User Guide

4
Administrator’s Guide 77
4Using VirusScan Software
Using the VShield scanner
The VShield scanner protects your system in the background, as you work
with your files, in order to prevent infection from viruses that arrive via floppy
disks, from your network, embedded in file attachments that come with e-mail
messages, or from your computer’s memory. The scanner starts when you
start your computer, and stays in memory until you shut down. The VShield
scanner also includes technology that guards against hostile Java applets and
ActiveX controls, and that keeps your computer from connecting to dangerous
Internet sites. Secure password protection for your configuration options
prevents others from making unauthorized changes.
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NOTE: In order for some VShield scanner features to become active, you
must do a custom installation of these modules: Download Scan and
Internet Filter.
To learn how to configure VShield properties and how to start and stop the
VShield scanner, see the Using the VShield Scanner sectiion in the McAfee
VirusScan User’s Guide.
Using the VirusScan application
The VirusScan name applies both to the entire set of desktop anti-virus
program components described in the User’s Guide. “On demand” means that
you as a user control when VirusScan software starts and ends a scan
operation, which targets it examines, what it does when it finds a virus, or any
other aspect of the program’s operation. Other VirusScan components, by
contrast, operate automatically or according to a schedule you set. VirusScan
software originally consisted solely of an on-demand scanner—features
integrated into the program since then provide a cluster of anti-virus functions
that give you maximum protection against virus infections and attacks from
malicious software.
The VirusScan application operates in two modes: the VirusScan “Classic”
interface gets you up and running quickly, with a minimum of configuration
options, but with the full power of the VirusScan anti-virus scanning engine;
the VirusScan Advanced mode adds flexibility to the program’s configuration
options, including the ability to run more than one scan operation
concurrently.
To learn how to configure VirusScan properties and how to start and stop
VirusScan software, see the Using the VirusScan application section in the
McAfee VirusScan User’s Guide.