Configuration.ini

This file can be found in

<$COMMONAPPDATA>\Spybot - Search & Destroy\Configuration.ini
<$PROGRAMFILES>\Spybot - Search & Destroy\Default Configuration.ini

where there later are default settings used for everything not defined in the former. There might be a copy of the remote version stored as well when used in combination with sbNet.

Most settings described here are much easier available through the Settings page of the main application itself; this list is intended as a reference for system administrators who want to tweak a special default configuration file.

[Installation]

DesktopIcon

Possible values, updates existing icon with new state.

• NoIcon
• Easy
• Advanced

QuickLaunch

See DesktopIcon, but for the quicklaunch area which usually resided between the Windows Start button and the list of open windows.

[Installation\StartmenuItem]

Easy

Boolean; set to Easy=0 for no item for easy mode, 1 for an item. To force easy mode just on one special link, use the /easymode command line parameter.

Advanced

See easy, except for advanced mode. Advanced mode icons may use the /advancedmode command line parameter.

[Main]

EasyMode

Boolean; determines whether GUI starts in easy (EasyMode=1) or advanced mode (0; see mode menu).

Legals

Boolean; set Legals=1 to not show the warning about removing software on application start.

AutoSave

Boolean; Disable (AutoSave=0) to let any further changes not have effect. Useful mostly when using app from a bootable CD (e.g. WinPE, BartPE) where you don't want the config to remain on the system.

CreateBackups

Boolean; set to 1 to create backups ("Recovery", quarantine). Backups are stored in

<$COMMONAPPDATA>\Spybot - Search & Destroy\Recovery\

as .zip files, protected using the password recovery to protect them against accidental use.

CreateTrackBackups

Boolean; similar to CreateBackups, but this time for usage tracks. Usage tracks updates are located in the same place and format as standard updates.

CreateSystemRestorePointSpyware

Boolean; set to 1 to create system restore points for the fixing operation. These system restore points can by identified by their title 'Spybot-S&D Spyware removal.

CreateSystemRestorePointInternals

Boolean; set to 1 to create system restore points for the System Internals tool shown in advanced mode. These system restore points can by identified by their title 'Spybot-S&D System Internals.

ConfirmRestorePoint

Boolean; set to 1 to ask user for confirmation before creating a system restore point.

IgnoreIncludeFileError

Boolean; set to 1 to ignore messages that would inform you if parts of the detection database were created for a newer version.

We do not recommend you to disable this option unless you have a very good reason to continue to use an older version of the application, in which case special attention with search results is needed.

Confirmation

Boolean; set to 1 to ask for confirmation before fixing, restoring, and many other actions. This is by default turned on.

Compability

Boolean; typo (means: Compatibility), set to 1 to warn on starting the app if other conflicting security apps were detected. If you are a system administrator and know about incompatibilities, you can disable this by setting it to 0.

Priority

Priority of the scan, identical to levels known from Windows Task Manager. Can have the following values:

• Idle
• Lowest
• Lower
• Normal
• Higher
• Highest
• TimeCritical

Please keep in mind that Windows itself is responsible for scheduling the processing time each process gets assigned. These options will be regarded in relation to other processes, if Spybot-S&D is the only processing needing full processing power, it would still use 100% even if set to a low priority.

RecoveryAged

Show recovery entries older than a specified value greyed out, to indicate their age (e.g. helping user to clean up old entries).

To set up the amount of days, take a look at the registry setting called RecoveryAged.

[Main\AlertSounds]

AlertSpyFound

Boolean; set to 1 to play a sound if malware was found.

To set up the sound file, take a look at the registry setting called WaveAlertFile.

AlertNothingFound

Boolean; set to 1 to play a sound if the system scan came up clean.

To set up the sound file, take a look at the registry setting called WaveCleanSoundFile.

[Main\Priority]

ApplicationOneCPU

If the CPU is HT or multi-core, this would limit the application to one core.

ScannerOneCPU

If the CPU is HT or multi-core, this would limit the scanning process to one core.

Both options to limit the amount of used cores are only visible in the user interface if the user account using the application has sufficient rights to change this setting.

