Contents
- Performance
- Quick Startup
- PC Speed-Up
- App Updater
- Duplicates
- Large Files
- Unused Apps
- Hard Drive Health Monitor
- Backup and Restore
- Current Activity
- Do not Disturb Mode
- Game mode
- Battery Saver
- Optimizing the load on the operating system
Performance
If your device slows down or hangs up, you are not alone. Sometimes apps refuse to open or a browser will fail to respond at a crucial time. There are multiple reasons why it can happen. Ensure the stable operation of your device for many years to come.
Quick Startup
Does your computer take too long to boot? This usually happens when many applications are launched when the operating system starts up. We will tell you which applications are slowing down your PC at startup, and help you to disable autorun of these applications.
Analysis of applications that run at operating system startup is carried out automatically. If the analysis finds applications that run at operating system startup, Kaspersky application displays a notification. The notification can take you to the analysis results window.
To speed up your computer startup:
- Open the main application window.
- Go to the Performance section.
- Click the Search button in the Quick Startup section.
The Speed up computer startup window opens, which displays a list of applications that are launched at startup.
The Impact on startup column displays information about the impact each application has on computer startup. This information is taken from the operating system and depends on how much computer resources the application consumes (CPU load and RAM).
- Select an app from the list and toggle the Autorun switch to Off.
The app will no longer be launched at startup.
To turn off the automatic analysis of applications that run at operating system startup:
- Open the main application window.
- Go to the Performance section.
- In the Quick Startup block, click
.
- This opens a window; in that window, clear the Quick Startup check box.
PC Speed-Up
Clutter builds up in an operating system over time, slowing down your PC's performance. Large number of files that are not being used and Windows registry issues contribute to that. Kaspersky application will alert you if the amount of this data becomes excessive, and you will be given an opportunity to decide which data to delete.
By default, the search for ways to speed up the computer is carried out automatically. If the search discovers opportunities to improve performance, the application displays a notification. The notification can take you to the search results window.
Some system files and objects may not be deleted if for any reason a file or an object has been started after being detected and is still running. You can delete them later when the process is complete.
For your convenience, all found system and temporary files your applications do not need are sorted by categories. Trace files you record under the direction of a Customer Service expert to solve issues with any of your Kaspersky applications fall into the Trace files of Kaspersky applications category. The application detects trace files of Kaspersky applications even if tracing is running, but in this case does not allow to delete them. The trace file grows in size until you stop recording, this may consume your disk space and slow down your PC. To delete the file, you need to turn off tracing first. For instructions on how to turn off tracing in this Kaspersky application, see How to enable and disable tracing. To turn off tracing in other Kaspersky applications, follow the instructions provided in the Help of the corresponding application.
To view all found unused system files and Windows registry issues, you need to sign in as an administrator.
To declutter your operating system:
- Open the main application window.
- Go to the Performance section.
- In the PC Speed-Up block, click the Search button (or View if the search was already performed).
Kaspersky application performs a search and generates a report with the following contents:
- Unused system files. Click the button View to view a detailed report on the operating system files that are not being used. Click the Clean up button to delete these files.
- Windows registry issues. Click the button View to view a detailed report on the Windows registry issues that you can delete without risking damage to the operating system. Click the Fix button to fix detected issues.
Removal of unused files and fixing the detected issues will speed up your PC.
To disable the automatic search for ways to speed up your computer:
- Open the main application window.
- Go to the Performance section.
- In the PC Speed-Up block, click
.
- Clear the PC Speed-Up check box.
The Windows.old folder is only detected during the automatic search for ways to speed up your computer.
Page topApp Updater
This section provides information on how you can use Kaspersky application to update installed applications.
Available only in Kaspersky Standard, Kaspersky Plus, and Kaspersky Premium.
About App Updater
If you have not updated applications on your computer for a long time, these applications may contain vulnerabilities. Intruders can exploit such vulnerabilities to harm your computer or data.
Updating installed applications improves the security of your computer. Using Kaspersky application, you can search for updates for installed applications and download and install the latest updates.
Kaspersky application divides application updates into two types:
- Important – updates that fix vulnerabilities of installed applications and improve the security of your computer.
- Recommended – updates that improve the functionality and/or make changes to the installed applications.
Kaspersky application regularly searches for updates. When Kaspersky application finds a new update for an application installed on your computer, Kaspersky application shows a pop-up notification in the notification area. Information about the availability, quantity, and type of available updates is displayed in the Notification Center. You can view, download, and install available updates via the Notification Center.
You can also manually start the search for application updates.
By default, Kaspersky application automatically downloads and installs all updates for known applications if they do not require you to accept new end user license agreements.
