McAfee DR SOLOMON S ANTI-VIRUS 8.5 User Manual page 195

Heuristic scanning technology enables the Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus
application to recognize new viruses based on their resemblance to
similar viruses that the module already knows. To do this, the
application looks for certain "virus-like" characteristics in the files
you've asked it to scan. The presence of a sufficient number of these
characteristics in a file leads the application to identify the file as
potentially infected with a new or previously unidentified virus.
Because the application looks simultaneously for file characteristics that
rule out the possibility of virus infection, it will rarely give you a false
indication of a virus infection. Therefore, unless you know that the file
does not contain a virus, you should treat "potential" infections with the
same caution you would confirmed infections.
The Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus application starts out without any heuristic
scan options active. To activate heuristic scanning, follow these substeps:
a. Select the Enable heuristics scanning checkbox. The remaining
options in the dialog box activate.
b. Select the types of heuristics scanning you want the Dr Solomon's
Anti-Virus application to use. Your choices are:
– Enable macro heuristics scanning. Choose this option to
have the application identify all Microsoft Word, Microsoft
Excel, and other Microsoft Office files that contain embedded
macros, then compare the macro code to its virus definitions
database. The application will identify exact matches with the
virus name; code signatures that resemble existing viruses
cause it to tell you it has found a potential macro virus.
– Enable program file heuristics scanning. Choose this option
to have the Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus application locate new
viruses in program files by examining file characteristics and
comparing them against a list of known virus characteristics.
The application will identify files with a sufficient number of
these characteristics as potential viruses.
– Enable macro and program file heuristics scanning.
Choose this option to have the application use both types of
heuristics scanning. Dr Solomon's Software recommends that
you use this option for complete anti-virus protection.
NOTE: The application will use heuristic scanning
techniques only on the file types you designate in the
Program File Extensions dialog box. If you choose to scan
All files, it will use heuristic scanning for all file types.
Using the Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus application
User's Guide 195