[Automation]

OfferTempCleaner

Boolean; after in versions after 1.6 this controls whether Spybot-S&D will ask you if you want your temp folders emptied if they contain more than 100 files. The Registry Tweaks TempFolderCleanDelay and TempFolderCleanMinimum allow advanced users to control the amount of files as well as the amount of seconds the option is shown until the default will be assumed.

[Automation\ProgramStart]

It's recommended to use command line parameters instead of these.

AutoCheck

Boolean; set to 1 to start a scan immediately when the app starts, might want to use /autocheck.

AutoFix

Boolean; set to 1 to auto-fix after a scan; might want to use /autofix.

RerunAfterFix

Boolean; set to 1 to re-scan after fixing to trail left-overs or restoring malware.

AutoImmunize

Boolean; set to 1 to immunize on app start; might want to use /autoimmunize.

DontAsk

Boolean; set to 1 to skip questions during automation, might want to use /minimized and/or /taskbarhide.

WaitStart

Boolean; set to 1 to wait a specified amount of minutes before starting a scan. Needed only if we want other background tasks to finish loading. You might also want to have a look at /waitstart for better use in automation.

WaitPrograms

Boolean; set to 1 to wait until other specified apps have closed (e.g. when scheduling multiple security apps to run on system start). You might also want to have a look at /waitprograms for better use in automation.

WaitMore

Boolean; set to 1 to have the user interface wait before auto-closing, but only if malware has been found (giving the user time to react). You might also want to have a look at /waitmore for better use in automation.

[Automation]

SystemStart=NoAutomation

[Automation\SystemStart]

AutoCheck

See [Automation\ProgramStart].

AutoFix

See [Automation\ProgramStart].

WaitStart

See [Automation\ProgramStart].

WaitPrograms

See [Automation\ProgramStart].

WaitMore

See [Automation\ProgramStart].

AutoClose

Close after automation operations have finished. In automation using command line parameters, you would use /autoclose.

[Automation\WebUpdate]

Use SDUpdate.exe with command line parameters for better control of updates.

AutoCheck

Boolean; set to 1 to check for updates when app starts, similar to /autoupdate.

AutoDownload

Boolean; set to 1 to auto-download updates. Removed in 1.6 since with separate SDUpdate.exe, you schedule this through /autoupdate.

RemindUpdate

Boolean; set to 1 to remind the user if he has not updated for more than 7 days.

CheckBetas

Boolean; set to 1 to show beta updates.

CheckAllLanguages

Boolean; set to 1 to look for updates in each available language; if set to 0, only updates for english and the currently selected language will be shown.

CheckSkins

Boolean; set to 1 to check for new skins (user interface color schemes) when looking for updates.

CheckSignatures

Boolean; would download PGP signatures of files up to 1.3. Removed in 1.6 since PGP is unknown to the vast majority of users.

UseProxy

Boolean; set to 1 to use a proxy to download updates. The actual proxy information is stored in the registry as ProxyAddress; to always have the updater show a button to set up the proxy right when using it, see /verbose.

[Logfile]

WriteCheckLog

Boolean; set to 1 to write complete check details to debug file Checks.txt; logs are stored in

<$COMMONAPPDATA>\Spybot - Search & Destroy\Logs\

WriteFixLog

Boolean; set to 1 to write complete fixing details to debug file Fixes.txt.

IncludeLogDetails

Boolean; set to 1 to include date and time in debug filename (Checks.yymmdd-hhnn.txt).

OverwriteLog

Boolean; set to 1 to overwrite existing logs (if no timestamp is used obviously), otherwise (0) new results would be appended.

[Look]

BlindUser

Boolean; set to 1 to improve user interface for blind / disabled users. Only needed if automated detection of screen reader software is not working, since Spybot-S&D supports the Accessibility interface to detect this mode automatically. The command line parameter equivalent would be /blinduser.

DisplayHeader

Boolean; toggles the grey bar at the top of the interface naming the current page. Removed in 1.6.

InfoPanelHighlight

Boolean; would use the system "highlight" color scheme for the infos shown at the top of each page. Due to differing results on various Windows versions, this was removed in 1.6.

[BugReport]

UseDefaultMailer

Boolean; set to 1 to use system default mailer (Simple-MAPI) interface to send email.

IncludeSysInfo

Boolean; set to 1 to include Operation System details in report.

IncludeResults

Boolean; set to 1 to include scan results in report.

IncludeActiveX

Boolean; set to 1 to include list of installed ActiveX IE plugins in report.

IncludeBHO

Boolean; set to 1 to include list of Browser Helper Objects in report.

IncludeBrowserPages

Boolean; set to 1 to include list of browser start and search pages in report.

IncludeProcessList

Boolean; set to 1 to include list of running processes in report.

IncludeStartup

Boolean; set to 1 to include list of system startup items in report.

IncludeWinsockLSPs

Boolean; set to 1 to include list of network drivers in report.

IncludeUninstall

Boolean; set to 1 to include list of installed software in report.

IncludeServices

Boolean; set to 1 to include list of system services in report.

IncludeClipboardText

Boolean; set to 1 to include current clipboard text in report.

IncludeClipboardImage

Boolean; set to 1 to include current clipboard image (e.g. for screenshot) in report.

IncludeSpyFiles

Boolean; set to 1 to attached files detected during scan to report email.

CarbonCopy

Boolean; set to 1 to send a copy of the report to yourself.

[Expert]

ShredTracks

Uses shredding algorithms to permanently get rid of deleted files by overwriting them a few times before actually deleting them.

ShredRecovery

Uses shredding algorithms to permanently get rid of deleted recovery items by overwriting them a few times before actually deleting them.

ShowResultsButtons

Shows more options on scan results page:

• Select All
• Filesets popup selector

ShowRecoveryButtons

Shows more options on recovery page:

• Select All
• Select product

[Expert\Viewer]

HelperUseFiles

Boolean; set to 1 to use something different from Explorer to show a file if user is trying to locate it from the scan results list. See [Helpers].

HelperUseFolders

Boolean; set to 1 to use something different from Explorer to show a folder if user is trying to locate it from the scan results list. See [Helpers].

HelperUseRegistry

Boolean; set to 1 to use something different from regedit to show a registry entry if user is trying to locate it from the scan results list. See [Helpers].

[Helpers]

Files

Command line to show file in external helper app, see [Expert\Viewer]:HelperUseFiles.

Folders

Command line to show folder in external helper app, see [Expert\Viewer]:HelperUseFolders.

Registry

Command line to show registry entries in external helper app, see [Expert\Viewer]:HelperUseRegistry.

[Filesets]

Format of this section is

filename=1

to indicate files that should be used during a scan; optionally

filename=0

to indicate files that should not be used. This later is necessary to persist disabling a file, since the GUI will auto-accept new files as enabled when loading.

No paths, just plain filenames.

[Durations]

This is a cache used to remember how long scanning each file took on this system.

[Windows]

• ListResults.Column0.Width=421
• ListResults.Column1.Width=100
• ListRecovery.Column0.Width=210
• ListRecovery.Column1.Width=100
• ListLanguages.Column0.Width=210
• ListLanguages.Column1.Width=344
• ListStartup.Column0.Width=210
• ListStartup.Column1.Width=100

Toggle the width of columns in the lists that are identified by name here.

• SplitterResults.Maximized=1
• SplitterResults.RestorePos=232
• SplitterStartup.Maximized=1
• SplitterStartup.RestorePos=232

The results and startup page have additional info panels available by a button on the right. This toggles how wide this info panels are and whether they're shown (Maximized=1 means visible).

• ListSettings.Style=3
• ListTools.Style=3

Show these lists as list or icons, 0 = icons, 1 = small icons, 2 = list, 3 = report. Supported are only 0 and 3.

[Tools.Visibility]

When you enter the tools page, some tools are visible on the left, some are not. This allows you some "favorite" structure. Boolean values, set to 1 to show in list on left (always shown in main list).

• aToolsViewReport
• aOnlineBugReport
• aToolsShredder (will disappear after 1.6)
• aToolsResident
• aToolsActiveX
• aToolsBHOs
• aToolsBrowserPages
• aToolsIETweaks
• aToolsHosts
• aToolsProcessList
• aToolsSystemInternals
• aToolsRun
• aToolsUninstall
• aToolsWinsock

Names are hopefully clear.