Anti-Virus Software

What NOT to use:

The following are products that I feel are not up to par as far as
AV software goes. I would avoid using them if possible, opting for
some of the products in the following list. However, if these
programs are the only ones you can find, then they certainly are
better than nothing at all.

þ Norton Anti-Virus (NAV)

þ Central Point Anti-Virus (CPAV)

þ Dos v6.0 Anti-Virus



What TO use:


These are some of the AV products that I DO recommend for you to
use. The more Anti-Virus software, the better protected you are.
Allow me to quickly explain what a Heuristic Scan is.

Normally, a virus scanner will look for a 'signature', a series of
bytes that occur inside the virus that can be used to identify a
specific virus. A huruistic scan takes a different approach. It
evaluates the code and looks for virus-like programming techniques.
This technique enables the scanner to find new or unknown viruses
and variations but also tends to cause more false positives and
takes longer. It is a very useful feature.


þ VirusScan - by MacAfee, Also known as SCAN. This is the
standard, and recognizes more than 1300 virus strains. This
program is readily available and offers frequent updates.
{Shareware}

þ F-Prot Anti Virus- by Frisk Software, I highly recommend this
program. It recognizes nearly as many viruses as SCAN and
recognizes trojan horse programs, as well. It has both a menu
driven and command line interface, huriustic scan, virus
database, and detailed descriptions. {Free for personal use}

þ Thunder Byte Anti Virus- This is a good package that does alot
of interesting things. It will create a rescue disk, is highly
configurable, does CRC test for changed files, and has an
adjustable heruistic scan. It will also allow you to replace
the bootstrap loader on your hard drive with a new one that
will perform an automatic CRC check upon bootup. This will
allow you to be instantly informed of any boot sector viruses.
{ShareWare}

þ Doctor Solomon's Anti Virus ToolKit - Although more expensive
than the others, this program has some interesting utilities.
It has "anti-stealth" technology, and an authorization TSR, and
a Certify TSR, which only allows you to run programs that have been
checked and had their CRC logged in.


Well, that's it for now. Now that we have covered the basics, that
will allow us to get into the more fun stuff next time, like how to
play with virues. See ya guys next time.