Bitdefender Shield, the real-time protection feature included in our security software, provides continuous protection against a wide range of malware threats by scanning all accessed files and e-mail messages. The default real-time protection settings ensure good protection against malware, with a minor impact on system performance. Bitdefender will, for example, scan a Word document for known threats when you open it, and an e-mail message when you receive one.
Advanced users might want to take advantage of the scan settings Bitdefender offers. You can configure the real-time protection settings in detail by creating a custom protection level.
To configure the real-time protection advanced settings:
1. Click Protection on the navigation menu on the Bitdefender interface.
2. In the ANTIVIRUS pane, click Open.
3. In the Advanced tab, you can configure the scan settings as needed:
• Scan only applications. You can set Bitdefender to scan only accessed apps.
• Scan potentially unwanted applications. Select this option to scan for unwanted applications. A potentially unwanted application (PUA) or potentially unwanted program (PUP) is software that usually comes bundled with freeware software and will display pop-ups or install a toolbar in the default browser. Some of them will change the homepage or the search engine, others will run several processes in the background slowing down the PC or will display numerous ads. These programs can be installed without your consent (also called adware) or will be included by default in the express installation kit (ad-supported).
• Scan scripts. The Scan scripts feature allows Bitdefender to scan PowerShell scripts and office documents that could contain script-based malware.
• Scan network shares. To safely access a remote network from your device, we recommend you keep the Scan network shares option enabled.
• Scan archives. Scanning inside archives is a slow and resource-intensive process, which is therefore not recommended for real-time protection. Archives containing infected files are not an immediate threat to the security of your system. The threat can affect your system only if the infected file is extracted from the archive and executed without having real-time protection enabled.
If you decide on using this option, turn it on, and then drag the slider along the scale to exclude from scanning archives that are bigger than a given value in MB (Megabytes).
• Scan boot sectors. You can set Bitdefender to scan the boot sectors of your hard disk. This sector of the hard disk contains the necessary computer code to start the boot process. When a threat infects the boot sector, the drive may become inaccessible, and you may not be able to start your system and access your data.
• Scan only new and modified files. By scanning only new and modified files, you may greatly improve overall system responsiveness with a minimum trade-off in security.
• Scan keyloggers. Select this option to scan your system for keylogger apps. Keyloggers record what you type on your keyboard and send reports over the internet to a malicious person (hacker). The hacker can find out sensitive information from the stolen data, such as bank account numbers and passwords, and use it to gain personal benefits.
• Early boot scan. Select the Early boot scan option to scan your system at startup as soon as all its critical services are loaded. The mission of this feature is to improve threat detection at system startup and the boot time of your system.