Scan settings to be used

After you install Kaspersky Anti-Virus, any on-demand scan (full computer scan, scan of specified objects or removable drives) will use the default settings recommended by Kaspersky Lab. The status of the current scan settings are displayed in the right section of the Settings tab of the main application window using the following icons:

- On-Demand scan settings do not match the recommended settings.

- On-Demand scan settings match the recommended maximum protection settings.

If necessary, you can change these settings. You can change the protection level and specify the type of action to be performed if a suspicious or infected object is detected.

Note that the protection level and other settings that you assign will APPLY TO ALL types of on-demand scan, including full scans of your computer and scan of selected disks, folders, files, etc.

If you exclude, for example, a particular disk from the scan scope (see section Troubleshooting on-demand scan) then this disk will not be scanned when you select it for an on-demand scan (see section On-demand scan of selected objects). The only exclusions from this rule are Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Outlook Express mailboxes. If selected, they will be scanned, regardless of whether or not you have excluded them from the scan scope.

To change the protection level and/or type of action to be performed if a suspicious or infected object is detected:

Click modify settings in the right section of the Settings tab or Configure On-Demand Scan in its left section.
In On-Demand Scan settings window that opens after you click the above link, select the desired scan level, which defines the thoroughness of your computer's anti-virus protection. The default level is Recommended. You can change it by moving the Scan level slider up or down. Below is a discussion of the available protection levels together with situations when the use of a certain protection level is indicated:
Maximum protection - thorough scan of the entire computer or a particular disk, folder or file.

You are advised to use this protection level if you suspect that your computer has been infected by a virus. A detailed discussion of infection symptoms is provided in section Symptoms of infection.

Recommended - a scan of the entire computer or a specified object using settings recommended by Kaspersky Lab.

We recommend that you use this protection level by default as it ensures an optimal combination of scan speed and thoroughness.

High speed - high-speed anti-virus scan of your computer (including RAM and disk boot sectors) or of a selected object.

This protection level ensures scanning at maximum speed due to a reduction in the number of objects to be scanned.

The table below contains a list of all objects that will be scanned at each protection level. The + sign indicates that the object will be scanned if the corresponding protection level is selected, while the - sign indicates that the object will not be scanned.

	Maximum Protection	Recommended	High Speed
Area selected by the user	+	+	+
Disk boot sectors, RAM	+	+	+
OLE-objects	+	+	+
Packed files	+	+	+
Self-extracting archives	+	+	+
Objects executed at the operating system startup	+	+	-
Archives	+	+	-
MS Outlook and MS Outlook Express mailboxes	+	+	-
Email databases and messages	+	-	-

For each of the above protection levels, you can specify exclusions - a list of objects that will not be scanned. However, you are advised to specify such exclusions only if you encounter performance problems using Kaspersky Anti-Virus, for example if your computer has slowed down considerably.

Specify the type of action to be performed if a suspicious or infected object is detected during the scan:.
Prompt user for action - ask user about the action to be performed on detected objects. A list of possible actions will be displayed, one of which will be recommended by Kaspersky Lab. Select this mode if you are staying at your computer during the scan.

On-demand scan settings

Perform recommended action - perform the action recommended by Kaspersky Lab. Since the recommended actions are always well justified, you can select this mode in most cases. The recommended actions may be as follows:

disinfect infected objects;

quarantine suspicious or infected objects.

Sometimes, after a file has been quarantined, a message appears notifying the user that the object cannot be deleted. This is related to the fact that quarantined objects are copied to the quarantine folder and deleted from their initial location. However, some objects (for instance, objects contained in a self-extracting archive) cannot be deleted in this way.

delete malicious programs (Trojans and worms) or infected objects that could not be disinfected.

Delete infected objects - delete infected objects detected during the scan without making an attempt to disinfect them and without asking user's confirmation. This mode is recommended only if you are certain that you will not lose any valuable information.
Write information to log file - the application will only report infected and suspicious objects found during the scan but will not perform any action on such objects. This mode is not recommended for most cases because all the infected and suspicious objects will remain in your computer, thus making the spread of infection virtually inevitable.

In some situations no action can be performed on an object, for instance, if an infected object is being used by another program at the time of detection and therefore cannot be disinfected. In this case, a message will be displayed with a suggestion that you:

disinfect at system startup. This action will be listed only if this object can be disinfected;
delete at system startup;
skip - do not perform any action on the object, only report its detection in the application report.

Immediate disinfection is not possible

For successful treatement (disinfection or deletion) of objects at system startup, the scan procedure during which such objects were detected must be fully completed. If you interrupt the scan procedure, such objects will not be disinfected/deleted.