How to schedule a virus scan using the Windows Task Scheduler

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How to schedule a virus scan using the Windows Task Scheduler

Question/Issue:
This document shows how to schedule scans by using the Windows Task Scheduler.

Solution:
To schedule a scan by using the Windows Task Scheduler, you need to use the unsupported tool Vpscan.exe.
To learn how to obtain and use Vpscan.exe, read Vpscan.exe: A command-line scanner for Symantec AntiVirus.

You can schedule a single scan with Vpscan.exe using one of the following methods:

Using the Task Scheduler interface
Using the Scheduler Service and AT commands

Note: You must have Internet Explorer 5.0 or later for Task Scheduler to work correctly.

Using Task Scheduler
The following steps show how to schedule a scan by using Task Scheduler on a computer that runs Windows 2003/XP/2000 and Symantec AntiVirus client.

To schedule a scan

In the Windows Control Panel, double-click Scheduled Tasks.
In the Scheduled Tasks window, double-click Add Scheduled Task.
In the Scheduled Task Wizard window, click Next.
Click Browse.
In the Select Program to Schedule window, find the folder where you saved the Vpscan.exe file.
In the Scheduled Task Wizard window, click Next.
Type a name for the scheduled task, set the frequency, and then click Next.
If you selected anything except "When I log on" or "When my computer starts", set the time for the scan to begin and click Next.
Type the credentials for the user account under which the task should start and click Next.
Check Open advanced properties for this task when I click Finish.
Click Finish.
On the Task tab, click the Run As field.
Press the End key to move your cursor to the end of the line.
Press the Space bar and then type the drive letter of the drive that you want to scan at the end of the line.
Click Apply.
Click OK to close the task window.

You must perform these steps for each scan that you want to run. For example, if you want to run a scan at 12:00, 1:00, and 2:00, you must create a task for each scan.

Using the Scheduler Service and AT commands
You can use the AT command to schedule scans each day. The AT command is dependent on the scheduler server; therefore the command is only available when the Task Scheduler service is started. Here is an example of the AT command that you might use:

AT \\<Computer name> <time> /every:m,t,w,th,f,sa,su "C:\Program Files\Symantec_Client_Security\Symantec AntiVirus\vpscan.exe <drive>" /s

Notes:

<Computer name> is the computer name.
<time> is expressed as hours:minutes in 24-hour notation (00:00 [midnight] through 23:59).
<drive> is the drive to scan.
The path to Vpscan.exe in this example is the default path for an installation of Symantec AntiVirus and may not match your environment. Use the correct path when you schedule scans with the AT command.

Vpscan.exe has several command-line options. For details, read Vpscan.exe: A command-line scanner for Symantec AntiVirus.

Document ID: 2003021916211948
Last Modified: 04/27/2006
Date Created: 02/19/2003
Operating System(s): Windows 2000, Windows XP Home, Windows XP Professional Edition, Windows XP Tablet PC, Windows Server 2003 32-bit Edition, Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT 4.0 SP6a
Product(s): Symantec AntiVirus 10.1, Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition 10.0, Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition 8.0, Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition 9.0, Symantec Client Security 3.0, Symantec Client Security 3.1
Release(s): SAV 10.0 [All Releases], SAV 8.0 [All Releases], SAV 9.0 [All Releases], Symantec AntiVirus 10.1 [All Releases], Symantec Client Security 3.1 [All Releases], Symantec Client Security 3.x [All versions]