To run a scan in safe mode, you can use the command-line scanner ecls.exe (located in the ESET folder within Programs directory).


You will need to have basic knowledge on how to use Windows Command Prompt to understand and run the following; 


Open Command Prompt and enter:

"The full\Path to ecls\ecls.exe" --help

e.g "C:\Program Files\ESET\ESET Smart Security\ecls.exe" --help

 

That will give you the list of switches to use, which I've copied below.

ESET Security on-demand scanner

Usage: ecls [OPTIONS..] FILES..

 

Options:

  /base-dir=FOLDER  load modules from FOLDER

  /quar-dir=FOLDER  quarantine FOLDER

  /exclude=MASK  exclude files matching MASK from scanning

  /subdir  scan subfolders (default)

  /no-subdir  do not scan subfolders

  /max-subdir-level=LEVEL  maximum sub-level of folders within folders to

  scan

  /symlink  follow symbolic links (default)

  /no-symlink  skip symbolic links

  /ads  scan ADS (default)

  /no-ads  do not scan ADS

  /log-file=FILE  log output to FILE

  /log-rewrite  overwrite output file (default - append)

  /log-console  log output to console (default)

  /no-log-console  do not log output to console

  /log-all  also log clean files

  /no-log-all  do not log clean files (default)

  /aind  show activity indicator

  /auto  scan and automatically clean all local disks

Scanner options:

  /files  scan files (default)

  /no-files  do not scan files

  /memory  scan memory.

  /boots  scan boot sectors

  /no-boots  do not scan boot sectors (default)

  /arch  scan archives (default)

  /no-arch  do not scan archives

  /max-obj-size=SIZE  only scan files smaller than SIZE megabytes

  (default 0 = unlimited)

  /max-arch-level=LEVEL  maximum sub-level of archives within archives

  (nested archives) to scan

  /scan-timeout=LIMIT  scan archives for LIMIT seconds at maximum

  /max-arch-size=SIZE  only scan the files in an archive if they are

  smaller than SIZE (default 0 = unlimited)

  /max-sfx-size=SIZE  only scan the files in a self-extracting

  archive if they are smaller than SIZE

  megabytes (default 0 = unlimited)

  /mail  scan email files (default)

  /no-mail  do not scan email files

  /mailbox  scan mailboxes

  /no-mailbox  do not scan mailboxes (default)

  /sfx  scan self-extracting archives (default)

  /no-sfx  do not scan self-extracting archives

  /rtp  scan runtime packers (default)

  /no-rtp  do not scan runtime packers

  /unsafe  scan for potentially unsafe applications

  /no-unsafe  do not scan for potentially unsafe

  applications (default)

  /unwanted  scan for potentially unwanted applications

  /no-unwanted  do not scan for potentially unwanted

  applications (default)

  /suspicious  scan for suspicious applications (default)

  /no-suspicious  do not scan for suspicious applications

  /heur  enable heuristics (default)

  /no-heur  disable heuristics

  /adv-heur  enable Advanced heuristics (default)

  /no-adv-heur  disable Advanced heuristics

  /ext=EXTENSIONS  scan only EXTENSIONS delimited by colon

  /ext-exclude=EXTENSIONS  exclude EXTENSIONS delimited by colon from

  scanning

  /clean-mode=MODE  use cleaning MODE for infected objects.

  Available options: none, standard (default),

  strict, rigorous, delete

  /quarantine  copy infected files (if cleaned) to Quarantine

  (supplements ACTION)

  /no-quarantine  do not copy infected files to Quarantine

General options:

  /help  show help and quit

  /version  show version information and quit

  /preserve-time  preserve last access timestamp

 

Exit codes:

  0  no threat found

  1  threat found and cleaned

  10  some files could not be scanned (may be threats)

  50  threat found

  100  error