How to configure your SMART Scan (Secure Malware Alert and Removal Tool)

Step 1: Locate your FTP information. If you do not have this information, or do not know where to find it, please refer to the Locating Your FTP Login Information section.

Step 2: On the main page of your dashboard, click the “Settings” tab.

Step 3: On the Settings page, click “Download Settings”.

Step 4: You may see a screen with two options seen below. Select the one that says “I want to provide this data myself manually”. If you do not see these options, ignore this step and continue.

Step 5: Select if you are using FTP or SFTP in the dropdown menu next to “Method for File Transfers”. If you do not know which your website is using, you are most likely using FTP. If you are still unsure, contact your server administrator or hosting provider for assistance.

Step 6: Enter your FTP host address in the “FTP Host Address” field. This is typically ftp.yourdomain.com OR your website’s IP address. When in doubt, use your website's IP address.

Step 7: Enter the port where your FTP service is running on the server in the “FTP / SFTP Port Number” field. Most commonly this will be port 21 for FTP, or port 22 for SFTP.

Step 8: Enter your website’s directory in the “Root Directory” field. If you do not know your website’s directory, either contact your developer or hosting provider to find it. We will not be able to locate this information for you.

Step 9: Enter the FTP username in the “User ID” field. Ensure there are no spaces before, after or in the username. SMART does not support usernames with spaces or % symbols in them.

Step 10: Enter the FTP password in the “Password” field. Ensure there are no spaces before, after or in the password. SMART does not support passwords with spaces in them.

Step 11: Select the “File Download Speed” in the dropdown menu. This determines how many connections SMART opens to scan files.

Step 12: Select the “Maximum Download Time” in the dropdown menu. This determines how long SMART will scan files before stopping until the next cycle. SMART will continue where it left off the next day/cycle

Step 13: Click the red “Submit” button to save the changes. Ensure it says “Information updated successfully” after it is done saving changes. If it says “Invalid form submit”, re-enter the information and try again.

If you would like SMART to remove malware automatically, continue on. If not, SMART is completely configured and you can stop here. A scan will run on the next cycle.

Step 14: Click the SMART Settings tab.

Step 15: Ensure the dropdown box says “Yes, automatically remove the malware found.”

Step 16: Click the red “Submit” button to save the changes. SMART will now remove malware automatically and is completely configured.

SMART Setup Tips

If you change your FTP password, you will have to update it in the SMART download settings or else SMART will not run.

SMART does not support usernames with spaces or % symbols in them.

SMART does not support passwords with spaces in them.

Ensure there are no blank spaces before or after any entries in the fields, this will cause an error if there are.