Sophos Anti-Virus for Linux
3 On-access scanning
On-access scanning is your main form of protection against viruses. Whenever you open, save or copy a file, Sophos Anti-Virus scans it and grants access to it only if it is safe.
By default, on-access scanning is active. If you want, you can check that it is active and start it if necessary.
Note
To use the commands in this section, you must be logged on to the computer as root.
This document assumes that you have installed Sophos Anti-Virus for Linux in the default location,
/opt/sophos-av . If you have not, when you run a command, you must substitute the installation directory that you are using.
3.1 Check that on-access scanning is active
• To check that on-access scanning is active, type: /opt/sophos-av/bin/savdstatus .
3.2 Check that on-access scanning will be started automatically on boot
To perform this procedure, you must be logged on to the computer as root.
1. Check that savd will be started automatically on system boot: chkconfig --list .
Note
If this command does not work on your Linux distribution, use the appropriate utility to display services that are configured to start on system boot.
If the list contains an entry for sav-protect with 2:on, 3:on, 4:on and 5:on, on-access scanning is started automatically on system boot. Otherwise, type: /opt/sophos-av/bin/savdctl enableOnBoot savd .
2. Check that on-access scanning will be started automatically with savd : /opt/sophos-av/bin/ savconfig query EnableOnStart .
If the command returns true , on-access scanning is started automatically with savd on system boot. Otherwise, type: /opt/sophos-av/bin/savconfig set EnableOnStart true .
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3.3 Start on-access scanning
To start on-access scanning, do one of the following:
• Type: /opt/sophos-av/bin/savdctl enable .
• Use the appropriate tool to start the installed service sav-protect. For example, type: /etc/ init.d/sav-protect start or service sav-protect start .
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Sophos Anti-Virus for Linux
3.4 Stop on-access scanning
Important
If you stop on-access scanning, Sophos Anti-Virus does not scan files that you access for viruses.
This puts your computer, and others to which it is connected, at risk.
• To stop on-access scanning, type: /opt/sophos-av/bin/savdctl disable .
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