Why would a scan filter policy that targets all executables return a lower file count than that of a Windows explorer search?

Article ID: 49439

Applies To

• Application Control Solution 6.1 SP1

Question

A Reference Machine Policy Scan returned 1566 EXE's compared to a Windows file search of the machine which returned 1640. Why would there be a difference of 74 items?

Answer

Just because there is a file that is a ".exe" does not necessarily mean it is in fact an executable. The following test was performed for comparative purposes:

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