Loftware Print Server Files To Be Excluded From Anti-Virus Scans

Description

When using the Loftware Print Server (LPS), it is critical that certain paths and files should be excluded from your virus scan process. The virus scan process can actually read and lock a required file while it is being attempted to be processed. This locking can cause printing delays and potentially cause the LPS Service to go into a unrecoverable processing state.

Explanation

When the LPS is running, tasks are performed that require the opening and reading of files.

These tasks include:

• Reading of dropped files into scan paths
• Moving of files from directory to directory (example: WDdrop to OLEBD to Printed)
• Renaming of processed files
• Housekeeping An LPS setting that allows you to set a time when the levels of disk space used by Printed Jobs and Job errors are checked. Printed Jobs and Job Errors are saved into various working folders, and while it is helpful to keep these old job files around for a period of time for auditing purposes, they must be deleted or purged eventually in order to minimize disk space and maintain label-printing performance.: clean up, deleting older printed and errored files, etc.

If a file is locked via a virus scan, the LPS task may time out. This can leave the file in a state where the LPS is now unable to perform the task required.

For example, if the Housekeeping process is attempting to delete a file being held by virus scan software, the file may be unable to be deleted. This can now cause other files that need to be deleted to not be actioned. This can cause the LPS service to lock unexpectedly.

How to exclude files from Anti-virus scans

Remove (exclude) the following directories and files from being scanned:

1. Loftware Labeling\wddrop folder and all of its sub folders
2. All defined LPS Scan Paths within the Loftware Configuration
3. Loftware Labeling\Images
4. Loftware Labeling\Layout
5. Loftware Labeling\Serial (if used)
6. Loftware Labeling\printr32.ini and printr32.cfg

Note: It is never recommended to directly write to the WDdrop directory when dropping files (.pas, .xml, .csv, .bch). The file should be written to another directory, then "moved" to the WDdrop directory for processing.