In Windows 8 and later versions, Kaspersky application pauses automatic downloads of application updates when a metered Internet connection is used. Downloading of updates is resumed once the unlimited connection is restored. If you have manually started the update, Kaspersky application will download the update regardless of whether or not you are using a limited connection.
Applications that you do not want to update or for which you do not want to install individual updates are placed by Kaspersky application into the exclusions list. You can view and edit the list of exclusions.
Page topSearch for application updates
To start the search for application updates:
- Open the main application window.
- Go to the Performance section.
- In the App Updater block, click the Search for updates button.
This starts the search for application updates.
How to change App Updater settings
To change App Updater settings:
- Open the main application window.
- Click
in the lower part of the main window.
This opens the Settings window.
- Select the Performance settings section.
- Click the Automatic search for updates button.
This opens the App Updater settings window.
- If you do not want Kaspersky application to automatically download and install application updates that do not require acceptance of a new end user license agreement, clear the Automatically download and install updates if there is no need to accept a new license agreement check box.
This check box is selected by default.
- In the Search for application updates section, select which application updates will be downloaded and installed by Kaspersky application:
- Select Important updates that improve computer security if you want Kaspersky application to install only important updates that fix software vulnerabilities and improve the security of your computer.
- Select All updates for known applications if you want Kaspersky application to install all software updates.
How to configure the update search mode
To configure the update search mode for installed applications:
- Open the main application window.
- Click
in the lower part of the main window.
This opens the Settings window.
- Select the Performance settings section.
- Click the Automatic search for updates button.
This opens the App Updater settings window.
- In the Update block, select the Enable search for application updates check box.
- Click the Set up a schedule link to open the Updates search mode window.
- In the Search for updates drop-down list, select one of the following options:
- Automatically. If you select this option, Kaspersky application will run a search for application updates at least once every 24 hours according to the internal settings of the application.
- Daily / Weekly / Monthly. If you select one of these options, Kaspersky application will search for updates based on your defined schedule up to the exact minute. When one of these options is selected, the Postpone running after application startup for N minutes list is available.
The following options for the Search for updates drop-down list are no longer available and will be replaced by Automatically after the application update: Manually, Every minute, Every hour, At a specified time, After application startup, and After every update.
- Select the Search for updates on the next day if computer is turned off check box to start a search when the computer is turned on after a scheduled search was missed. If the check box is not selected, the application will start the search for updates only at the scheduled time while the computer is turned on.
- To save the settings, click the Save button.
Viewing the list of application updates
Kaspersky application regularly searches for updates for applications installed on your computer. Information about the number and types of updates available for applications can be viewed in Notification Center.
To view the list generated as a result of searching for application updates:
- Open the main application window.
- Click the Details button in the upper part of the window.
This opens the Notification Center window.
- In the Status section, click the Show button in the line with the message about available application updates.
This opens the App Updater window with a list of available application updates.
- To update all applications appearing in the list, click the Update all button (not available in some regions).
- To selectively update specific applications, perform one of the following actions:
- Click the Update button in the line containing the application that you want to update.
You are advised to read the end user license agreement before updating the application. End user license agreements are available in the License agreements drop-down list. By default, the language of the end user license agreement corresponds to the language of the application interface. If the end user license agreement in the language of the application interface is unavailable, the EULA text is provided in the language of Kaspersky application interface. In all other cases, the text of the end user license agreement is provided in English or the first available language if the English text is unavailable.
- Click the
button to open the menu and select Do not update this application if you want Kaspersky application to stop notifying you about available updates for the selected application.
The selected application is moved to the list of exclusions. Kaspersky application stops showing notifications about new updates released for this application.
- Click the
button to open the menu and select Skip this update if you want Kaspersky application to stop notifying you about the selected update.
The selected application update is moved to the list of exclusions. Kaspersky application shows a notification about a new update released for this application.
- Click the
button to open the menu and select Open the vendor website if you want to manually download and install the update for the selected application.
The default browser of the operating system opens the website of the software vendor. You can view the update on the website and download it manually.
- Click the Update button in the line containing the application that you want to update.
The window interface, App Updater, and viewing of the End User License Agreements may differ depending on the localization language of Kaspersky application.
Removing an update or application from the exclusions list
When viewing the list of application updates, you can skip notifications about individual updates or skip notifications about all updates for specific applications. Kaspersky application adds these updates and applications to the exclusions list.
To remove an update or application from the exclusions list:
- Open the main application window.
- Click
in the lower part of the main window.
This opens the Settings window.
- Select the Performance settings section.
- Click the Automatic search for updates button.
This opens the App Updater settings window.
- Click the Exclusions link to open the Exclusions window.
