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How to use wildcards when creating exclusions on Antivirus products

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How to use wildcards when creating exclusions on Antivirus products

Last Update:

May 12, 2021 2:40:17 PM

Updated By:

PadmaPriya

Created date:

May 12, 2021 2:38:24 PM

Environment:

Qlik Sense Desktop 

#Any Qlik Product

 

Summary

This article explains the rules for using wildcards when creating exclusions using Antivirus for Qlik products.

Using wildcards when creating exclusions

Wildcards (?, *, **) are helpful in creating exclusions, but certain rules apply. See the examples below.

  • The question mark (?) wildcard is used to represent a single character in the exact position where it is placed in the path or file name.
  • The asterisk (*) wildcard is used to represent one or more characters, and does not cross a folder boundary.
  • The double asterisk (**) wildcard is used to represent one or more characters, and does cross folder boundaries.
  • System Environmental Variables such as %SystemRoot% can be used in exclusions. User Environmental Variables such as %UserProfile% can't be used, because the Antivirus scan runs under the Windows Local System account.


To show the difference between the * and ** wildcards, C:\Users\Will* matches path names such as C:\Users\William, C:\Users\Willamina, and C:\Users\WillAnderson. It does not match any subfolder of those names. For example C:\Users\Will*\** matches the previous folders and all their subfolders.

 

Wildcard syntax:

Character

Description

? (question mark)

A single character.

* (asterisk)

Multiple characters.

*\test\abc.txt

& (ampersand)

Multiple characters except / and \. Use to match the root-level contents of a folder but not any subfolders.

C:\test\&.txt

 

Wildcard examples
 

Example

Comments

**\Temp\test.docx

Exclude a specific file in a folder named Temp anywhere on the system.

**\test.docx

Exclude a specific file anywhere on the system.

D:\**\test.docx

Exclude a specific file in any folder on a specific drive. The drive letter must be included in the wildcard.

In this example, any test.doc files on the D drive are excluded: D:\**\test.doc

Users\**\Documents\Microsoft User Data\ 

Exclude any folder under Users and any folder under User Data.

C:\Documents and Settings\**\Favorites\

Exclude the Favorites folder for all users.

C:\**\Favorites\

Exclude any folder named Favorites on drive C.

**\Temp\**

Exclude the Temp folder in any location, on any drive and any subfolders contained in the "Temp" directory.

In this example, the following directories would be excluded:

  • C:\temp
  • D:\windows\temp\Folder1
  • c:\documents and settings\Administrator\Local Settings\temp

**\Temp\*.tmp

Exclude any file with a .tmp extension in a folder named Temp anywhere on the system.

**\*.html

Exclude any file with an .html extension anywhere on the system.

C:\Windows\Temp*\inifile?.*

Excludes all files named inifileX, where X is any valid character for a file name. Exclude all files named inifileX in any folder name beginning with Temp under C:\Windows.

D:\**\*.tmp

Exclude all files with the .tmp extension (*.tmp) in any folder on a specific drive. The drive letter must be included in the wildcard.

In this example, any *.tmp files on the D drive are excluded.

C:\Temp\abc*

 or C:\Temp\abc*\

Exclude all file and folder names beginning with abc under C:\Temp.

NOTE: A single asterisk, independent of a backlash at the end, matches both file and folder names beginning with abc under C:\Temp.

C:\Temp\abc*.*

Exclude only file names beginning with abc under C:\Temp.

C:\Temp\abc*\*.*

Exclude only files of any extension in any folder name beginning with abc under C:\Temp.

C:\Temp\abc*\xyz*.txt

Exclude only files names beginning with xyz and with the txt extension, in any folder name beginning with abc under C:\Temp.

C:\Temp\abc

Exclude only a file named abc under C:\Temp.

C:\Temp\abc\

Exclude only a folder named abc under C:\Temp.

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Last update:
‎2021-05-12 02:40 PM
Updated by: