What is a safelist?

The safelist (also called a whitelist) is the key component to eliminating false positives and catching the real badware threats.

A safelist is a list of all of your running program processes which you verify as safe to run. A safelist virtually eliminates false positives. The safelist insulates the programs listed in the process list (visible in task manager) from being tested and quarantined (Scrub'd) by Scrubit. Scrubit can be run with or without a safelist. There is a choice in the Scrubit options menu to run without a safelist (in case some item is passing discovery).

When setting up a safelist please note, many hardware components and services have one or more badware-like behaviors and will show up as items to be "Scrub’d." Make sure you safelist all of your audio, video, wireless components and miscellaneous hardware devices.

Keep your safelist as small as possible. Badware (security threats) will often pose as processes and applications you are familiar with in order to escape from discovery by hiding in plain sight. Badware will try to deceive you by purposely registering themselves on your computer with a company name you are familiar with and trust in order to escape detection and removal. Therefore, the smaller the safelist the better chance a deceptively named badware item is not insulated from the discovery process.

NOTE: If a mistake was made setting up the safelist you can correct your mistake. Simply click on "Review" from the "Setup a Safelist" page and this will let you see your safelist.  From the "Review Safelist" page you can remove unsafe items. Now these unsafe items will be discovered and cleaned when you run Scrubit.