The Exclusions list contains the applications and updates for which you have indicated that no updates are necessary, as well as individual updates of applications that you did not install.
- Select the update or application in the list and click the Delete button.
During the next search for updates, Kaspersky application will notify you about the availability of updates for applications that you have removed from the exclusions list.
Duplicates
Your computer may store files with identical file names and identical content. These duplicate files clutter up memory, take up space on your hard drive and make your computer run slower. You can find duplicate files and delete extra copies using the Duplicate Files feature.
The search for duplicates is performed automatically in the user's folders once a week. If the search discovers files that have the same name and identical content, the application displays a notification. The notification can take you to the search results window.
To remove duplicate files:
- Open the main application window.
- Go to the Performance section.
- Select the search area in the drop-down list in the Duplicates section.
- Click the Search button.
- In the search results window, select the files and click Delete.
Duplicate files will be removed from your computer, while the original data will be preserved.
To turn on automatic search for duplicates:
- Open the main application window.
- Go to the Performance section.
- In the Duplicates block, click
.
- This opens a window; in that window, clear the Duplicates check box.
Large Files
You are trying to save data on your computer but you suddenly find out that your hard drive is almost full. Sounds familiar? In this case, you might want to find and delete large files that you do not need, and we are going to help you with that.
The automatic search for large files is enabled by default. If you upgrade the application from a previous version, the value of the option will be preserved.
When enabled, the search is performed in the user's folders once a week. By default, this means files larger than 1 GB. If the search discovers files of the configured size, the application displays a notification. The notification can take you to the search results window.
To turn on the automatic search for large files:
- Open the main application window.
- Go to the Performance section.
- In the Large Files block, click
.
- In the window that opens, select the Large Files check box.
To find large files on your computer and remove them:
- Open the main application window.
- Go to the Performance section.
- In the Files larger than drop-down list of the Large Files section, specify the size of files you want to find, for example > 1 GB.
- Select a specific folder for your search, or leave the default value User's folders unchanged.
- Click the Search button.
The search will be performed, and the Large Files window will open. It will display a list of large files found. You can sort the files by file type. To do this, select a file category, for example, Images.
Some files can be marked as Files that need your attention. These files may contain important data, such as emails, backups, or encrypted folders. Deleting these files may affect the operation of installed applications.
- You can add files to the list of exclusions so the application will skip them when searching for large files. To do this, select the files you need and click Add to exclusions.
- Perform the following actions:
- Check the Select all box if you want to remove all the files, and click the Delete button.
- Otherwise, check the boxes next to specific files and click the Delete button.
The selected files will be removed from your computer.
Unused Apps
Several factors affect your computer's performance, and the number of installed applications is one of them. The more applications you have installed, the slower your computer is running. This is caused by the fact that some apps, including those installed without your knowledge, may be launched automatically, consuming the CPU resources and using up RAM, as well as performing unnecessary and sometimes even malicious actions.
Kaspersky application will help you find and remove these apps.
To remove applications you do not use:
- Open the main application window.
- Go to the Performance section.
- Click the Search button in the Unused Apps section.
After completing the search, Kaspersky application will display the list of unused apps. You can select specific apps to remove in that list.
- To remove an app, click the Remove button next to the app you want to remove.
The app will be removed from your computer.
Page topHard Drive Health Monitor
This section provides information on how you can use Kaspersky application to check the health of your computer's hard drive or a connected external hard drive.
About Hard Drive Health Monitor
Available only in Kaspersky Plus and Kaspersky Premium.
If your hard drive suddenly becomes damaged, this can cause loss of data stored on the hard drive. Kaspersky application lets you monitor the health of your hard drives using S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology). This technology is based on continuous monitoring of the main performance characteristics of the hard drive. Using Kaspersky application, you can quickly find out about hard drive health getting worse and copy data from damaged drives to other media.
If Hard Drive Health Monitor is enabled, Kaspersky application constantly monitors the health of your hard drives and notifies you when the health is getting worse. You can view the health of both internal and external hard drives. Notifications about hard drive health getting worse are shown in the taskbar notification area. Detailed reports about hard drive monitoring results are shown in the Reports section.
If your hard drive’s health got worse and it is no more safe to store data on the drive, Kaspersky application offers you to copy data from this drive to other media to avoid data loss. You can copy data from a damaged hard drive to any good medium that is available.
You can disable Hard Drive Health Monitor. After disabling Hard Drive Health Monitor, Kaspersky application no longer notifies you about changing health of your hard drives and does not offer you to copy data from damaged drives to other media.
Page topHow to enable or disable Hard Drive Health Monitor
To enable or disable Hard Drive Health Monitor:
- Open the main application window.
