Solved Scan Archive Files... Disable or Enable?


rezpower

rezpower

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What is your advice? Is it safe to disable Scan Archive Files in windows defender? After all a zip or rar file, even with virus content will not infect your PC by themselves! Infection happens when you open the archive and extract it and at that time your antivirus will block it. So is there any risk in disabling this option?
 

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I would not recommended to disable scan archive files
 

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I don't think I don't see turn off scan archive Bitdefender on Google search
 

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    Dell OptiPlex 9020
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    Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4590 CPU @ 3.30GHz
    Memory
    8 GB
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    Nvidia Quadro K620
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    Firefox ESR

My Computers

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    Linux Lite
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    PRO904059
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-7300U CPU @ 2.60GHz 2.71 GHz
    Memory
    8.00 GB (7.87 GB usable)
    Hard Drives
    250 GB solid state drive
    Browser
    Firefox ESR
    Antivirus
    ESET Smart Security Premium
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 21H2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell OptiPlex 9020
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4590 CPU @ 3.30GHz
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Nvidia Quadro K620
    Browser
    Firefox ESR
Thank you very much f23948 for your reply. I use windows defender and malwarebytes. But this dose not matter much as my main question is : what is the risk of disabling archive scan! If almost every antivirus gives you the option to disable archive scan it somehow means that this is a needed choice! You will not infect a PC by having an infected exe file within an archive file! Do you?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo Legion 7i
    CPU
    Intel i7-12800HX
    Memory
    32 GB DDR5 4800 MHz dual-channel
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3080 Ti
    Sound Card
    Steinberg UR44
    Hard Drives
    1 TB SSD (M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 x4
    2 TB SSD Samsung 980 PRO NNMe
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender + Malwarebytes
f23948 said:
i posted you by accidentally, are you using microsoft defender or bitdefender?
www.thewindowsclub.com

Configure Microsoft Defender to scan .zip .rar .cab files in Windows 11/10

Windows Defender, if configured using GPEDIT, REGEDIT or PowerShell, will scan contents of archive files during a Manual or a Scheduled scan.
www.thewindowsclub.com www.thewindowsclub.com
View attachment 17137
Click to expand...
Sorry I have to update this information! I kept Malwarebytes, but removed bitdefender after upgrading to windows 11. So right now I have malwarebytes and Windows defender.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo Legion 7i
    CPU
    Intel i7-12800HX
    Memory
    32 GB DDR5 4800 MHz dual-channel
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3080 Ti
    Sound Card
    Steinberg UR44
    Hard Drives
    1 TB SSD (M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 x4
    2 TB SSD Samsung 980 PRO NNMe
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender + Malwarebytes
rezpower said:
What is your advice? Is it safe to disable Scan Archive Files in windows defender? After all a zip or rar file, even with virus content will not infect your PC by themselves! Infection happens when you open the archive and extract it and at that time your antivirus will block it. So is there any risk in disabling this option?
Click to expand...
Does Windows Defender scan all archives by default?

I think all scanners today are smart enough to scan just the changes instead of a full scan. Why would you want to disable scanning inside archives? The 1st scan may take longer, but all subsequent scans should be much faster.

I would prefer to scan inside archives.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy dv7
    CPU
    Intel Core i7 3630QM
    Motherboard
    HP
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD Graphics 4000 & Nvidia GeForce GT 635M
    Sound Card
    IDT High Definition
    Screen Resolution
    1080p
    Hard Drives
    1 TB Crucial MX500 on bay 1.
    1 TB Seagate HDD on bay 2.
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
Please read my previous post
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Linux Lite
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    PRO904059
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-7300U CPU @ 2.60GHz 2.71 GHz
    Memory
    8.00 GB (7.87 GB usable)
    Hard Drives
    250 GB solid state drive
    Browser
    Firefox ESR
    Antivirus
    ESET Smart Security Premium
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 21H2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell OptiPlex 9020
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4590 CPU @ 3.30GHz
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Nvidia Quadro K620
    Browser
    Firefox ESR
rezpower said:
What is your advice? Is it safe to disable Scan Archive Files in windows defender? After all a zip or rar file, even with virus content will not infect your PC by themselves! Infection happens when you open the archive and extract it and at that time your antivirus will block it. So is there any risk in disabling this option?
Click to expand...
Well, in simple terms, it can never be safer to reduce extent of scanning. Unless you are taking a big performance hit, why bother?

Suppose you temporarily disabled Defender and forgot for a few moments and opened the archive? Ok not that likely but human error does happen.

What if you turn off archive scanning and email it to somebody - maybe they get infected etc.

My point is whilst it is probably quite safe to turn off archive scanning, you have increased risk of infection albeit possibly by only a small margin. Kind of comes down to "Do you feel lucky? Did I use 5 bullets or 6 bullets?"
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro + Win11 Canary VM.
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS Zenbook 14
    CPU
    I9 13th gen i9-13900H 2.60 GHZ
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    Yep, Laptop has one.
    Memory
    16 GB soldered
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    Integrated Intel Iris XE
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    Macrium Reflect Home V8
    Office 365 Family (6 users each 1TB onedrive space)
    Hyper-V (a vm runs almost as fast as my older laptop)
Thanks a lot for your input. it all makes sense. it's certainly more safe to not disable the archive scan. I had few rar files with content apparently flagged as unwanted! every time they would get deleted. So I thought I would prevent this from happening by disabling the archive scan altogether.
The solution is probably to add them to exclusion list or just get rid of them.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo Legion 7i
    CPU
    Intel i7-12800HX
    Memory
    32 GB DDR5 4800 MHz dual-channel
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3080 Ti
    Sound Card
    Steinberg UR44
    Hard Drives
    1 TB SSD (M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 x4
    2 TB SSD Samsung 980 PRO NNMe
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender + Malwarebytes
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