Potentially malicious programs

Antivirus solutions sometimes require user input to determine whether or not a program should be classed as malicious. Some programs have functionality which could pose a threat if certain conditions are met.

Such programs are often legal software which are used by, for instance, system administrators. However, if used with malicious intent, such programs can cause damage to systems and data.

As this type of program cannot be classified as being 100% malicious or 100% harmless, Kaspersky Lab has placed them in a separate group: potentially malicious programs.

Kaspersky Lab products provide the option to use a dedicated set of extended databases which will detect potentially malicious programs. The user has to choose this option; Kaspersky Anti-Virus will not detect this type of program by default.

If you have chosen to use the extended databases, you have the following options:

• If the extended databases detect a specific program which you know is on your computer, and you are 100% positive that this program is not malicious, you can either choose to stop using the extended databases, or you can opt to exclude the program from being detected in the future.
• If you believe that the program detected by the extended databases may be malicious (e.g. you did not install the program and you don't know how it came to be on the computer, or you have started to have doubts about whether the program is actually harmless) you can use Kaspersky Anti-Virus to remove the program.

The decision is entirely in your hands.

The term 'Potentially Malicious Programs' covers programs in the Riskware, Adware and Pornware classes.