Scan Exclusions

Configure scan exclusions to increase the scanning performance and skip scanning files causing false alarms. When a particular scan type runs, OfficeScan checks the scan exclusion list to determine which files on the computer will be excluded from both virus/malware and spyware/grayware scanning.

When you enable scan exclusion, OfficeScan will not scan a file under the following conditions:

Wildcard Exceptions

Scan exclusion lists for files and directories support the use of wildcard characters. Use "?" character to replace one character and "*" to replace several characters.

	Excluded	Not Excluded
c:\director\fil\.txt	c:\directory\fil\doc.txt c:\directories\fil\files\document.txt	c:\directory\file\ c:\directories\files\ c:\directory\file\doc.txt c:\directories\files\document.txt
c:\director?\file\*.txt	c:\directory\file\doc.txt	c:\directories\file\document.txt
c:\director?\file\?.txt	c:\directory\file\1.txt	c:\directory\file\doc.txt c:\directories\file\document.txt
c:\*.txt	c:\doc.txt	c:\directory\file\doc.txt c:\directories\files\document.txt
[]	Not supported	Not supported
.	Not supported	Not supported

Scan Exclusion List (Directories)

OfficeScan will not scan all files found under a specific directory on the computer. You can specify a maximum of 250 directories. Also specify whether the path entered should retain, overwrite, be added to, or be removed from the client scan exclusion list.

You have the option to Exclude directories where Trend Micro products are installed. If you select this option, OfficeScan automatically excludes the directories of the following Trend Micro products from scanning:

If you have a Trend Micro product NOT included in the list, add the product directories to the scan exclusion list.

Also configure OfficeScan to exclude Microsoft Exchange 2000/2003 directories by going to Networked Computers > Global Client Settings > Scan Settings. If you use Microsoft Exchange 2007, manually add the directory to the scan exclusion list. Refer to the following site for scan exclusion details:

Scan Exclusion List (Files)

OfficeScan will not scan a file if its file name matches any of the names included in this exclusion list. If you want to exclude a file found under a specific location on the computer, include the file path, such as C:\Temp\sample.jpg.

Also specify whether the path entered should retain, overwrite, be added to, or be removed from the client scan exclusion list.

Scan Exclusion List (File Extensions)

OfficeScan will not scan a file if its file extension matches any of the extensions included in this exclusion list. You can specify a maximum of 250 file extensions. A period (.) is not required before the extension.

For Real-time Scan, use an asterisk (*) as a wildcard character when specifying extensions. For example, if you do not want to scan all files with extensions starting with D, such as DOC, DOT or DAT, type D*.

For Manual Scan, Scheduled Scan, and Scan Now, use a question mark (?) or asterisk (*) as a wildcard character.

Apply Scan Exclusion Settings to All Scan Types

OfficeScan allows you to configure scan exclusion settings for a particular scan type and then apply the same settings to all the other scan types. For example:

On January 1, OfficeScan administrator Chris found out that there are a large number of JPG files on client computers and realized that these files do not pose any security threat. Chris added JPG in the file exclusion list for Manual Scan and then applied this setting to all scan types. Real-time Scan, Scan Now, and Scheduled Scan are now set to skip scanning .jpg files.

A week later, Chris removed JPG from the exclusion list for Real-time Scan but did not apply scan exclusion settings to all scan types. JPG files will now be scanned but only during Real-time Scan.