3.4 Creating a Scan Exclusions Policy

The Antimalware Scan Exclusions Policy is an optional policy that enables you to customize Antimalware scan exclusions of specified device files beyond what you may have already configured in other Antimalware policies. Once this policy is created, you can add the Scan Exclusions Policy option to the Custom Exclusions details of any of the three other Antimalware policies. The policy is then enforced based on the Scan Exclusions Policy and the Antimalware policy that this option is configured in having the same device or device folder assignment.

The following instructions assume that you are on the Configure Scan Exclusions page in the Create New Antimalware Scan Exclusions Policy wizard. For information about creating policies in general, see Creating Security Policies in the ZENworks Endpoint Security Policies Reference.

To configure Custom Exclusions, click New and save the configuration items in the New Exclusion dialog box for each exclusion that you add. The criteria required for the Exclusion field for each exclusion type is provided below:

NOTE:The Process exclusion type can only be used for the On-Access scan type.

  • File, Folder, and Process:

    • Enter a path. For example:

      - Explicit: Used for exclusions in the on-demand scan types, Full, Quick, External Device, and Contextual, which are only applicable to local drives (fixed and removable), not to network mapped drives.

      • Folder: C:\temp

      • File: E:\temp\Myfile.txt

      - UNC path: Used for exclusions in the On-Access and Network scan types only. These path types are ignored if used for on-demand scans.

      • \\hostName\shareName\filePath

      • \\IPaddress\shareName\filePath

      NOTE:An exclusion path for an On-Access Scan can include any file path that the end user has rights to access.

    • Enter an environment variable. For example: %ProgramFiles%

    • Enter a wildcard. Use an asterisk (*) or double asterisk (**) to substitute for zero or more characters. Use a question mark (?) to substitute for exactly one character. Use several question marks to define any combination of a specific number of characters. For example, ??? substitutes for any combination of exactly three characters. See the examples below. For example:

      • File exclusion in a location: C:\Test\* or C:\Test\*.png

        (excludes all files from the Test folder)

      • File exclusion in any location: **\example.txt

        (excludes any file named example.txt regardless of its location on the device)

      • Folder exclusion: C:\Test\*

        (excludes all folders from the Test folder)

      • Process exclusion:

        C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.Not??.exe

        (excludes the Microsoft Notes processes)

    NOTE:Process type exclusions require the name of the executable file, which can also include file names with wildcard characters.

  • Extension: Enter one or more file extensions to be excluded from scanning, separated by a semicolon “;”. You can enter extensions with or without the preceding dot. For example:

    txt or .txt

3.4.1 Assign and Publish the Policy

You can only assign Antimalware policies to devices. They cannot be assigned to users. For information about assigning and publishing Endpoint Security policies, see the topics below in the ZENworks Endpoint Security Policies Reference: