The command-line options F-PROT.EXE is usually run without any parameters and will then enter interactive mode, but if the /HARD option is used, or a drive, file or directory is specified, it will enter command-line mode. Syntax for command-line mode: F-PROT [drive, file or directory] [options] The available command-line options are /APPEND Appends the report to an existing file (Only used with /REPORT). /ARCHIVE Scans inside .ZIP and .ARJ files. Support for .LZH and .RAR archives, as well as self-extracting archives may be added later. /AUTO May be specified with /DISINF, /DELETE or /RENAME so F-PROT will not request permission before rremoving each virus. /BEEP Produces an annoying beep when a virus is found. NOT recommended when scanning a virus collection. /COLLECT Assumes what is being scanned is a virus collection, where viruses might be found in "abnormal" locations. In particular, selecting this option will enable detection of file images of boot sector viruses. This switch also provides the same features as the old /GURU option. Note that using /COLLECT will slow down the scan. /DELETE Deletes infected files. /DISINF Disinfects whenever possible. It is possible to specify the following combinations of switches: /DISINF /DELETE Disinfects when possible, otherwise deletes infected files. /DISINF /RENAME Disinfects when possible, otherwise attempts to rename infected COM/EXE files to VOM/VXE. /DISINF /RENAME /DELETE Disinfects when possible, otherwise attempts to rename infected COM/EXE files to VOM/VXE, but if that fails the files are deleted. /DUMB Does a "dumb" scan of all files. This option is practically never necessary, and will normally just result in a significant slowdown of the scanner. The only cases where it might be needed are the following: If you are scanning a virus collection, where infected files have non-standard extensions, such as .VOM instead of .COM, they will not be scanned for viruses, unless this switch is specified. If you are cleaning up a virus infection by one of the rare viruses like Frodo, which accidentally "infect" data files, you should use this switch. /FREEZE "Freezes" the program if a virus is found anywhere. /HARD Scans all files on all hard disks in the computer. /HELP Displays the list of command-line options. /INTER Forces the program to enter interactive mode, even when a path, directory or file name is given on the command line. /LIST Lists all files that are scanned. /NOBOOT Does not scan boot sectors. /NOBREAK Disables ESC and ^C during scanning. /NOFILE Does not scan files. Only useful if you cleaning up a boot sector infection and do not want to spend unnecessary time scanning files. /NOFLOPPY For use on systems without floppy drives. /NOHEUR Version 3 has a smaller, more reliable set of heuristics than version 2, but they are enabled by default, unlike version 2. This option allows you to turn the heuristics off. /NOMEM Does not scan memory for viruses. Not recommended, unless you are absolutely certain that no viruses are present in memory. /NOSUB Does not scan subdirectories. /PACKED Scans "inside" various types of compressed executables (PKLITE for example), by emulating the execution of the decompressor. As this option can slow the scan down significantly, we only recommend using it when scanning new software before installation. /PAGE Pauses after each page (command-line mode only). /REMOVEALL Removes all macros from all documents. Useful if you encounter a new macro virus, and you know that the document did not contain any macros before it got infected. /REMOVENEW If a new variant of a macro virus is found in a document, all macros are removed from that particular document. /RENAME Renames infected COM/EXE files to VOM/VXE. If files with those extensions already exist, .VVV is used instead. Infected document files are not renamed, as that would be pointless - they would be equally infectious afterwards. /REPORT=file Sends the output to a file, in addition to displaying it on the screen. /SAFEREMOVE Removes all macros from documents, if a known virus is found. /SILENT Does not generate any screen output (command-line mode only). /TYPE By default F-PROT will only scan Word and Excel files with "standard" names, that is with .DO? and .XL? extensions. If your Word/Excel documents use other extensions, you need to specify this switch. This will slow the scan down, as every file is checked to see if it is a Word or Excel document. /VIRLIST Produces a list of known viruses, as well as information on whether they can be disinfected. /VIRNO Counts the known viruses and reports the total. /WRAP Wraps text so the report fits in 78 columns. The program uses the following exit codes, which can be checked with the ERRORLEVEL command from a BAT file. 0 - Normal exit - nothing found 1 - Abnormal termination - unrecoverable error. This can mean any of the following: Internal error in the program. DOS version prior to 3.0 was used. ENGLISH.TX0, SIGN.DEF or MACRO.DEF corrupted or not present. 2 - Selftest failed - program has been modified. 3 - A Boot/File virus infection found. 4 - Virus found in memory. 5 - Program terminated with ^C or ESC. 6 - A virus was removed. This code is only meaningful if the program is used to scan just a single file. 7 - Insufficient memory to run the program. 8 - At least one suspicious file was found, but no infections.