McAfee Help

Setting custom scan options

With custom scanning, McAfee allows you to select a variety of scanning options. By default when you run a custom scan, McAfee checks all the drives and folders on your PC, along with all network drives. However, you can exclude network drives and scan only parts of your PC, like your critical system files, the desktop, and program files. We recommend this when you want to scan specific areas, rather than all areas of your PC.

With a custom scan, you can check for all threats or only for specific threats like viruses, spyware, and tracking cookies. You can also scan just programs and documents, where most viruses are detected, though we recommend scanning all file types. An option to use a minimal amount of your PC's processing power is enabled by default, but you can disable it to increase the speed of your custom scanning.

When you start an application in full-screen mode, McAfee automatically pauses tasks like scanning to prevent them from interfering with your activities. These tasks resume after you close the application. Before running a custom scan, turn off all full-screen programs like games or movies.