- Click
in the lower part of the main window.
This opens the Settings window.
- Go to Performance settings → PC performance optimization.
- Do one of the following:
- To enable Hard Drive Health Monitor, select the Perform hard drive health scan check box.
- To disable Hard Drive Health Monitor, clear the Perform hard drive health scan check box.
How to check health of a hard drive
Kaspersky application constantly monitors the health of both internal and external hard drives of your computer. The monitoring works in the background. If your hard drive's health is getting worse and it is no more safe to store data on the drive, the application notifies you and offers to copy data to other media.
The Hard Drive Health Monitor window shows the following information about the hard drive:
- Drive health.
- Drive temperature.
The hard drive can be in one of the following states:
- Healthy – the state corresponding to a new hard drive.
- Optimal – there are minor issues with the hard drive.
- Critical – the hard drive state is critical, data loss is possible.
The hard drive temperature range can be one of the following:
- Healthy – the hard drive is not overheating.
- Optimal – the temperature of the hard drive is slightly raised.
- Critical – the hard drive is overheating.
The Drive health history chart shows information about drive health change over the specified period. The maximum displayed period is 1 year.
Kaspersky application also shows the following statistics about your hard drives:
- Total power-on hours – the total hard drive uptime, in hours.
- Total power cycle count – the total number of power-ons of the hard drive.
The <drive name> S.M.A.R.T. attributes report shows information about the hard drive's S.M.A.R.T. parameter values sorted by severity. Parameter set may vary depending on the manufacturer and model of the hard drive.
To check the current health of your computer's hard drives:
- Open the main application window.
- Go to the Performance section.
- Under Take care of your hard drive and data:
- If you want to view the graph, click the History button.
- If you want to view the report, click the Details button.
This takes you to the window where you can look at details of your hard drive condition.
Page topHow to copy data from a damaged hard drive
If the health of one or more hard drives on your computer got worse and it is no more safe to store data on the drives, Kaspersky application notifies you and offers you to copy data from these drives to other media.
To copy your data from a damaged hard drive to a good hard drive:
- Do one of the following:
- If you receive a notification that the health of the hard drive got worse, click the Details button in the notification window.
The Hard Drive Health Monitor window opens.
- Click the Copy data button in the Hard Drive Health Monitor window.
- If you receive a notification that the health of the hard drive got worse, click the Details button in the notification window.
- In the Copying data window that opens, click the Start backup button.
This opens the Select storage window.
- In the Select storage window, select a good hard drive to copy data from the damaged drive.
- Click Next.
This opens the Select files and folders to copy window.
- Do one of the following:
- Drag and drop files from Windows Explorer to the highlighted area of the Select files and folders to copy window.
- Click the select them from the list link.
In the Explorer window that opens, you can select files and folders to copy to the good hard drive.
- After adding all the files and folders you want to copy to the list, click the Next button.
This opens the Creating folder to copy data window.
- Do one of the following:
- Click the Next button to create a new folder on the selected good hard drive and copy files and folders from the damaged drive to it.
- Click the Change button to select an existing folder on the good drive and copy files and folders from the damaged drive to it.
- Do one of the following:
- If the selected good drive has sufficient disk space to copy selected files and folders, click the Next button to start copying.
- If the selected good drive has insufficient disk space to copy selected files and folders, click the Back button to select another good drive and try again.
- When copying is finished, perform one of the following:
- To open the folder with files copied from the damaged hard drive, click the Open folder button.
- To close the window, click the Done button.
To copy your data from a damaged hard drive to the Dropbox online storage:
- Do one of the following:
- If you receive a notification that the health of the hard drive got worse, click the Details button in the notification window.
The Hard Drive Health Monitor window opens.
- Click the Copy data button in the Hard Drive Health Monitor window.
- If you receive a notification that the health of the hard drive got worse, click the Details button in the notification window.
- In the Copying data window that opens, click the Start backup button.
This opens the Select storage window.
- In the Select storage window, select your Dropbox online storage.
You also can perform one of the following actions:
- If the storage is not active, click the Sign in button.
- To disable the storage, click the Remove the storage link.
- Click Next.
This opens the Copying data window.
- Do one of the following:
- Drag and drop files from Windows Explorer to the highlighted area of the Copying data window.
- Click the select them from the list link.
In the Explorer window that opens, you can select files and folders to copy to the Dropbox online storage.
- After adding all the files and folders you want to copy to the list, click the Start backup button.
Data copying begins.
- When copying is finished, perform one of the following:
- If data backup is completed successfully, click the Done button to close the window.
- If the application has notified you that backup has failed, free up some space in the Online storage and try again.
