Run and schedule scans in Desktop Security

Desktop Security protects your device by scanning your computer for malware, viruses, trojans, and other threats. Each time you run a scan, the app searches for possible threats, quarantines any it detects, and provides you with a detailed report.

Run a scan to detect threats on your device

Whether you're using the free or paid version of the app, you can manually run a scan to check for threats on your device. 

1. Open the app.
2. On the main dashboard, click the Scan button.
3. A progress page appears while the scan runs.
4. After the scan finishes, it displays the Threat Scan summary.
   • If the scan detected no threats: Click Done.
   • If the scan detected threats on your device: Review the threats found on your computer. From here, you can manually quarantine threats by selecting a detection and clicking Quarantine.
5. Click View report or View Scan Report to see a history of prior scans. After viewing the threat report, close the scanner window.

Note: Scans on macOS devices are faster than on Windows as the macOS app focuses only on areas likely to contain threats, such as specific folders for Safari extensions. This efficient approach reduces false positives and avoids scanning unchanged files, resulting in faster scans.

Schedule a scan to run automatically

We recommend running a scan weekly or whenever you download a new application. This keeps your computer running smoothly and protects your device. The feature to schedule scans is only available on the paid version of the app.

Schedule a scan on Windows devices

1. Open the app.
2. Click inside the Scanner box.
3. Click the Scan Scheduler tab.
4. Click Schedule a scan.
5. Choose to run a Threat Scan (recommended), Quick Scan, or Custom Scan. For more information on scan types, see this article.
6. Configure the scan name, start date, start time, and frequency. 
   Note: Under When to start, we recommend keeping At idle time (Smart scan) selected. To specify a start time, turn off Smart scan by manually configuring the start time.
7. Under Advanced options, select Quarantine all threats.
8. Select Restart computer to remove threats. The Quarantine all threats setting needs to be turned on for this setting to be selected.
9. Keep Scan within archives selected. 
10. When you're finished, click Save.

Schedule a scan on macOS devices

1. Open the app.
2. Click on the Scanner card on the main dashboard.
3. Click on the Scheduled scans tab.
4. Click Schedule a new scan.
5. Choose to run a Threat Scan (recommended), Quick Scan, or Custom Scan. For more information on scan types, see this article.
6. Configure the scan name, start date, start time, and frequency.
7. Under Advanced options, keep Quarantine threats automatically on.
8. Keep Ignore PUPs (Potentially unwanted programs) unchecked and off.
9. When finished, click Save.