have terabytes of data to trawl through. I don't mind doing that routinely weekly, but when trying to track down a new squeaking critter it can waste a lot of time.

Regards,

Philip

Malware can hide just about anywhere.

Quote:

The latest findings indicate that:

* Malware is capable of hiding from AV, antispyware and anti-rootkit technology. "For example," StillSecure said in its analysis, "a known virus was present on [one of the four test endpoints] but the antivirus tool failed to clean the machine. If this occurred in a real-world setting, the end user would have no indication that the machine was infected, leading to further destruction of the device."

* Malware can be detected by security tools but cannot be deleted. Certain sophisticated threats hide in protected folders so they cannot be removed.

* Most components of malware are visible to AV and antispyware tools, but are expendable; any components of the virus that remain after AV cleanup are often capable of replacing deleted files.

* Pop-up windows dupe end users into clicking on malicious sites.

Article

Apparently malware can even hide in a single pixel.

Article

Here are a some security related links:

E.Howes: Protecting Your Privacy & Security on a Home PC

A great site with many security related informations.

Greatis: Description of RegRun Security Suite

A description of the different possibilities how malware can affect your system is included.

Autostartende Anwendungen unter Kontrolle : German article

This article is a german translation of the greatis article.

(Sorry for my bad english - but the last time i used to speak and write in english regularly is about 20 years ago.)

SevenSpirits