The purpose of this document is to describe "best practices" regarding anti-virus exclusions to ensure good user experience. The following exclusions can behave a security risk so that we recommend to scan periodically of this files. All of these recommendations are public by Microsoft, Citrix, and Flexxible.
The integrity of the files and folders must be maintained at all times. It is recommended to use a File Integrity Monitoring (FIM) or Host Intrusion Prevention (HIP) solution to protect the integrity of files and folders that have been excluded from real-time.
Virtual Desktops (VDI) or AppServers
Flexxible VDIClient
Folders to exclude: C:\Program Files\Flexxible\VDIClientService
Processes: VDIClientService.exe
Windows Update
Disable real-time scan of:
Windows Update's database: %windir%\SoftwareDistribution\Datastore\DataStore.edb
Registry's files: edb*.jrs, edb.chk and tmp.edb on path %windir%\SoftwareDistribution\Datastore\Logs
Windows security files
Exclude following extensions in this folder %windir%\Security\Database:
*.edb
*.sdb
*.log
*.chk
*.jrs
Group policies
Exclude files:
NTUser.pol on %AllUsersProfile%
Registry.pol on %SystemRoot%\System32\GroupPolicy
System
Exclude page file (Default path: C:\pagefile.sys)
Exclude Print spooler folder (%systemroot%\system32\spoolsv.exe)
Citrix Services
Exclude the following folders:
%UserProfile%\AppData\Local\Temp\Citrix\RTMediaEngineSRV\MediaEngineSRVDebugLogs**.txt
%UserProfile%\AppData\Local\Temp\Citrix\HDXRTConnector\*\*.txt
Processes to exclude:
UserProfileManager.exe
%ProgramFiles%\Citrix\User Profile Manager\UserProfileManager.exe
%ProgramFiles%\Citrix\Virtual Desktop Agent\BrokerAgent.exe
%SystemRoot%\System32\spoolsv.exe
%SystemRoot%\System32\winlogon.exe
%SystemRoot%\System32\ userinit.exe
%SystemRoot%\System32\ smss.exe
%ProgramFiles%\Citrix\ICAService\picaSvc2.exe (Desktop OS only)
%ProgramFiles%\Citrix\ICAService\CpSvc.exe (Desktop OS only)
%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Citrix\HDX RealTime Connector\AudioTranscoder.exe
%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Citrix\HDX RealTime Connector\MediaEngine.Net.Service.exe
%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Citrix\HDX RealTime Connector\MediaEngineService.exe
%ProgramFiles%\Citrix\HTML5 Video Redirection\WebSocketService.exe (CVAD 7.15 LTSR - both desktop and server OS)
%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Citrix\System32\WebSocketService.exe (CVAD 1912 LTSR - Server OS only)
%ProgramFiles%\Citrix\ICAService\WebSocketService.exe (CVAD 1912 LTSR - Desktop OS only)
%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Citrix\HDX\bin\WebSocketService.exe (CVAD 2003+ - both desktop and server OS)
Infrastructure Virtual Machines
Flexxible
Folders:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Flexxible
C:\Program Files\Flexxible
Processes:
VDIClientService.exe
VDIQueueListener.exe
VDIWorkerClient.exe
VDIWorkerBackupServer.exe
VDIWorkerAux.exe
VDIWorkerActiveDirectory.exe
VDIWorkerAlerts.exe
VDIWorkerDesktopOperations.exe
VDIWorkerStructure.exe
Communications:
Allow inbound and outbound of TCP1236 and TCP1237
Domain Controllers
Apply settings described on "Running antivirus software on domain controllers" of this article: https://support.microsoft.com/es-es/kb/822158
Hyper-V
Processes to exclude:
Vmms.exe
Vmwp.exe
VmmAgent.exe
CLUSSVC.EXE
Folders to exclude:
C:\ClusterStorage\*
C:\Windows\Cluster\*
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Hyper-V
C:\Users\Public\Documents\Hyper-V\Virtual hard disks
C:\Program Files\Hyper-V
Extensions to exclude of real-time scan:
*.VHD
*.VHDX
*.AVHD
*.VSV
*.BIN
SQL Server
Extensions to exclude of real-time scan:
*.mdf
*.ldf
*.ndf
*.bak
*.trn
Processes to exclude:
SQLAGENT.EXE
SQLSERVR.EXE
SSMS.EXE
SQLWRITER.EXE
CLUSSVC.EXE
Exclude the following folders:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\*
IIS
Process:
w3wp.exe
Folders:
%systemroot%\Inetsrv
**\IIS Temporary Compressed Files\
System Center (VMM)
Folder to exclude:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft System Center 2016\Virtual Machine Manager\bin
C:\ClusterStorage\*
C:\Windows\Cluster\*
Processes to exclude:
vmmservice.exe
Vmms.exe
vmmAgent.exe
Vmwp.exe
CLUSSVC.EXE
Citrix Delivery Controller (XenDesktop)
Processes:
%ProgramFiles%\Citrix\Broker\Service\BrokerService.exe
%ProgramFiles%\Citrix\Broker\Service\HighAvailabilityService.exe
%ProgramFiles%\Citrix\ConfigSync\ConfigSyncService.exe
Exclude the following folders:
%SystemRoot%\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\HaDatabaseName.mdf
%SystemRoot%\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\HaImportDatabaseName.mdf
%SystemRoot%\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\HaDatabaseName_log.ldf
%SystemRoot%\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\HaImportDatabaseName_log.ldf
%ProgramData%\Citrix\Broker\Cache
Storefront
Processes to exclude:
%systemroot%\SysWOW64\inetsrv\w3wp.exe
%systemroot%\system32\inetsrv\w3wp.exe
%ProgramFiles%\Citrix\Receiver StoreFront\Services\SubscriptionsStoreService\Citrix.DeliveryServices.SubscriptionsStore.ServiceHost.exe
%ProgramFiles%\Citrix\Receiver StoreFront\Services\CredentialWallet\Citrix.DeliveryServices.CredentialWallet.ServiceHost.exe
Exclude the following folders:
%SystemRoot%\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\AppData\Roaming\Citrix\SubscriptionsStore\**\PersistentDictionary.edb
Bibliography
https://support.microsoft.com/es-es/kb/822158
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/309422
https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/tech-zone/build/tech-papers/antivirus-best-practices.html
http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX127030