On-Demand Scan settings window

You can specify on-demand scan settings (either for the scan of your entire computer or of a selected object) using the On-Demand Scan settings window.

The Level of protection is the main indicator of how reliably your computer is protected. Recommended level is applied by default. You can change it by moving the Protection level slider up or down. Below is the discussion of all available protection levels along with situations when the use of a certain protection level is preferable:

Maximum protection - thorough scan of the entire computer or a particular disk, folder or file.

If you start a full scan with this protection level applied, the following objects will be scanned for viruses:

all files residing in your computer, including archives;
objects executed by Windows OS at the startup as well as computer memory and disk boot sectors;
e-mail databases and mail messages (for programs other then Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Outlook Express);
Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Outlook Express mailboxes.

The scan of Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Outlook Express mailboxes is provided only if such programs are installed in your computer.

If you start an anti-virus scan of a selected disk, folder or file with this protection level applied, then the following objects will be scanned for viruses:

all files within the specified scope, including archives, if located in the specified area;
e-mail databases and mail messages, if located within the specified area.

We recommend to use this level if you suspect that your computer has been infected.

Recommended - scan the entire computer or a selected object using settings, recommended by Kaspersky Labs experts.

If you start a full scan with this protection level is applied, the following objects will be scanned for viruses:

all files residing in your computer, including archives;
objects executed by Windows OS at the startup as well as computer memory and disk boot sectors;

With the Recommended protection level applied, the scan of Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Outlook Express mailboxes, e-mail databases and messages is not provided.

We recommend to use this protection level in most cases as it ensures the optimal combination of the scan speed and of the number of scanned objects.

High Speed - involves anti-virus scan of the following objects only:
potentially infectable objects within the scan scope;
your computer memory and disk boot sectors (these objects will be scanned for viruses only during a scan of your entire computer)

If you select the High Speed level, the scan scope will not include archives, objects executed by Windows at the startup as well as Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Outlook Express mailboxes, e-mail databases and messages.

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

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

Specify actions that you wish the program to perform each time upon the detection of an infected object, malware (a worm or a Trojan program) or of an object that is possibly infected with a virus or its modification

Prompt user for action - ask user about the actions to be performed on objects during the scan. The program will display a list of possible actions that may be performed on the object. One of such actions will be recommended by Kaspersky Labs experts. Select this mode if you are staying at your computer during the scan.
Perform recommended action - perform an action recommended by Kaspersky Labs experts. 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 objects that are possibly infected with a virus or a virus modification;

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 the process of quarantining objects involves physical movement of the object to the quarantine folder and deletion of the object from its initial location. However, some objects (as, for instance, objects contained in a self-extracting archive) cannot be deleted during such process.

delete malicious programs (Trojans and worms) or infected objects that could not be disinfected or disinfection of which is not possible.

In some situations the recommended action cannot be performed on an object, for instance, if an infected object is being used by another program at the moment and, therefore, can not be processed. In this case, a message will be displayed with a suggestion that you:

disinfect the object at system startup. This action will be listed only if this object can be disinfected;
delete the object at system startup.
Delete infected objects - delete infected objects detected during the scan without the 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 program 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 other malicious objects will remain in your computer, thus making the spread of infection virtually inevitable.