A few questions on scanning that I have been meaning to ask... Does Smart Scanning ("Use Smart Scanning to improve speed") translate into fewer files scanned, and that is how the speed is improved? How does Smart Scanning work in conjunction with the four other scanning modes.... Quick, Deep, Full & Custom? Is the only difference between Deep and Full Scans the removable drives get scanned with Full? Are the settings in the Advanced Scan dialog attached below applied to both manual scans and scheduled scans when enabled?
When scanning files with the Full/Custom scanner, Smart Scanning will only scan files with threatening file extensions (.exe for example). The Deep/Quick Scan looks through files regardless of their extension but when scanning inactive files like ones scanned with the full/custom scanner, it is largely unnecessary for the full/custom scanner to bother reading every file, which is why we offer this function. The Full Scan will scan through all dormant files on all drives (as will a custom scan, but only on the selected files). The Deep Scan looks through system files, files which are currently loaded in memory, files referenced in the registry, possible rootkits/hidden files, frequently accessed files, and a number of other areas which could potentially house malware. Rather than looking through every file on disk, we focus on real threats, which lets us scan quickly without losing any detection of actual infections. It is theoretically possible that a remnant of an infection that was cleaned by another antivirus program could remain on the system, unable to infect the system which is where the full scan could find a dormant file that the deep scan didn't. The advanced scan settings apply only to the next scan - the scheduled scan is always a deep scan without smart scanning enabled and a manual "Scan Now" scan is also a deep scan without smart scanning enabled. Let me know if you have any other questions!