There are restrictions on copying data that is stored in OneDrive cloud storage.
Hard Drive Health Monitor limitations
In some cases, Kaspersky application cannot determine the state of the hard drive due to the following limitations:
- The hard drive does not support S.M.A.R.T technology.
- The S.M.A.R.T. feature is turned off on the hard drive.
- Kaspersky application does not support:
- Type of connected hard drive
- Type of USB controller of the hard drive
- The hard drive is disabled.
- The hard drive belongs to a virtual machine, for example, VMWare. Information about the health of such hard drives is either not displayed or displayed incorrectly.
About Backup and Restore
Available only in Kaspersky Plus and Kaspersky Premium.
Backup and Restore is needed to protect your data against loss when your computer malfunctions or gets stolen, or when it is deleted accidentally or corrupted by hackers.
To backup data, create and start a backup task. The task can be started automatically according to schedule or manually. The application also lets you view information about completed backup tasks.
It is recommended to save backup copies of data on removable drives or in Cloud storage.
Kaspersky application cannot create a full copy of a drive while a Microsoft Windows operating system is active on the drive.
Kaspersky application lets you use the following storage types for creating backup copies:
- Local drive;
- Removable drive (e.g., an external hard drive);
- Network drive;
- Cloud storage.
Creating tasks based on user's access rights
Backup tasks are created based on user's access rights to files on the local computer.
If you do not have local administrator rights on the computer, you can access only tasks created by yourself. If you have local administrator rights on the computer, you see all backup tasks, but you cannot modify tasks created by other users.
Backup tasks that were created earlier without taking user rights into account are available to all users of the computer. However, if such a task gets modified, it will be run based on the rights of the user that modified the task.
Restoring tasks based on user's access rights
If you do not have local administrator rights on the computer, you can restore data only from backup tasks created by yourself and only to folders you have rights to access. If you have local administrator rights on the computer, you can restore data from any backup task to any folder.
The total size of the copied files in a folder may exceed the size of that folder if it contains links to other folders (for example, when copying the Documents folder, the My Music, My Pictures and My Videos folders will also be copied if the Documents folder contains links to those folders).
About Backup and Restore in OneDrive
When backing up files to a OneDrive folder on your computer, Kaspersky application acts differently depending on whether the cloud file is downloaded to the OneDrive folder:
- If the file is in the cloud and in the OneDrive folder on your computer, Kaspersky application makes a backup copy of this file.
- If the file is not in the cloud, but it is present in the OneDrive folder on your computer, Kaspersky application makes a backup copy of this file.
- If the file is displayed in the OneDrive folder but it is only stored in the cloud and not on your computer, Kaspersky application makes a backup copy of this file.
How to create a backup task
To create a backup task:
- Open the main application window.
- Select the Performance section.
- In the Backup and Restore block, click the Make backup button to start the backup creation wizard.
The Backup Task Creation Wizard starts.
The Wizard consists of a series of pages (steps), which you can navigate through by clicking the Next button. To go back, click on the name of the previous step at the top of the page. To stop the Wizard at any step, click the Cancel button.
Let us review the steps of the Wizard in more detail.
Step 1. Select files and folders for backup
In the Select folders step of the Wizard, you can specify folders and files you wish to back up. To do this, drag and drop the required folder to the Select folders window or choose the folder by clicking the Select a folder button that opens the Select a folder window. In the Select a folder window you can select a folder from the tree or enter the path to the folder in the text box manually.
Kaspersky application does not create backup copies of files located in the "Desktop" and "My Documents" folders if these folders are located on a network drive.
To add more folders, click the Add folder button at the upper-right corner of the page. To delete a folder from this page, hover over the folder you need and click the recycle bin button.
After the folder is added, you can select files that you want to back up. To view the list of files in a folder, double-click the folder you need. To include or exclude specific files from the backup copy, you can use check boxes next to the files. If you need to find a specific file in the list, use the Search option.
If you need to sort files by type in order to perform quick configuration, click Select file types and select any of the predefined categories: Audio, Images, Documents, Financial documents, Video, or Other file types.
Step 2. Select a backup storage
In the Select storage step of the Wizard, you can configure a backup storage or specify an existing one:
- Cloud storages. Select the Dropbox option if you want to store backup copies in the Dropbox cloud storage. Note that the Dropbox cloud storage needs to be activated before use. When backing up data to Cloud storage, Kaspersky application does not create backup copies of data types that are restricted by Dropbox usage rules.
- Network drives. If you prefer to store backup copies on a network drive, specify the relevant network drive by clicking the Add button.
- Local and removable drives. If you prefer to store backup copies on a local or removable drive, select the relevant drive from the list.
