Scan tasks
File Anti-Virus and Web Anti-Virus provide real-time computer protection, but we also recommend that you regularly scan your computer for viruses and other computer security threats. Computer scanning is necessary to prevent the spread of malware that has not been detected by the protection components.
Kaspersky Internet Security contains the following built-in scan tasks:
Full ScanA virus scan of the computer's memory, startup objects, and all internal disks.
Quick ScanA virus scan of only critical areas of the computer: memory, startup objects, and system folders.
Custom ScanA virus scan of a specified object (file, folder, internal disk, or external disk).
External Disk ScanA virus scan of external disks that is performed when an external disk is connected to the computer.
When Kaspersky Internet Security performs a scan task, malicious objects are recognized through signature analysis. In addition to signature analysis, Kaspersky Internet Security uses heuristic analysis and other scanning technologies.
Start Full Scan and Quick Scan tasks
- Open the main application window and click
.The Scan window opens.
- In the Scan window, click Start Full Scan or Start Quick Scan.
The scan task starts.
You can also run a Full Scan or Quick Scan task on My Kaspersky. For more information about running a computer scan on My Kaspersky, see the My Kaspersky help.
Start a Custom Scan task
- Open the main application window and click .
The Scan window opens.
- To start the Custom Scan task, drag a file or folder to the Choose files and folders to scan or drag them onto this window pane or click Choose and open a file or folder.
The scan task starts.
Stop a scan task
- Open the main application window and click .
The Scan window opens.
- In the Scan window, click Stop next to the scan task that you want to stop.
A confirmation dialog opens.
- In the confirmation dialog, click Stop.
The scan task stops.
You can schedule a Full Scan or Quick Scan task.
Schedule a scan task from the Scan window
- Open the main application window and click .
The Scan window opens.
- Click
Schedule Scan.A dialog opens where you can set the schedule.
- Select the Full Scan or Quick Scan checkbox.
- Specify the scanning frequency and the scan start time.
- Click OK.
Schedule a scan task from the Preferences window
- In the menu bar, click the application icon and choose Preferences.
The application preferences window opens.
- On the Scan tab, click Schedule.
- In the window that opens, select the checkbox next to the name of the scan task you want to start on a schedule.
- Configure the scan task frequency and time.
- Click OK to save changes made to the scan task schedule.
When an external disk is connected to the computer, Kaspersky Internet Security can automatically start scanning the disk, prompt to scan, or do nothing. You can select one of the options in the preferences of the External Disk Scan task.
Select the action Kaspersky Internet Security performs when an external disk is connected to the computer
- In the menu bar, click the application icon and choose Preferences.
The application preferences window opens.
- On the Scan tab, in the list on the left, select the External Disk Scan task.
- In the When an external disk is connected section, select the action that Kaspersky Internet Security performs when an external disk is connected.
The Full Scan and Quick Scan tasks already contain scan scopes. While performing the Full Scan task, Kaspersky Internet Security scans the computer's memory, startup objects, and all internal disks. While performing the Quick Scan task, Kaspersky Internet Security scans computer memory, startup objects, and system folders. You can change the scan scope of the Quick Scan task.
Note: On computers running macOS 10.15 or later, you can skip scanning of the read-only system volume to significantly reduce scanning time. By default, Kaspersky Internet Security does not scan the read-only system volume when performing a Quick Scan task and does scan it when performing a Full Scan task.
Enable/disable scanning of the read-only system volume
- In the menu bar, click the application icon and choose Preferences.
The application preferences window opens.
- On the Scan tab, in the list on the left, select the Full Scan or Quick Scan task.
- In the Optimization section, deselect/select the Skip scanning of read-only system volume checkbox.
Important: Optimization might be disabled for security reasons.
Add/remove a file or folder to/from the Quick Scan task scan scope
- In the menu bar, click the application icon and choose Preferences.
The application preferences window opens.
- On the Scan tab, in the list on the left, select the Quick Scan task.
- In the Scan scope section, click Edit.
A window with the list of objects in the Quick Scan task scan scope opens.
- Edit the list of scan scope objects:
- To add a file or folder to the Quick Scan task scan scope:
- Click
.A pop-up menu where you can select objects to add to the scan scope appears.
- Choose the Files and Folders item.
A dialog where you can select a file or folder opens.
- Select a file or folder that you want to add to the Quick Scan task scan scope.
- Click Open.
- To remove a file or folder from the Quick Scan task scan scope:
- Select an object that you want to remove.
- Drag the selected object from the window or click
.
- Click Save.
Add an object on the default Quick Scan list to the Quick Scan task scan scope
- In the menu bar, click the application icon and choose Preferences.
The application preferences window opens.
- On the Scan tab, in the list on the left, select the Quick Scan task.
- In the Scan scope section, click Edit.
A window with the list of objects in the Quick Scan task scan scope opens.
- Click .
A pop-up menu where you can select objects to add to the scan scope appears.
- Select an object that you want to add to the scan scope (for example, Memory).
- Click Save.
Disable protection of an object in the Quick Scan task scan scope
- In the menu bar, click the application icon and choose Preferences.
The application preferences window opens.
- On the Scan tab, in the list on the left, select the Quick Scan task.
- In the Scan scope section, click Edit.
A window with the list of scan scope objects opens.
- Deselect the checkbox next to the object that you don't want to scan when performing a Quick scan task.
- Click Save.
If a threat is detected in a file, the application displays a notification and performs the specified action on the object. You can modify the action to perform when an object is detected.
Select the action that Kaspersky Internet Security performs after detecting infected files
- In the menu bar, click the application icon and choose Preferences.
The application preferences window opens.
- On the Scan tab, select a task in the task list.
- In the Action section, select the action that Kaspersky Internet Security performs after detecting infected files.
Before attempting to disinfect or delete an infected file, Kaspersky Internet Security saves a backup copy for subsequent restoration or disinfection. A file copy appears in Quarantine. You can try to disinfect this file later by using updated anti-virus databases.
Information about the results of scan tasks and all detected objects is logged in a report.
Note: If any errors occur while running a virus scan task, start the task again. If the new attempt to run the scan also results in an error, contact Kaspersky Technical Support.
View a scan task report
- In the menu bar, choose Protection > Reports.
The Reports window opens.
- Open the Scan tab.
Information about the progress of each running scan task (percent complete and time remaining) is displayed in the Scan window.
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