McAfee VSF08EMB3RUA User Guide - Page 42

40 McAfee VirusScan Plus Setting manual scan options Manual virus protection lets you scan files on demand. When you start a manual scan, VirusScan checks your computer for viruses and other potentially harmful items using a more comprehensive set of scanning options. To change manual scanning options, you must make decisions about what VirusScan checks for during a scan. For example, you can determine whether VirusScan looks for unknown viruses, potentially unwanted programs, such as spyware or adware, stealth programs, such as rootkits which can grant unauthorized access to your computer, and cookies that Web sites can use to track your behavior. You must also make decisions about the types of files that are checked. For example, you can determine whether VirusScan checks all files or just program files and documents (since that is where most viruses are detected). You can also determine whether archive files (for example, .zip files) are included in the scan. By default, VirusScan checks all the drives and folders on your computer each time it runs a manual scan; however, you can change the default locations to suit your needs. For example, you can scan only critical system files, items on your desktop, or items in your Program Files folder. Unless you want to be responsible for initiating each manual scan yourself, you can set up a regular schedule for scans. Scheduled scans always check your entire computer using the default scan options. By default, VirusScan performs a scheduled scan once a week. If you find that you are experiencing slow scan speeds, consider disabling the option to use minimal computer resources, but keep in mind that higher priority will be given to virus protection than to other tasks. Note: When enjoying things like watching movies, playing games on your computer, or any activity that occupies your entire computer screen, VirusScan pauses a number of tasks, including automatic updates and manual scans. Set manual scan options You set manual scan options to customize what VirusScan looks for during a manual scan as well as the locations and file types it scans. Options include scanning for unknown viruses, file archives, spyware and potentially unwanted programs, tracking cookies, rootkits, and stealth programs. 1 Open the Manual Scan pane. How?