- I already have storage. If you already have a backup storage, specify it by clicking the Connect button.
To ensure data security, we recommend using the Cloud storage or creating backup storages on removable drives.
How to add a network drive as storage
Step 3. Configure a backup schedule
In the Configure schedule step of the Wizard, you can specify the following settings:
- Specify the name of the backup task.
- Select the Run backup manually option if you wish to start the task manually.
- Specify the backup task schedule if you want the backup task to start automatically.
- Select the Run backup automatically option and set a time interval to run the task (for example, Every week), weekday, and the task run time.
- Specify the username and password of your Windows account on this computer. The data of your Windows account is required to access files during the backup. If you are logged in to the operating system under a domain account, specify the username and password of your domain account to create the backup task.
- Select the Run scheduled backup at computer startup if it was turned off at the specified time check box if you want to run a backup as soon as possible after the computer is turned on. For example, if the backup is scheduled to be performed every weekend and the computer was turned off, the backup is performed after the computer is turned on a weekday. If the check box is cleared, backup is performed according to schedule without retrying to run backup after a failed attempt.
- Select the Run backup on connecting the removable drive check box if you want to run a backup when a removable drive is connected to your computer.
When working with backup tasks, please note the following:
- If you create a scheduled backup task, you need to specify the data of your account on this computer.
- If you create an on-demand backup task, you do not need to specify the data of your account on this computer.
- If you change an on-demand task to a scheduled task, you need to specify the data of your account on this computer.
Step 4. Configure a backup storage
In the Configure storage step of the Wizard, you can specify the file storage settings:
During each backup, the application checks whether the file has changed since the previous backup. If the file has changed, the application creates a new version of its backup copy in the storage. The previous version of the backup copy is also saved in the storage. You can restrict the number of versions of backup copies. To do this, select the Restrict the number of backups of one file, if the file was changed several times check box, and in the Number of latest copies of one file field specify the number of versions of backup copies of one file to be stored. A backup copy can have up to 999 versions.
Also, you can restrict the storage period for each version of the backup copy of a file. Older versions of backup copies of the file will be automatically deleted. The last saved version of the backup copy of the file will be stored indefinitely. To restrict the storage period, select the Delete old backups of a file after the specified time. The latest, i.e. the newest copy, will be stored indefinitely check box to specify the number of days or weeks that each file version of a backup copy should be stored. The maximum number of days or weeks is 999.
You can optionally specify a password that protects your backup copies from unauthorized access. To do this, click Set in the Password section and set the password.
The password will apply to all the backup copies in this storage. It cannot be changed later. If you forget your password, you won't be able to restore files from the backup copies in this storage.
The application will prompt you to enter a password in the following cases:
- When you first create a backup storage on a local or removable drive (like a flash drive). When creating subsequent backup tasks to a local drive or this removable drive, the application will no longer ask you to enter a password. The password that you previously entered will be used.
If you copy the local backup storage to a removable drive and connect this removable drive to another computer, the application will ask you to enter a password to copy or restore data from this storage.
- When you connect a removable drive to your computer. The application checks the removable drive and asks you to enter a password if it detects a backup storage on this removable drive.
If your backup storage is located on the computer where Kaspersky application is corrupted or is not installed, you can use Kaspersky Restore Utility to restore files from backup copies. For that, you need to copy the utility to this storage by selecting the Copy Kaspersky Restore Utility to storage check box in the Kaspersky Restore Utility section.
After you configure a backup storage, click the Run button to start the backup task immediately, or click the Save and close button to run this task later manually or on schedule.
Wizard completion
The process of configuring the backup storage may take some time. At this step, you will be sent to the Backup and Restore window were you can see the list of backup tasks.
How to start or resume a backup task
To start a backup task:
- Open the main application window.
- Select the Performance section.
- In the Backup and Restore block, click the View my backups button.
- In the window that opens, select a backup task and click the Run button.
The backup task is started.
Page topRestoring data from a backup copy
To restore data from a backup copy:
- Open the main application window.
- Select the Performance section.
- In the Backup and Restore block, click the View my backups button.
This opens the Backup and Restore window.
- Click the View files option from the drop-down menu next to the selected backup task.
- Click the My storages link and in the window that opens, click the View files button next to the selected backup storage.
- If a password was specified when the backup copy was created, enter this password in the Enter the password you set to access the backup copies in the storage window. The Select files to restore window opens.
- To sort and restore specific types of files, select these file types at the top of the page.
- The backup storage may contain copies of deleted files, and you can restore a deleted file from the backup copy. Select the Do not show backups of deleted files check box if you prefer not to see backups of deleted files.
