Can i exclude?

[Stephanos G.]

Can i exclude C:\Windows\installer? Is it safe?
Reason: Nod takes a long time until to scan it.

[Marcos]

It's not possible to exclude any folder from on-demand scanning. You can only specify what drives/folders/files you wish to scan.

[alglove]

C:\Windows\Installer is used by programs that use the Microsoft Installer for installation. There are many Microsoft products that use this folder (including Windows Update/Microsoft Update). There are many non-Microsoft products that use this folder, as well (Adobe Acrobat, Flash, ATI Catalyst Control Center, Sun Java...). In general, I do not see anything preventing a rogue application from using this folder, so it is probably not safe to exclude it from scanning.

Part of the reason this folder takes so long to scan is that the installation packages (.msi files) are archives or use runtime packers. They also tend to be fairly large files. These files can take a long time to scan.

Note: If you ever run into a problem with certain Microsoft Updates failing to install correctly (particularly certain Office Updates), you may consider creating a *temporary* AMON exclusion for C:\Windows\Installer. What happens sometimes is that the files take so long to scan, the installer thinks they are locked. Once you have finished the installation, go ahead and remove the AMON exclusion.

[Stephanos G.]

Thank you