anti-virus software

Anti-virus (or "anti-viral") software is a class of program that searches your hard drive and floppy disks for any known or potential viruses. The market for this kind of program has expanded because of Internet growth and the increasing use of the Internet by businesses concerned about protecting their computer assets.

Selected Links

Here are three of the most popular anti-virus programs. You can download free-trial copies from their sites.

Dr. Solomon's Software MacAfee Virus Scan Norton Anti-Virus (see Web Sites below)

Virus Hoaxes: Not Just Harmless Pranks

There are a lot of viruses out there. And then there are some viruses that aren't really out there at all. Hoax virus warning messages are more than mere annoyances. After repeatedly becoming alarmed, only to learn that there was no real virus, computer users may get into the habit of ignoring all virus warning messages, leaving them especially vulnerable to the next real, and truly destructive, virus.

Fortunately, NAI.com tracks virus hoaxes as well as genuine viruses. Next time you receive an urgent virus warning message, check it against the list of known virus hoaxes below. If it’s a hoax, chances are you’ll find it in our database. And if it’s a real virus, we’ll probably know about it already, and you’ll find it in NAI.com’s Virus Information Center.

Don't let your guard down! Remember: Never open an email attachment unless you know what it is--even if it comes from someone you know and trust.

Be aware that the people who create viruses can use known hoaxes to their advantage. A good example is the AOL4FREE hoax. This began as a hoax warning about a nonexistent virus. Once it was known that this was a hoax, somebody began to distribute a destructive trojan horse (a trojan horse differs from a virus in that it does not reproduce itself) in a file named AOL4FREE attached to the original hoax virus warning! The lessons are clear:

· Always remain vigilant

· Never open a suspicious attachment

Anti-Virus Web Sites

· http://www.mcafee.com/ Welcome to McAfee

· ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/ CD-ROM FTP

· http://www.datafellows.com/ Data Fellows World-Wide Web Server

· http://www.datarescue.com/avpbase/ DataRescue - Index for the AVP On-Line Virus Database

· http://www.ot.com/~dmuth/virus/virus.html Doug Muth's virus homepage

· http://www.drsolomon.com/ Dr. Solomon's - Computer Virus Information And More

· http://www.valleynet.com/~joe/Eddy Willems: HAVSMAIN

· http://www.eliashim.com/files .html EliaShim: Download Files

· http://www.brs.ibm.com/download.html IBM AntiVirus Signature Downloads

· ftp://ftp.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/pub/virus/texts/ Infomatik FTP

· http://www.metro.ch/avpve/ Metropolitan Network BBS Inc. - AVP Virus Encyclopedia

· http://webworlds.co.uk/dharley/ One of David Harley's home pages....

· http://www.safe.net/safety/ Safetynet's Security and Anti-Virus Cafe'

· http://www.simtel.net/simtel.net/mirrors.txt SimTel FTP Site

· http://www.stiller.com/ Stiller Research Home Page

· http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/download.html#nav Symantec- Norton Group AV Center - Download Updates

· http://diversicomm.com/scanner/INDEX.HTM The Scanner Home page

· http://www.thunderbyte.com/ ThunderBYTE World Wide Web Server: Anti-Virus

· http://www.invircible.com/ Vine Computer Industry

· http://www.virusbtn.com/ Virus Bulletin Home Page

· http://www.rollanet.org/computer/ Computer Information Corner

· http://www.techconnected.com/ CONNECTED ON-LINE

What is Norton AntiVirus?

Norton AntiVirus (NAV) is a virus protection program distributed by Symantec. It offers an array of effective protection features, including infected file quarantine, online pattern updates, and an automatic scheduler.

Norton AntiVirus is designed to start running as soon as the computer's operating system starts. It runs unobtrusively in the background, checking all vulnerable files for possible infection by mischievous, sometimes malevolent programs called viruses and worms. NAV does this by looking for the identifying signatures of these worms and viruses. When it detects an infected file, it notifies the user and manages the infection according the preferences of the user.

VIRUS SCAN NOW ACTIVE IN TECNET (Test and Evaluation Community Network)

Several weeks ago, there was some concern by a group of senior users over the existence of a virus that was being allegedly transmitted via TECNET. The particular virus was uploaded as an attachment to a binary file and subsequently caused problems with certain applications on the receiver's end. This virus did not originate in TECNET. Nor can a user infect TECNET itself through introduction of a virus. TECNET can, however, serve as the pass-through "carrier" for an externally introduced virus. To counteract the immediate problem, TECNET made both versions of the DoD sanctioned anti-virus software available to all affected users. These software packages remain downloadable via the anti-virus File Repository on TECNET and TECWEB. Since that time, TECNET has acquired and installed a virus checking routine to seek and eliminate viruses as they pass through the TECNET system. This software is geared to scan all incoming File Transfer Protocol (FTP), File Repository, Bulletin Board and Electronic Mail incoming file transfers. When a virus is detected, the software is geared to remove the offending virus, make a record of the event and restore the corrected file to active use. Unfortunately, this software is not effective against all the conditions by which a virus can propagate. For example, if the incoming file is compressed in a .zip, .tar or some other compression format, the anti-virus scan will miss any embedded viral material. Likewise, and ironically, not all application borne viruses, like the famous Wazoo virus, are detectable. While TECNET is now proud to offer a front line of protection against the most serious of PC and MAC client viral attacks, it is still wise to install and use one of the DoD sanctioned anti-virus programs to screen all incoming files on your remote system.