A new Nessus scan can be configured by clicking New Scan, and selecting a scan type. Scan templates fall into three categories: Discovery, Vulnerabilities, and Compliance.
We have options for a basic Host Discovery scan to identify live hosts/open ports or a variety of scan types such as the Basic Network Scan, Advanced Scan, Malware Scan, Web Application Tests, as well as scans targeted at specific CVEs and audit & compliance standards. A description of each scan type can be found here.