McAfee AVDCDE-AA-AA - Active Virus Defense Suite User Manual page 179

Heuristic scanning technology enables the VirusScan 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 VirusScan 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 VirusScan
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 VirusScan 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. McAfee recommends that you use this
option for complete anti-virus protection.
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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 VirusScan application
User's Guide 179