User account level anti-malware exclusions

Abstract

Exclusions to anti-malware scanning are managed at a user account level. On a computer on which an anti-malware product provides anti-malware scanning, at least one user account to exclude from the anti-malware scanning is specified. Specifying a user account to exclude can comprise adding the name of the user account to the exceptions policy of the anti-malware product. Specified user accounts are excluded from the anti-malware scanning. Excluding a user account from anti-malware scanning comprises excluding all applications that are run by the specified account. Non-specified user accounts and applications run by the non-specified user accounts, are allowed to be scanned. User accounts to exclude from the anti-malware scanning can comprise virtual user accounts. When a virtual user account is excluded from the anti-malware scanning, the system service associated with the virtual user account is excluded.