The Dr.Web anti-virus complex contains many programs. Why do I need so many different programs for? I just wanted to buy an anti-virus only and not to pay for unnecessary programs. Which of them defends my computer from viruses and what of them are additional programs?
The Dr.Web anti-virus is a complex of programs; each of them provides for protection of some defense zone of your computer. Deinstallation (or not installation) or disabling of even one component considerably decrease reliability of anti-virus protection on the whole. That is why we strongly recommend to never unnecessarily disable any of these components.
Additional utilities are the Automatic updating utility and the Scheduler.
What is the scanner designed for? I though SpIDerGuard anti-virus monitor is enough to protect my files?
The Dr.Web scanner for Windows checks files either upon a user request, or as scheduled. Not all files are checked, but only those specified in the scanner settings. To view current scanner settings, select “Edit settings” in the “Settings” menu item of the scanner. By default, (i.e. as per developers settings) the files are checked by format in archives, packed files and mail files, as well as main computer memory and all startup files. If necessary, you can set scanning of separate files, directories or drives, scanning by file types, by file mask or scanning of all files (this is a highly resources consuming scanning mode).
I have installed Dr.Web and run it. I just ran the program and did not do anything more! But it itself started to do something! The progress bar at the bottom of the main window started to move and some figures appeared. What is wrong? Did I get a virus?
This is the way the scanner acts and just now it is determining whether or not your computer is infected. It automatically, without any interference on your part, starts scanning certain zones of a computer - main memory and Windows startup files, where viruses often hide. Let the scanner check you computer. When the scanning is finished, there will be some figures displayed in two small windows on the right. The left of them will indicate the number of the detected viruses (we wish you this figure be always zero) and the right window will display the quantity of scanned objects.
I have a strong suspicion I got a virus. How can I launch the scanner?
There are several ways to launch the scanner.
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When Dr.Web was installed onto a computer, an icon with a spider in the green background was created in Desktop. Click the icon and the scanner will run..
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In the right bottom corner (system tray) there is an icon of SpIDerGuard - a green spider. Right click this icon. In the opened submenu, choose the Scanner item. This will launch the scanner.
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The same way the scanner is run from the SpIDerMail (green spider behind a white envelope) context menu.
- Besides, the scanner can be launched automatically by the Scheduler every day at three o'clock. This task is blocked by default and it is up to you to decide whether to enable it or not. To enable this task.
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double left click the line with the task in the Scheduler window
- in the opened “Edit task” window check the “Enable” box. The settings will become active. Change the scanner launch time and press the OK button.
I have installed Dr.Web. When I firstly checked the computer with the scanner, Dr.Web has detected a virus. When I try to cure or delete it a message is shown: “Delete action is inaccessible. Enable the "Delete" action in the ini-file first!” What is “ini-file” and what should be done to delete a virus?
Think twice before you start searching for ini-file. Deletion of certain files - archives and mail boxes - may result in lost of the vital information. That is why Dr.Web default settings do not allow to delete such files.
If an infected file is packed inside the file archive (ZIP, RAR, etc.), or a virus if found in a mail message, which, in its turn, is stored inside the mail box, Dr.Web can delete, move it to the quarantine directory or rename only the whole “file-container” with the infected object inside it.
For example, let us take a zip-archive with 100 files in it, and only one of them is infected. The whole archive after the scanning is declared as an “infected archive”. Then, if the “delete” action is applied, it will be applied for the whole archive and not only the infected file, but the whole archive with all files packed into it will be deleted. That is the reason why the “delete” action is blocked by default for archives and mail files.
If you do need to delete the detected viruses in archives and mail bases, you can enable deletion. For this, in the drweb32.ini text configuration file, which resides in the same directory as Dr.Web (C:\Program Files\DrWeb), you should add the line
EnableDeleteArchiveAction = Yes
into the [Windows] section of the scanner. If this section already contains the line with this parameter (it looks as EnableDeleteArchiveAction = No), you should replace No with Yes there.
There is an action "Move to" in the scanner settings for infected and incurable file. Such files are moved somewhere in my computer and it stays infected with a virus?
The “Move to” action for infected and incurable files means that a file is moved physically to a specially designed quarantine directory called Infected!!! Besides, its extension is also changed. Such actions lead to complete “disarmament” of a virus and therefore completely harmless. The Infected!!! directory is not checked by the scanner.
May I disable SpIDerMail mail monitor, the scanner also checks mail files, isn't it?
The scanner really checks mail files but only upon a user request or as scheduled. And what should a user do when a scanner is not launched? To let viruses in? That is why SpIDerMail was developed. It CONSTANTLY on-the-fly checks mails for viruses - both incoming and out-going.
I often use email, write many messages. I have noticed, that SpIDerMail blocks messages if the To: field contains many addressees. Why is that?
For SpIDerMail mail monitor simultaneous sending of messages to multiple addresses means mass distribution often used by creators of mail worms. To disable blocking of messages sent to multiple addresses, you should do the following changes in the SpIDerMail settings.
Right click the SpIDerMail icon (green spider behind the white envelope) in the right bottom corner of the screen (system tray). In the opened submenu, select the “Setting” item. In the “Scan” deselect the “Virus activity control” checkbox.
Change of this SpIDerMail setting will decrease the reliability of the anti-virus protection of email.
I use a rare mail program. Does SpIDerMail mail monitor protect my computer?
Of course, yes! Regardless what mail client you use, SpIDerMail mail monitor, due to its specific design, will check both incoming and out-going email messages for viruses.
I have contacted your technical support team and they asked me to send a “log file”. What is that and where should I find it?
Log-file is a specially designed file where all records (logs) on the anti-virus activity are kept and the errors in its operation are reflected. The records of the log file help to determine the reasons of these errors.
Depending on the Windows version, the DrWebUpW.log file can be created either in Dr.Web directory (full path to it - С:\Porgram Files\DrWeb\Logs), or in user profile directory (C:\Documents and Settings\user_name\DoctorWeb\).
The records of this plain text file are understandable for anyone, for example:
2004-08-27, 22:01:448 Registered to: John Smith
2004-08-27, 22:01:448 Your subscription has expired!
Such records mean that the license term of John Smith has expired and he needs to update the anti-virus!:)
Please, do not send extracts from this file to techsupport, send the whole file as an attachment.