- Then, do one of the following:
- If you want to restore all data, select the All data check box.
- If you want to restore only certain folders, select the check boxes next to the relevant folders.
- If you want to restore only certain files, select the check boxes next to the relevant files in the Name column.
- In the Backup date drop-down list, you can specify the date and time when the backup copy was created.
- Click the Select button. This opens the Select files to restore window.
- Select one of the two options:
- Original folder. The application restores data to the original folder.
- Specified folder. The application restores data to the specified folder. Click the Select button to select the folder to which you want to restore data.
- In the If file names conflict drop-down list, select the action to be performed by the application when the name of the file being restored matches the name of the file already present in the destination folder:
- ask – when file names match, the application prompts you to choose one of the following options: replace the file with the backup copy, save both files, or do not restore the file.
- replace file with backup copy – Kaspersky application deletes the existing file and replaces it with the file restored from the backup copy.
- save both files – Kaspersky application leaves the existing file unchanged and saves the file restored from the backup copy under a new name in the same folder.
- do not restore this file – Kaspersky application leaves the existing file unchanged and does not restore the file of the same name from the backup copy.
- Click Restore files.
The files selected for recovery will be restored from the backup copy and saved in the specified folder.
Restoring data from FTP storage
Kaspersky application does not support Backup and Restore over FTP. To restore backup copies created in other Kaspersky applications from FTP storage, follow the instructions below.
To restore backup copies from FTP storage:
- Open the main application window.
- Select the Performance section.
- In the Backup and Restore block, click the View my backups button.
This opens the Backup and Restore window.
- Click the My storages link to open the Storages window.
- Open the FTP storage folder in Windows Explorer.
- Copy the data (including the
storage.xml
file) to a local drive (for example, С:\<folder name>). - In the Storages window next to the FTP storage, click the Delete storage button.
- In the deletion confirmation window, click Delete.
The FTP storage is now deleted.
- In the Storages window, click the Connect my storage button.
- In the Connect storage window, select the Local drive section and use the Browse button to specify the path to the folder containing the backup copies that you copied to the local drive from FTP storage.
- In the Storages window, next to the connected storage, click the View files button.
- Follow the standard restoration procedure.
Restoring data from a backup copy using Kaspersky Restore Utility
Kaspersky Restore Utility lets you manage backup storage data on a computer where a Kaspersky application is corrupted or has been removed. By default, after installation of the application the utility is located in the Kaspersky Restore Utility folder located in the application setup folder. To use the utility on a computer where a Kaspersky application is not installed or is corrupted, copy the utility to a removable drive.
To start Kaspersky Restore Utility, you need local administrator rights.
How to start the Restore Utility
How to open a storage using the Restore Utility
How to restore data from a backup copy
Page topAbout Cloud storage
Kaspersky application lets you save backup copies of your data in Cloud storage via the Dropbox service.
To use Cloud storage:
- Make sure that the computer is connected to the Internet.
- Create an account on the website of the cloud data storage service provider.
- Activate Cloud storage.
You can use one and the same Dropbox account to back up data from different devices with Kaspersky application installed to a single Cloud storage.
The Cloud storage size is determined by the provider of the cloud storage services, the Dropbox web service. See the Dropbox website for more details on the terms of use of the web service.
When copying files to Dropbox, Kaspersky application does not differentiate between uppercase and lowercase letters in the name of a file and/or name of a path to the file. Therefore, when attempting to create backup copies of files whose names and/or paths differ only by their case, Kaspersky application creates only one backup copy because a conflict arises in Dropbox.
Page topHow to activate Cloud storage
To activate Cloud storage:
- Open the main application window.
- Select the Performance section.
- In the Backup and Restore block, click the Make backup button to start the backup creation wizard.
- In the folder selection window, specify the folder and files that you want to back up.
- In the storage selection window, select the Dropbox option in the Cloud storages block, and click the Sign in button.
An Internet connection is required to create a Cloud storage.
A Dropbox account login dialog opens.
- In the window that opens, perform one of the following operations:
- Complete registration if you are not a registered Dropbox user.
- If you are a registered Dropbox user, log into your Dropbox account.
- To finish Cloud storage activation, confirm that Kaspersky application is allowed to use your Dropbox account for backing up and restoring data. Kaspersky application places backup copies of saved data in a separate folder that is created in the Dropbox storage folder for applications.
After Cloud storage activation has been completed, the storage selection window opens. It contains a selection of online storages to choose from. For the activated Cloud storage, the application shows the amount of used space and the amount of free space available for data storage.
