Anti-Virus Recommendations for SOLIDWORKS

SOLIDWORKS products are developed to work with all anti-virus applications, but it is not feasible for their development team to validate all the different anti-virus and security softwares. In general, these exceptions are not required. However, in cases where installation errors or performance issues are caused by the anti-virus system, these are the specific processes and folders that should be excluded by the anti-virus.

For additional information and the latest recommendations from SOLIDWORKS, review updated notes on their system requirements page here:

https://www.solidworks.com/support/system-requirements

General Recommendations

• Use a trusted antivirus product.
• Keep your antivirus product updated to the latest version.
• Stay updated with the latest antivirus definition/signature file (This defines the known current vulnerabilities and exemptions).
• Consider creating exemptions for SOLIDWORKS file types and folder locations to improve SOLIDWORKS file based runtime performance such as File Open/Save/Save As and PDM Vault Checkin/Checkout.
• If you encounter install, runtime errors, or warnings from your antivirus product, first check the SOLIDWORKS Knowledge Base for known issues, then contact your SOLIDWORKS reseller.

SOLIDWORKS Exclusions

• Sldworks.exe
• sldworks_fs.exe
• swShellFileLauncher.exe
• Swboengine.exe (Task scheduler background process)
• SolidWorksLicTemp.0001
• SolidWorksLicTemp.0002
• SolidWorksLicTemp.0003 - depends on the number of instances of SolidWorks running
• Swbgproc.exe (process which silently updates HLR drawing views to HQ from draft)

PDM Exclusions

The main SOLIDWORKS PDM services (processes) on the server side are:

• ArchiveServerService.exe
• ConisioDbServer.exe
• ConisioWebServer.exe

The PDM client processes are:

• ViewServer.exe
• EdmServer.exe
• ConisioAdmin.exe
• FileViewer.exe
• Search.exe
• Report.exe
• Inbox.exe

Notes

• There maybe other processes that run based on specific add-ins being used on the client machine. It is recommended to work with your IT to identify any that maybe monitored and blocked to add additional exclusions.
• Information gathered from SOLIDWORKS Knowledge base articles: S-052103, S-017774, S-015681, S-050192.

The guidance provided in this article is provided for educational purposes to assist you with technical matters related to the article topic. You are responsible for ensuring that any action you take (whether based on the guidance in this article or otherwise) conforms to your organization’s information security policies and procedures. Before making any system change or downloading any software, we recommend that you consult with your internal security team to assess the suitability of the recommendations within your organization. Hawk Ridge Systems LLC is not liable for any consequences resulting from any action taken based on the information provided in this article.