The first line above sets an environment variable FP-DATA which F-PROT.EXE uses to store a time-stamp file (in this example SCAN.DAT). Use of the /TODAY switch causes F-PROT.EXE to evaluate the current date with the date in the time-stamp file and, based on the return value, scan or not scan.

F-PROT.EXE is a 16-bit application used to scan for viruses and can be run in command line mode. This file is available with each workstation product including Command AntiVirus for Windows 3.1x, Windows 95 and Windows NT. Below is a listing of the available commandline switches available for Command AntiVirus for DOS with switches used by default color coded in blue.

SWITCH	Description
/640	Scan only the first 640K of memory. Some video drivers require this.
/ACCESS	Prevents the last access date from changing on a Novell file server. This maintains compatibility with archival software that relies on access dates.
/ALL	Search all files, not just executables.
/ANALYZE	Perform a heuristic analysis instead of a signature-based scan.
/APPEND	When used with /REPORT switch will append the new scan report to an existing report file.
/ARCHIVE	Search within .ZIP files. Note that PKUNZIP must be within a PATHed directory, also requires a TEMP environment variable be set.
/AUTO	Use with /DELETE or /DISINF switches so Command AntiVirus for DOS will not prompt you before deleting or disinfecting a file. By default /DELETE and /DISINF ask if the file should be deleted or disinfected.
/BEEP	Sound an alarm when a virus is found.
/BOOT	Scan for MBR and boot sector viruses.
/COMMAND	Force command-line mode. This switch won't display any of the Command AntiVirus for DOS menus.
/DELETE	Delete all infected files, instead of listing them.
/DISINF	Disinfect whenever possible. It will never delete a file that can be disinfected. However, this option does delete first-generation virus samples. A first-generation virus is the "starter" program that begins the infection process. It is rare to encounter one.
/EXT	Specify additional filename extensions to scan. Separate each filename extension with a . (period) For example: /EXT=EXE.COM.PRG.DBL.
/FILE	Scan for file viruses. This is the default.
/FREEZE	Halt the computer when a virus is found.
/HARD	Scan all of the physical hard disks in the system.
/HELP or /?	Display a list of available options.
/INTER	Force interactive mode.
/LIST	Produce a report of all files checked, not just those which are infected.
/MONO	Force monochrome screen mode. This is useful with some laptops.
/MULTI	Prompts for multiple diskettes to scan.
/NET	Scans all network drives.
/NOBOOT	Do not scan for MBR or boot sector viruses.
/NOBREAK	Do not allow the user to press [ESC] key to abort a scan.
/NODOC	Excludes all .DO? and .XL? files from being scanned.
/NOFILE	Do not scan for file viruses.
/NOMEM	Do not scan memory.
/NOPACKED	Do not search inside packed files.
/NOSUB	Do not scan sub-directories.
/NOUSER	Do not search for user-defined virus patterns. This is the default.
/NOWRAP	Do not wrap text in reports.
/OLD	Do not display out of date warning that occurs after 90 days.
/PACKED	Search inside packed files. This is the default.
/PAGE	Pause after every screen when displaying information in command line mode.
/RENAME	Rename infected files. You may use this switch with /AUTO.
/REPORT	Sends the output to the specified file, in addition to displaying it on the screen. For example, /REPORT=virus.txt
/SILENT	Generates no screen output at all. This is useful when running the program from a batch file where you will check for the return code.
/TODAY	The date of the last scan is stored in an F-PROT.DAT file. If the next scan finds the same date, Command AntiVirus returns an errorlevel 99 and aborts the scan.
/USER	Search for user-defined virus signatures.

This is a sample command line that would be placed as one of the first few lines in an AUTOEXEC.BAT file. The goal is to perform a daily, full scan before logging onto a network or loading any TSR programs. In this example, it will run F-PROT only once a day, scan the entire hard drive and freeze the computer on virus detection:

C:\F-PROT\F-PROT /HARD /FREEZE /TODAY

In the next example, Command AntiVirus will create a scan report file, only scan the root of the hard drive and rename any files found to be infected:

C:\F-PROT\F-PROT /HARD /RENAME /REPORT=C:\MYDOX\SCAN.RPT /NOSUB