Configuring Files and Programs Scanned by Antivirus

This Article Applies to:

Essential/Premium/Ultimate Business Security
Small Office Protection

Via your local client's Virus Scans settings, you can customize which file types will be scanned by Essential/Premium/Ultimate Business Security or Small Office Protection. The main details for what will be scanned are configured there, while exclusions are configured in the General section.

For general information on all scan tasks, see Scanning Devices for Threats.

Types of Scans

You can access the settings for the various scan types by clicking Menu > Settings, then navigating to Protection > Virus Scans.

Full Virus Scan — Runs an in-depth scan of your system, checking all hard drives, rootkits, and auto-start programs
Targeted Scan — Scans only the folders you select when you initiate the scan
Explorer Scan — Performs a scan of folders or drives that you specify, but is only available in the Windows context menu when you right-click on a file, folder, or drive
Boot-Time Scan — Runs a scan upon device startup

Customizing Full Virus Scans

Sensitivity

You can determine the sensitivity of the scan by adjusting the scan sensitivity settings. The higher the sensitivity, the higher the protection (but also the potential for false positive malware detections). Reducing the sensitivity reduces the chance of false positive detections, but may also reduce the effectiveness of the scans. Scan sensitivity can be adjusted to medium, high, or low by dragging the slider.

Notify me about potentially unwanted programs (PUPs): Enables Avast to scan for programs and tools that are stealthily downloaded with other programs and can perform unwanted activity

Follow file-system links during scan: Enables Avast to scan other files used by the files being scanned for potentially harmful content

Test whole files: Enables Avast to scan entire files rather than only the parts typically affected by malicious code (the process will take longer for larger files)

Scan priority: Determines how many resources can be utilized by Avast during the scan (higher priority means a faster scan, but may slow down other processes on the device)

Scan Areas

Select or tick the boxes beside the listed areas to include them in your scan. The main area options are:

All hard disks: Enables Avast to scan all hard drives on your PC
System drive: The options in this section apply to data that is stored on physical devices such as hard drives and USB sticks

The following options for scanning will be applied to the area specified above:

All removable media: Enables Avast to scan applications that launch automatically when you insert a USB or other removable device into your PC

Rootkits: Enables Avast to scan for hidden threats in the system

UEFI BIOS : Enables Avast to scan the main firmware interfaces during boot-up

CD-ROM & DVD drives: Enables Avast to scan CD and DVD drives for malicious content

Startup programs and modules loaded in memory: Enables Avast to scan applications and processes that launch upon system startup or run in the background

Installers and Archives

In the Packers and Archives section you can specify the compressed file types that you want Avast to unpack during the scan.

Scan only common installers: Scans the contents of executable files utilized when installing applications
Scan all archives: Scans all archive file contents, which may slow down the scan considerably
Don't scan archives: Disables Avast from scanning archive files, which provides a faster scan

File Types

Specify the file types that are prioritized when scanning your PC for malware:

Content-based types (slow): Scans files that are typically most vulnerable to malware attacks
Name extension-based types (fast): Scans files with risky extensions only (such as .exe, .com, .bat)
Scan all files (very slow): Scans all files on your PC for malware

Perform automatic actions during this scan: Enable this option to define the automatic action when an infected file is found:

Fix automatically: Enables Avast to repair the infected file. If repair is not possible, the file is quarantined and, if that fails, the file is deleted
Move to Quarantine: The infected file will not be repaired automatically, but will be quarantined
Delete: Avast will not try to repair the infected file or quarantine it; instead, the file will be deleted automatically

Shut down computer after scan finishes: Enables Avast to shut down your computer after the scan completes

Generate report file: Enables Avast to create and store a report file automatically. The report file location will be displayed beneath this option

Exceptions

Although it is not recommended to exclude any files or folders from a scan, you can define certain exceptions to temporarily exclude particular files or folders from a scan for troubleshooting purposes. At the bottom of the scan settings page, click View exceptions. From there you can follow the steps in Configuring Antivirus Exceptions.