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VirusBarrier X9 User Manual

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Welcome to the User Manual for VirusBarrier X9, the best antivirus for Mac. Use the Table of Contents below to go to the different sections of the manual. For more information about installing VirusBarrier X9 and updating the program and its filters with Intego NetUpdate, see the Intego Getting Started Manual.

 

Table of Contents

1. Welcome to VirusBarrier X9

2. Getting Started with VirusBarrier X9

3. Protecting Your Mac from Viruses and Malware

4. VirusBarrier X9 Preferences

5. VirusBarrier X9 Logs

6. VirusBarrier X9 Support

 

1. Welcome

About VirusBarrier X9

While viruses, Trojan horses, worms and other forms of malware are a constant threat to computers of all kinds, cyber-criminals are turning to new techniques to infect and control your Mac. These new threats come silently, with little warning, over the Internet: in many cases, simply visiting a booby-trapped web page can compromise your Mac. VirusBarrier X9, the latest version of Intego's malware security program, includes the many defenses that have protected Macs for more than ten years in earlier versions of VirusBarrier.

VirusBarrier X9 detects and eradicates:

  • Mac viruses
  • Windows viruses
  • Unix viruses
  • Microsoft Word and Excel macro viruses
  • Trojan horses
  • Worms
  • Spyware
  • Adware
  • Hacking tools
  • Dialers
  • Keyloggers
  • Rogue security programs, called "scareware"

 

Installation

System Requirements

  • Any officially-supported Mac OS X compatible computer
  • macOS 10.13 High Sierra or higher; VirusBarrier X9 is fully compatible with macOS 10.13 High Sierra and higher.
  • 1.5 GB free hard disk space

Installing VirusBarrier X9

For information on installing and serializing VirusBarrier X9, see the Intego Getting Started Manual.

 

Updating VirusBarrier X9 and Virus Definitions

VirusBarrier X9 uses Intego NetUpdate, which is installed with the program, to provide updates to the program's filters and virus definitions, as well as to the program itself. NetUpdate can be accessed directly from your Menu Bar:

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NetUpdate can also be accessed from the Intego Folder located in your Applications Folder at: /Applications/Intego

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You can also check for virus definitions and software updates directly through VirusBarrier by clicking Installed Definitions in the upper right corner of the window:

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When you launch NetUpdate, you will be notified if updates are available for your software, or if your software is up to date.

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For information on using NetUpdate, see the Intego Getting Started Manual.

 

About Your Copy of VirusBarrier X9

To get information about your copy of VirusBarrier X9, choose VirusBarrier X9 > About VirusBarrier  from the top menu bar. It gives information about VirusBarrier X9, such as the version number, your serial number, and a clickable link to Contact Support.

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Deauthorizing Intego Software

Intego software comes with a license that allows you to use the software on up to five Macs, or even more if you have a business license. When you install Intego software on one of your Macs and serialize it, that Mac is considered to be authorized for one seat of your license. If you have multiple copies of the software installed, and wish to use it on a different Mac, you will need to deauthorize the software for one Mac and serialize it on another Mac.

To deauthorize any Intego software including VirusBarrier, open the program, then click the program name menu and choose Deauthorize VirusBarrier…

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Remember to deauthorize your Intego software if you sell one of your Macs and wish to use the software on a new device.

 

 

2. Getting Started

Using the VirusBarrier X9 Overview Screen

When you open VirusBarrier X9, the Scan Overview screen is displayed. This screen shows  information about how VirusBarrier X9 is running, and provides feedback on its activities.

VirusBarrier-Main.pngThe Scan Overview screen gives quick access to:

  • VirusBarrier X9's functions, settings and logs
  • Visual indicators of what sorts of protection are enabled
  • Information about the program itself, such as when it was last updated

At the top left of the Scan Overview screen is a row of buttons that provide quick access to other settings. For details on these settings, see Protecting Your Mac from Viruses and Malware.

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When you click any of these buttons, the resulting screens lead to additional controls for Scans, Quarantine Zone, or Trusted Files. Any of these buttons glows green when the screen it leads to is active.

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The button will glow blue when it is selected (when you hover over the button with your arrow cursor).

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At the top right of the screen is the NetUpdate Status Bar, which shows the dates of the latest VirusBarrier X9 filters installed on your Mac and whether your filters need to be updated. VirusBarrier X9 uses Intego NetUpdate to periodically check for updates, or you can check manually by clicking Installed Definitions in the upper-right corner. For more information on using NetUpdate, see the Intego Getting Started Manual.

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The text will appear in red if your definitions are not up to date.

