Configuring Antivirus Exclusions for DW Spectrum® IPVMS
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Affected Roles: Administrator, Owner
Related Digital Watchdog VMS Apps: DW Spectrum
Complexity: Medium
Last Edit: August 20, 2024
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Antivirus and DW Spectrum® IPVMS
Some antivirus programs may inadvertently block the processes or resources of DW Spectrum® IPVMS. To ensure that DW Spectrum® may run uninterrupted, adding the DW Spectrum® system folders to your antivirus exceptions and exclusions list may help to ensure that your DW Spectrum® experience is not inconvenienced when running an antivirus program.
This article will outline how to set exceptions in Windows antivirus program for DW Spectrum® IPVMS.
Note: This article is for DW Spectrum® servers running a Windows operating system. It is recommended that any security changes should only be applied by your computer’s System Administrator.
Note: If your computer is using an antivirus add-on that is not stock with Windows 10, your antivirus settings menu may display differently than what is pictured below.
Supported/Affected Devices:
- DW Blackjack® Server Series (Windows OS)
Creating Antivirus Exceptions
To add DW Spectrum® Folders to the antivirus exceptions/exclusions list:
- Launch your antivirus application.
If you are using the Windows 10 default antivirus program, open the Start menu and search for the Virus & threat protection program.
- Under Virus & threat protection settings, click on Manage settings.
Next, locate the settings for Exclusions or Exceptions and use Add or remove exclusions.
- From the Exclusions settings, click Add an exclusion, then select Folder.
From the Select Folder window, select the following folders (including subfolders) for pathing exceptions within the antivirus program:
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- C:\Program Files\Digital Watchdog\
- C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Digital Watchdog\
- C:\Users\%USERNAME%\Videos\DW Spectrum Media
- C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Local\Digital Watchdog\
- D:\DW Spectrum Media\ (add additional exceptions for any other storage locations of your video archives)
Note: When setting the path of the folders, %USERNAME% refers to the user profile to which the DW Spectrum video archives are saved. For example, if your Windows username is “BillPC”, the pathing would look like C:\Users\BillPC\AppData\Local\Digital Watchdog\.