Antivirus recommendations for Illumina Sequencing Instruments

General antivirus (AV) and other Security information is available under the Control Computer Security section of the Illumina Security and Networking Guide. The whole of this document also details general instrument control computer best practices that should be considered in addition to recommendations for AV software configurations.

AV software protects the instrument control computer from viruses and other forms of malware. To avoid data loss or interruptions, use the following guidelines to configure an antivirus software of your choice.

• Configure software for manual scans and do not allow automatic scanning.

• Perform manual scans only when the instrument is idle and not actively performing a sequencing run.

• If possible, perform several sequencing runs with the AV software in listening or training mode to allow it to identify normal use patterns.

• Set AV updates to download without user authorization, but to not install automatically.

  • Install updates only when the instrument is not in use and the computer can be rebooted.

  • Do not allow the control computer to reboot automatically after install.

• Exclude the application directory and data drives from any real-time file system protection. Apply this setting to the following drive locations:

  • C:\Illumina

  • C:\ProgramData\Illumina

  • D:\Illumina

  • D:\Output (NextSeq 500/550 and MiniSeq)

  • Z:\outputfolder (NovaSeq 6000 only)

  • See the instrument Site Prep Guide for instrument specific details.

• When deploying AV software across multiple instruments, install and configure the AV software on a subset of instruments first and monitor for any issues before expanding to additional instruments.

• Leave Windows Defender disabled.

For details on configuring antivirus software for your system, see the Site Prep Guide for the instrument. Contact the antivirus software vendor for software-specific instructions.

For any feedback or questions regarding this article (Illumina Knowledge Article #2278), contact Illumina Technical Support [e-mail].