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Status Indicators on the Overview Screen

The status of various VirusBarrier X9 features appears on the Scan Overview screen. These indicators will appear as green buttons or check marks when features are enabled.

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A red exclamation point will appear if a feature is disabled that may put your computer at risk.

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3. Protecting Your Mac from Viruses and Malware

Running Manual Scans

VirusBarrier's anti-malware protection works in several ways. Its Real-Time Scanner constantly watches over your Mac, protecting you from viruses and malware. The Real-Time Scanner ensures that your Mac is protected at all times by scanning every file that is created, copied, modified or saved. It does not, however, scan other files. This is why we suggest you run a full scan of all your files when you install VirusBarrier and after each update to the program's virus definitions.

You can also use VirusBarrier's On-Demand scanner to check any file, folder, disk, or volume on your Mac.

 

Full Scan vs Quick Scan

You can run a manual Full Scan with VirusBarrier whenever you want. You should do this immediately after installation to ensure that you don't have any infected files. After that, VirusBarrier's Real-Time Scanner ensures that any new files you add to your Mac are safe.

VirusBarrier lets you run Quick Scans, which scan only those locations where malware is commonly installed. The files and folders scanned may change as new malware appears, and the locations scanned may be different with newer versions of VirusBarrier's virus definitions.

To run a Quick Scan, launch VirusBarrier and click the Quick Scan button. (Note: The Quick Scan button only appears when you select your entire computer in the left column).

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Scanning a Single Volume

If you want to scan only a single volume connected to your computer using VirusBarrier, you can highlight the volume in the left column of the window and click the Scan button.

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Scanning a Specific File or Folder

If you want to scan only a specific file or folder on your computer with VirusBarrier, you can do this simply by dragging and dropping the file into the VirusBarrier window as seen in the image below:

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You can also access scan options from the VirusBarrier menu bar.

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When Malware is Found

When a malware is found you will be notified immediately. It depends somewhat on what malware is detected, but you will generally have three options.

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  • Repair tells VirusBarrier to remove the malware from the file and return it to the original location.
  • Quarantine.  VirusBarrier will automatically place detected files into Quarantine, which is why this option is greyed out and cannot be selected. When files are quarantined, they can't be opened or read, ensuring that they cannot infect your Mac. This is useful for administrators who want to check files before running VirusBarrier's repair function. (See the Quarantine Zone section later in this manual for more details.)
  • Trust tells VirusBarrier that you think the file is not infected, and adds it to VirusBarrier's Trusted Files list. This may be used for false positive detections or important files you do not want VirusBarrier to take action on. However, be very careful when you click this button and only do so if you are sure the file is safe. If not, it may infect your entire Mac. (Which is probably a bad idea)
  • OK will simply close the alert window, so that you can navigate to VirusBarrier's Quarantine section to take your preferred action on the quarantined files.

WARNING: Ignoring virus alerts can be dangerous! Only select to not repair files if you are sure of what you are doing.

 

Real-Time Scanner Settings

The Real-Time Scanner constantly watches over your Mac, protecting you from viruses and malware. It ensures that your Mac is protected at all times by scanning every file that is created, copied, modified or saved. It does not, however, scan other files. This is why we suggest you run a full scan of all your files when you install VirusBarrier and after each update to the program's virus definitions.

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To turn off the Real-Time Scanner and disable VirusBarrier, move the Real-Time Scanner slider to OFF; you can turn it back on by moving the slider to ON. In normal operation, you will not need to disable the Real-Time Scanner; this is only useful for troubleshooting when you have a problem with your Mac.

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The next settings let you indicate what VirusBarrier should do when malware is found. Your options are:

  • Ask what to do: this is most appropriate when you're running a virus scan on an "attended" Mac; that is, one that you're watching closely enough to see the alert when it pops up. Note that if you don't respond to an alert within one minute, VirusBarrier places infected files in the Quarantine Zone.
  • Place file in quarantine: this ensures that the file cannot be opened or read. See the Quarantine Zone section below for more about using the Quarantine Zone.
  • Attempt to repair: this tells VirusBarrier to attempt to remove the malware. If for any reason the file cannot be repaired it will be placed in the Quarantine Zone.

 

Send E-mail When Malware Is Detected

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In addition, you can choose to have VirusBarrier send you an e-mail whenever it discovers a virus or malware. To set this up, check the Send e-mail to checkbox, then enter your e-mail address and click OK.

 

Scheduled Scanning

VirusBarrier X9 can also be set to run automatically at pre-arranged times.

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Scheduling a Scan

To schedule a scan, click the Schedule… button:

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Once you have switched the Schedule to "On", you can create Daily or Weekly scans for any time you like.

