Scan Methods Compared

The following table provides a comparison between the two scan methods:

Table 1. Conventional Scan and Smart Scan Compared

Basis of Comparison

Conventional Scan

Smart Scan

Availability

Available in this OfficeScan version and all earlier OfficeScan versions

Available starting in OfficeScan 10

Scanning behavior

The conventional scan agent performs scanning on the local endpoint.

  • The smart scan agent performs scanning on the local endpoint.

  • If the agent cannot determine the risk of the file during the scan, the agent verifies the risk by sending a scan query to a smart protection source.

  • The agent "caches" the scan query result to improve the scan performance.

Components in use and updated

All components available on the update source, except the Smart Scan Agent Pattern

All components available on the update source, except the Virus Pattern and Spyware Active-monitoring Pattern

Typical update source

OfficeScan server

OfficeScan server
Parent topic: Scan Method Types