I will be buying a 2nd hand laptop from work shortly and running a multiboot system, not sure of details yet(models E.C.T.) I’ve still got to speak to the man who does the refurbishments.
Can I get a anti virus to run from Linux and scan both Linux and Microsoft partition’s or would it have to be inside the partition
Can I get a anti virus to run from Linux and scan both Linux and Microsoft partition's or would it have to be inside the partitionYou could try SystemRescue (Live CD) http://www.sysresccd.org/System-tools It will come with Clam AntiVirus scanner. Or you could install Clam Av to your linux system and run it from there to scan the windows partitions.
Yup …ClamAV will scan the Windows partition from within Linux … but you’ll also want a “realtime” (on-access) scanner in Windows too.
Personally, I wouldn’t bother … Linux doesn’t need AV or indeed a firewall if you’re behind a NAT router … so just use a proper Windows AV in Windows, and let Linux look after itself 
The only reason you’ll EVER need a Linux AV is if you run a Linux gaming server and it has to run in root all the time. Only reason I can think of.