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Display scheduled scans in Task Manager: When checked, you'll see a small window appear whenever your Mac executes scheduled scans; when unchecked, such scans will occur without notification (unless malware is found).

 

Advanced Mode

Clicking the Advanced button allows you to customize your Scheduled Scans. For example, you can choose to scan specific files or folders, and create multiple Scheduled Scans if necessary.

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In Advanced mode there is a scheduling selector, where you can say which folder should be examined, and when.

  • The first popup menu lets you choose whether you'd like to Scan or Quick Scan the selected files at the scheduled time. If you choose Quick Scan, you cannot choose specific folders to scan; the second menu will disappear.
  • The second popup menu lists the folders you are most likely to want to scan, including your home folder and your Documents folder. The default choice, Computer, directs VirusBarrier X9 to scan all folders for all users on your Mac.
  • The third popup menu lets you choose whether you want to perform the operation daily, weekly, or monthly. If you select daily, you'll be able to choose the time you prefer; select weekly, you'll also choose your preferred day; select monthly, and you'll choose which day of the month.

You can create multi-part schedules, for example to scan your Documents folder every night, and your entire computer once a week. To do so, click the + button to the right of the schedule item: another schedule item will appear beneath it. Make changes in that schedule item as you like. You can add as many schedule items as you like this way; to remove one of them, click the - button next to it.

 

Safe Browsing

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Proper browser settings can help prevent you from visiting fraudulent websites. VirusBarrier X9 can detect if your web browsers are running with Safe Browsing enabled and warn you if this feature is disabled.

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VirusBarrier supports Chrome, Firefox and Safari for this feature. For more information on using Safe Browsing, see the How to Enable Safe Browsing article.

 

Quarantine Zone

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Dealing with Quarantined Files

If you don't want to repair files automatically, you can have VirusBarrier put them in its Quarantine Zone. When files are quarantined, they can't be opened or read, ensuring that they cannot infect your Mac. This is useful for administrators who want to check files before running VirusBarrier's repair functions.

VirusBarrier automatically places files in the Quarantine Zone if you don't respond to an alert within one minute. You can then check these files and decide what to do. The Quarantine tab at the top of VirusBarrier's Overview screen shows you which files are quarantined.

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You'll see a display that shows which files are in the Quarantine Zone, as well as a group of buttons allowing you to act on those files. To act on any of the files, select them and then click one of the three buttons at the bottom right of the window.

You can do the following:

  • Trust tells VirusBarrier that you think this file is not infected, and adds the file to VirusBarrier's Trusted Files list. This may occur for false positives. However, be very careful when you click this button: only do so if you are sure the file is safe. If not, it may infect your entire Mac. Probably a bad idea.
  • Delete removes the file from your Mac immediately.
  • Repair tells VirusBarrier to remove the malware from the file.

You can also see the file location path for the quarantined file in the bottom left corner of the window.

 

Trusted Files

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VirusBarrier offers the option to add files, folders or volumes to a list of Trusted Files. VirusBarrier will assume that these files are all safe and will not scan them. You should only use this for files that have already been scanned by VirusBarrier.

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There are two ways to add files, folders and volumes to the Trusted Files list. First click the Trusted Files button, then do one of the following:

  • Click the small + button at the bottom-left corner of the screen, navigate to the item you'd like to add to the Trusted Files list, then click the Add button, or
  • Drag the item from the Finder into the window

Adding a folder or volume tells VirusBarrier to trust all files contained in the selected item, including any subfolders it contains.

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4. VirusBarrier X9 Preferences

VirusBarrier is designed to work unobtrusively in the background once it's installed. However, it has numerous options to let you control how its various functions run. You set these options in the Preferences window, which you reach either by choosing VirusBarrier > Preferences… or by pressing Command-comma on your keyboard.

The Preferences window is divided into three panes: General, Scanner and Advanced.

 

General

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Scan:

  • E-mails VirusBarrier scans incoming and outgoing e-mails, both for their content and any attachments they contain, during manual scans.
  • iPhone, iPod touch and iPad tells VirusBarrier to show any iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad that is connected to your Mac when you run a manual scan so you can choose to scan the device for malware. If this option is unchecked, VirusBarrier will not show any iOS devices in the main window.
  • External disks during full computer scans enables the scanning of connected external hard drives during a full scan.

After a volume is mounted:

  • Scan the volume: if checked it triggers a scan whenever you mount a new storage device, whether local (such as a hard drive) or remote (such as a network drive).
    • Ignore read-only volumes: if checked, VirusBarrier will perform the action only on those volumes where it could change the drive being scanned (for example, to repair an infected file on a disk).