When copying files to Dropbox, Kaspersky application does not differentiate between uppercase and lowercase letters in the name of a file and/or name of a path to the file. Therefore, when attempting to create backup copies of files whose names and/or paths differ only by their case, Kaspersky application creates only one backup copy because a conflict arises in Dropbox.
Page topCurrent Activity
If you have noticed that your computer freezes or runs slower, you can open the Application Activity window, which shows a list of currently running apps and active processes, and terminate an app or apps that are consuming too much of your computer's resources.
To see the current activity and/or terminate an app:
- Open the main application window.
- Go to the Performance section.
- In the Current Activity block, click the View activity button.
This will open the Application Activity window on the Running tab.
- From the app list, select the one consuming the most of your processor resources (in the CPU column) and/or RAM (the Memory column), and click the Terminate process button.
The app will terminate.
Do not Disturb Mode
In the Do not Disturb Mode, Kaspersky application does not show pop-up notifications about events on your PC that occur during a video call, when you are watching a movie, actively using installed applications or the keyboard. Do not Disturb Mode can also pause some automatically started tasks or delay running scheduled tasks to avoid excessive utilization of computer resources.
To enable Do not Disturb Mode in the application settings (automatic):
- Open the main application window.
- Click
in the lower part of the main window.
This opens the Settings window.
- Go to Performance settings → PC performance optimization.
- Select the Do not Disturb Mode check box.
To enable Do not Disturb Mode manually:
- Open the main application window.
- Go to the Performance section.
- In the Do not Disturb Mode block, select the number of hours from the drop-down list and click the Turn on button.
Also, you can enable Do not Disturb Mode by clicking Turn on Do not Disturb Mode in the context menu of the application icon.
The Do not Disturb Mode can be activated manually when the automatic start of this function is configured in the application settings.
After exiting Do not Disturb Mode, the application will use the taskbar notification area to display a message regarding any event that occurred while you were busy. If there were multiple events, click the View button to go to the Notification Center and view all events.
You can also view all events that occurred over the past three days in the Notification Center on the Status tab in the Notifications section.
As long as the Game Mode or Do Not Disturb mode is enabled, you will also not see notifications from Kaspersky VPN Secure Connection and Kaspersky Password Manager applications installed on the same device.
Kaspersky VPN functionality is not available in some regions.
You can find out more about displaying notifications in the How to configure application notifications section of Help.
Game mode
When Kaspersky application runs in full-screen mode together with some other applications (particularly computer games), the following issues may occur:
- Application or game performance decreases due to lack of system resources;
- Notification windows of Kaspersky application distract the user from the gaming process.
To avoid changing the settings of Kaspersky application manually every time you switch to full-screen mode, you can use Game Mode. If Game Mode is being used and you are playing or working with applications in full-screen mode, Kaspersky application does not run scan and update tasks and does not display notifications.
To enable Game Mode in the application settings (automatic):
- Open the main application window.
- Click
in the lower part of the main window.
This opens the Settings window.
- Go to Performance settings → PC performance optimization.
- Select the Game Mode check box.
To enable Game Mode manually:
- Open the main application window.
- Go to the Performance section.
- In the Game Mode block, select the number of hours from the drop-down list and click the Turn on button.
Also, you can enable Game Mode by clicking Turn on Game Mode in the context menu of the application icon.
The Game Mode can be activated manually when the automatic start of this function is not configured in the application settings.
You can also select the Do not Disturb Mode check box. In this mode, you do not see notifications if you're actively working in some applications, also scan and update tasks are not started.
As long as the Game Mode or Do Not Disturb mode is enabled, you will also not see notifications from Kaspersky VPN Secure Connection and Kaspersky Password Manager applications installed on the same device.
Kaspersky VPN functionality is not available in some regions.
Battery Saver
When Battery Saver mode is activated, Kaspersky application postpones scheduled scan and update tasks. You can start scan and update tasks manually, if necessary.
You can also enable or disable Battery Saver mode in the PC performance optimization window by selecting or clearing the Battery Saver check box.
Page topOptimizing the load on the operating system
When you run a computer scan using Kaspersky application, it can consume significant system resources. In order to optimize the load on the system, you can configure Kaspersky application to run scan tasks (for system memory, the system partition, and startup objects) and to update databases when the computer is locked or the screen saver is activated. This additional setting allows you to enhance the security of your computer without sacrificing performance when you are using it.
If the computer is running on battery, Kaspersky application will not execute tasks when the computer is idle in order to prolong battery life.
To optimize the load on the operating system:
- Open the main application window.
- Click
in the lower part of the main window.
This opens the Settings window.
- Go to Performance settings → PC performance optimization.
- Select the Postpone computer scan tasks when the CPU and disk systems are at high load check box.