Product Documentation

The Malware Scanner continuously monitors your WordPress site to automatically detect malicious code, suspicious files, and security threats in real time. When malware is detected, the site administrator receives an email notification. So, they’re informed the moment a risk is detected.

Moreover, you can run manual malware scans at any time for on-demand security checks. The manual approach is ideal after updates or migrations, or if you notice unusual site behavior.

It’s particularly helpful for:

• Automatically detecting malware before it spreads or causes damage
• Running manual malware scans whenever needed for extra assurance
• Instantly alerting admins via email when threats are found
• Protecting site reputation, SEO rankings, and user trust
• Reducing downtime caused by unnoticed security breaches

When malware is detected, you can take immediate action by cleaning the site with your team. Otherwise, you can utilize the Themepaste Support Form to request professional malware removal assistance. 

This gives you the flexibility and complete control of advanced users, with expert help when you need it. Additionally, there won’t be any risk of your site breaking down during the malware removal. 

Note: Activate the pro plugin to enable this feature. 

Enable the Malware Scanner Feature

First of all, you need to enable the malware scanning feature using the following instructions:

• Log in to your WordPress site and navigate to Admin Safety Guard → Malware Scanner

• Since the malware scanner is a sensitive feature, there is no manual on/off option. 
• When the Pro version of the plugin is installed, the malware scanner activates automatically.
• Additionally, you can start a full scan of your WordPress site at any time.

Getting Malware Scanning Reports

You will get your malware scanning reports and notifications at the following email address:

• Go to the Settings → General and scroll down a bit.
• View the Administration Email Address provided on your site. 

• The user will receive email notifications at the address listed in this section.
• The admin will receive an email with the malware scanning report every 24 hours if malware is detected.
• No email notifications will be sent if no malware is found.

Manual Malware Scanning

Here are the steps on how you can perform manual malware scanning using Admin Safety Guard:

• Click the “Start Full Scan” button to initiate the manual malware scan.
• Wait until the full malware scanning process is complete.
• As you can see, the scan is complete, and our site contains 5,368 files (this number can vary by site).

• Additionally, a suspicious indicator was detected on our site
• Now, review the detailed report below.

Check The Manual Scanning Report 

The manual scanning report is crucial to understand why a file is detected as a malware and where it’s located. Here are the things to look at:

• Whenever the plugin detects a file matching a malware signature, it marks the file as suspicious and flags it, placing it in the malware scanning summary table.

• In the table, you will find details such as the file path, the reason it was flagged as malware, the modification date, and the file size.

What if a file is identified as Malware?

Sometimes, the automated malware scanning report may not be 100% exhaustive, and it could be around 99% accurate. To ensure complete accuracy, it’s always beneficial to perform a manual malware scan as well.

So here are the steps to follow: 

• After detecting a malware, you have to check the file path.
• Identify the issue by determining which file is causing the malware.

• Then navigate to the file path and manually remove the malware.
• For this process, we recommend seeking expert support.
• If a file is detected but is not actually malware, there’s no need for further action.

Details About the Malware: 

• In the summary section, you can check how many files have been scanned, how many have been flagged as malware, and the details of database posts and options that have been affected.
  

• You can also view a detailed report in the “Flagged Files” table, which provides more information such as the file path, issues, modification dates, and file sizes.

View Report:

• You can click on “View Last Report” to see the most recent malware scanning report.

• When you revisit the website, you can check whether everything is in order.

Automatic Malware Removal Option [ Upcoming ]

Automatic malware removal is a sensitive feature. Currently, we are working on it because automatic removal may unintentionally delete sensitive files in the WordPress system.

We are planning to introduce this feature in future versions. In the meantime, once malware is detected, you will receive an automatic notification and further support.