AVG scans workbooks…Can I stop the scan?

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I use workbooks quite often, that are created on my PC, so I don’t have any worry about viruses. I notice that evertime I open a workbook, AVG v9 goes through a scan which takes 10-15 seconds. I would like to eliminate this scan.

I know it has to be setup as an exception in AVG, but I cannot seem to figure out the proper way to write the exception.

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Open the Add or Remove Programs control panel.
Select AVG, and choose the option to add or remove components.
Deselect the Office Plugin.
You may have to restart Windows.

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There is NO “option to add or remove components”, only “Remove”. I selected remove to see if there would be a followup window to remove “Office Plugins”, but there was none. Only option from there was to completely remove, which I cancelled.

I think the “exception” has to be placed in AVG’s advance settings “Resident Sheild-Excluded Files”…I have added the exception “C:Program FilesMicrosoft OfficeOffice12EXCEL.EXE”, but that does not prevent the scan either.

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It should also be possible to unregister the component, but I could only find instructions for doing that in AVG 7 and 8. Perhaps it can be modified for AVG 9:

[*]Select Start | Run…[*]Enter the following (if necessary, change the path to the one where AVG9 has been installed):

regsvr32 /u “C:Program FilesAVGAVG9avgoff2k.dll”
[*]Press Enter or click OK.[*]You may have to restart Windows to see the effect.

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It should also be possible to unregister the component, but I could only find instructions for doing that in AVG 7 and 8. Perhaps it can be modified for AVG 9:

[*]Select Start | Run…[*]Enter the following (if necessary, change the path to the one where AVG9 has been installed):

regsvr32 /u “C:Program FilesAVGAVG9avgoff2k.dll”
[*]Press Enter or click OK.[*]You may have to restart Windows to see the effect.

Thanks for you responces Hans.
That seems a bit aggressive. What are the ramifications of “unregister the component”? I only want to eliminate the scan for Excel workbooks, not the rest of Office. This isn’t that big of a problem, & I don’t want to do something that would have further reaching effects.

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I’m afraid I don’t know how to turn off scanning for Excel workbooks only. Hopefully someone else will have a useful suggestion.

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Have you tried to add *.xls as an exception (or *.xlsx if you’re using Office 2007), instead of the full path to EXCEL.EXE?

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Have you tried to add *.xls as an exception (or *.xlsx if you’re using Office 2007), instead of the full path to EXCEL.EXE?

…but that would prevent all .xls files from being scanned, wouldn’t it?

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…but that would prevent all .xls files from being scanned, wouldn’t it?

That’s correct. But, since Larry himself states

I use workbooks quite often, that are created on my PC, so I don’t have any worry about viruses.

the risk seems limited. And as far as I can tell, this setting only applies to the resident scanner; it’s still possible to run a ‘manual’ scan on suspicious Excel files.

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That’s correct. But, since Larry himself states

the risk seems limited. And as far as I can tell, this setting only applies to the resident scanner; it’s still possible to run a ‘manual’ scan on suspicious Excel files.

I’m a little confused here (refer to my sig lol). When you exclude a file from the scanner, I understood that to be a global setting, perhaps I’m wrong. If I’m not, the manual scan’s not going to check *.xls files.

Second, I’m not concerned about the risks with the workbooks he created on HIS computer, rather, the ones that he might d/l from the internet or receive via email attachment.

I’m curious about the various functions of the program because I’m considering purchasing a license. I’m trying MS Security Essentials at the moment. Comments on both programs would be appreciated…

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I’m a little confused here (refer to my sig lol). When you exclude a file from the scanner, I understood that to be a global setting, perhaps I’m wrong. If I’m not, the manual scan’s not going to check *.xls files.

I don’t know about AVG, but many programs let you set different inclusions/exclusions for real-time vs. scheduled vs. manual scans.

Personally I would not turn off real-time scanning of any file type commonly received by email. There’s no way I would remember to first save it and scan it before opening it.

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many programs let you set different inclusions/exclusions for real-time vs. scheduled vs. manual scans.

I wasn’t aware of that…thanks. You learn something new every day…especially here!

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I’m curious about the various functions of the program because I’m considering purchasing a license. I’m trying MS Security Essentials at the moment. Comments on both programs would be appreciated…

I can’t comment on MS Security Essentials, but I have been using AVG for years. When I setup the new HD, I DL’d their new version 9 (the free version), and much to my surprise, this version is very good, and also has malware protection included. It does a “first run” scan of everything, but marks programsfiles that do not have to be scanned every time…subsequent scans are much faster…mine are just under 1 hour now, where the old version scan times were 2-3 hours.
You don’t need to buy the paid for version, the free version is the same as the paid version, except for support. I don’t see any “bloat” either.It’s hard to find the free version on AVG’s site, they, understandably, want you to use the trial version, or buy it, but it is there. It’s easier to find the free version at “Filehippo”.

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I notice that evertime I open a workbook, AVG v9 goes through a scan which takes 10-15 seconds. I would like to eliminate this scan.

Is opening the workbook the fist thing you do every time you boot the machine?

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Thanks for all the feedback…I think I’m gonna like this forum

Have you tried to add *.xls as an exception (or *.xlsx if you’re using Office 2007), instead of the full path to EXCEL.EXE?

I can’t add the *.xlsx extension…when I add an exception, I have to browse to a file, and it won’t let me add anything to the file of choice.

Is opening the workbook the fist thing you do every time you boot the machine?

Not necessarily, my computer is on all the time, so I don’t reboot very often…I do open Excel files often though.

I noticed the lag in the scan several months ago, and dabbled with making an exception then without success. I recently had a hard drive failing, so I setup a new drive, & did a clean install of XP. Now the scan is actually very fast (2-3 seconds)…I did NOT take notice of the new speed, until after making this post, so this is not a concerning issue now. I feel like a dumb a$$ for making the post, but I did learn a few things. I still don’t know why I can’t make the exception though…it bugs me!

Thanks for all the feedback!

On a side note: thanks Brian & Woody for making this forum open to the masses…I can see that there are a lot of intelligent peeps here…the forum is fast & well designed…I will be a regular visitor from now on!

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