On-access scan detections

When a detection occurs:


  • The scanner takes action according to how you configured the On-Access Scan Properties, Actions tab.
  • A message is recorded in the On-Access Scan Messages dialog box.

Review the information in the activity log and/or the On-Access Scan Messages dialog box, then decide whether to take any of these additional actions.


  • Fine-tune scanning items to make scanning more efficient.
  • On-Access Scan Messages dialog box — Right-click an item in the list, then select one of these actions:
    • Clean File — Attempts to clean the file referenced by the selected message.
    • Delete File — Deletes the file referenced by the selected message. The file name is recorded in the log so that you can restore it from the Quarantine Manager.
    • Select All (ctrl+a) — Selects all messages in the list.
    • Remove Message from List (ctrl+d) — Removes the selected message from the list. Messages that have been removed from the list are still visible in the log file.
    • Remove All Messages — Removes all message from the list. Messages that have been removed from the list are still visible in the log file.
    • Open On-Access Scanner Log File — Opens the on-access scanner activity log file. This option is available only from the File menu.
    • Open Access Protection Log File — Opens the access protection activity log file. This option is available only from the File menu.
    • If an action is not available for the current message, the corresponding icon, button, and menu items are disabled. For example, Clean is not available if the file has already been deleted, or Delete is not available if the administrator has suppressed the action.
    • Clean File — A file cannot be cleaned if the DAT file has no cleaner or it has been damaged beyond repair. If the file cannot be cleaned, the scanner appends an .mcm extension to the file name and denies access to it. An entry is recorded in the log file. In this case, we recommend that you delete the file and restore it from a clean backup copy.
  • Submit a sample to Avert Labs for analysis — If the scanner detects something that you think it should not detect or does not detect something that you think it should, you can send a sample to Avert Labs.