After malware definition updates:

Lets you tell VirusBarrier what to do after the program downloads and installs new virus definitions. Virus definitions are updated regularly, and especially when new malware is discovered to offer protection against that threat. Therefore, you should perform a new scan at those times to check for the new malware, either manually or (by checking this checkbox) automatically.

Notifications:

The Reset Notifications button resets any notification window you have dismissed. This includes the notification you see when you start up your computer that indicates you are protected with VirusBarrier.

 

Scanner

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The Scanner Preferences section lets you choose to have VirusBarrier scan files for specific types of malware:

Detect:

  • Mac malware: this is dimmed, because it is always active. VirusBarrier always scans for macOS malware. This includes all types of malware that affects macOS, such as Word and Excel macro viruses; the other categories are types of malware that cannot harm macOS.
  • Windows malware: checking this tells VirusBarrier to look for viruses that affect Windows. Although these files can't damage your Mac, you could pass them on to your Windows-using friends, and they could affect you if you use Windows on your Apple computer through a program such as Apple Boot Camp, VMware Fusion or Parallels Desktop. (VirusBarrier does not, however, scan Windows virtual disks.)
  • Linux malware: if this is checked, VirusBarrier will scan for malware that affects the Linux operating system.
  • Malicious scripts: checking this tells VirusBarrier to scan for malicious scripts such as PHP, shell scripts, JavaScripts, Perl, etc.
  • Hacking tools are malicious programs that may not directly harm your Mac, but that may be used by hackers to attack other computers. It is especially useful to check this option if your Mac is publicly accessible.
  • Keyloggers are programs that record all your keystrokes. While some such programs may be malicious, others may be installed intentionally to monitor computer users, such as children. If this is checked, users being monitored may be alerted to the existence of such software on their Mac.

Options:

  • Scan with low priority: This tells VirusBarrier to use the least amount of system resources possible when running a scan for malware. (Scanning with low priority may increase scan times)
  • Remove quarantine marker after scanning uninfected files: VirusBarrier will remove a quarantine marker set by macOS when applications are downloaded and VirusBarrier has found that they are not infected by any malware. This removes the macOS dialog warning you that they were downloaded and asking if you're sure you want to open them.
  • Scan Archives: Archives contain one or more files, usually in a compressed format, so that they can be transferred easily and quickly. VirusBarrier will look inside several popular types of archives, scanning not only the archive file itself, but also the files that it contains.
    By default, VirusBarrier will scan all archive types that it understands; however, you could choose to scan only certain archive types by unchecking different types of archives in the Archive Options list.
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  • Play sound when a scan is complete or malware is found: This option, when checked, will alert you with a sound when a scan is complete or when malware is found.

 

Advanced

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Security:

If you check Require administrators to authenticate in order to make changes to settings, only those users who can enter an administrator's password can make any changes to VirusBarrier's settings.

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5. VirusBarrier X9 Logs

Accessing and Reading Logs

The VirusBarrier log shows a record of malware activity that VirusBarrier has observed, including all manual and scheduled scans, and the results of these scans. You can filter it to highlight issues of interest.

To access the malware log, click the Logs… button in the Scan Overview window.

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You can also access the logs by choosing Window > Logs from the top menu bar, or press Command-Option-L.

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The log looks as follows, although of course your log will show different entries from this one.

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The Log shows every time that:

  • You start a scan
  • You cancel a scan in mid-process
  • You start or stop the real-time scanner
  • VirusBarrier finishes a scan, with its results
  • VirusBarrier discovers a virus
  • VirusBarrier discovers a corrupted file
  • VirusBarrier repairs an infected file
  • Files are added to or removed from the Quarantine Zone
  • Files are added to or removed from the Trusted Files list
  • Virus definitions are updated

The colored dots in the leftmost column show you what types of entries are displayed in the log. Green dots indicate information, such as starting the real-time scanner or updating virus definitions. Orange dots are for warnings, such as stopping the real-time scanner. Red dots indicate threats, such as when infected or corrupted files are found. The files, folders or volumes selected for each scan are named, as are all problems found.

You can copy any log items by selecting them and pressing Command-C; you can then paste them into another application, if needed.

You can clear the entire log by clicking the Clear… button.

 

Clearing the Log

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To clear the log, and erase all information it contains, click the Clear… button in the lower-left corner. A dialog appears, asking you to confirm your request.

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6. VirusBarrier Support

VirusBarrier Knowledge Base and Support

Intego Support Guy

If you still have questions about using your VirusBarrier software and cannot find the answer in this User Manual, please check our VirusBarrier Knowledge Base for answers to the most common questions:

Knowledge Base

You can also contact our Support Team directly for assistance by completing a support ticket online here:

Contact Support

Have more questions? Submit a request

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