Staying secure with McAfee

McAfee VirusScan 6.01.2000.1
Contact:
Network Associates
4th Floor, Emgeen Chambers
10, Vidyanagari Marg
Kalina, Santacruz (East)
Mumbai - 400098
Tel: 022-693 5278
Fax: 022-614 7078
Price: Rs 1,200

The threat of a virus infection increases as more PCs in your organisation connect to the Internet. Traditionally, Viruses spread through floppies (file or boot infectors) and Word documents (macro viruses). Today’s generation of viruses and worms spread through e-mail attachments and malicious applets or ActiveX controls.

There are several anti-virus packages available in the market. Your selection should be based on two principal factors: how often does the vendor make updates available (over the Internet) and what kind of research centre or active defence system does the vendor have.

Let’s take McAfee as an example. Veteran PC users will fondly remember the DOS version of McAfee VirusScan. Back then, users freely exchanged the program on a floppy and typed commands and switches (at the MS-DOS prompt).

We installed version 6.01.2000.1 on an old Pentium II with Windows 95, and it worked gracefully. Minimum system requirements are a Pentium PC (100 MHz or faster), 32 MB RAM, and 32 MB hard disk space. The OS should be Windows 95 or later versions of Windows (including Windows NT and Windows XP-Home edition.)

Besides virus detection and removal, the package also includes a personal firewall. The package keeps up with the times by offering security for wireless devices and handheld computers too. It worked fine with a Palm and scanned applications during synchronisation.

The interface is self-explanatory and follows a browser design with its Back, Forward and Home buttons. Instead of buttons and menus there are URL-style links for the various functions. The main window displays information such as the date/time of last scan, and the current version of the virus definitions. It also informs you if updates are available and provides a link for updating the package.

Updates

The Update agent works silently in the background, checking for updates with the McAfee website every time you load the program. So, to fully leverage on this product, your PC should be connected to the Net and you should download the updates every week.

The updates are of three kinds: the anti-virus signature file (DAT), the Scan Engine, and the McAfee Firewall. Depending on developments at AVERT labs (McAfee’s research centre), updates are available for all or some of these on a weekly basis.

Scanning

As with other anti-virus packages, McAfee VirusScan offers On-Access, On-Demand and e-mail scanning. The Vshield scanner continuously monitors all activity and scans files or floppies on access. It also scans e-mail attachments and looks out for malicious Java applets or ActiveX controls. The new generation of viruses and worms can replicate and spread within minutes, so VirusScan includes a module called HAWK, which prevents viruses from spreading further.

Once an infected file is detected, VirusScan will attempt to clean it. If that fails, you have the option to delete the file or Quarantine it (store it in a contained folder on the hard disk) and send it to AVERT labs for analysis using the Send Virus utility.

The integrated Firewall keeps hackers and stealthy malicious programs at bay by providing Intrusion Detection, colour-coded and audible firewall alerts and enhanced graphical display of network activity. We could not test this feature due to a technical hitch.

Other features

Then there are other features like Safe & Sound (a backup utility), virus encyclopaedia (on the Web), Technical Support (through the McAfee website), and emergency disk creation. The range of anti-virus and intrusion detection features certainly makes this a complete personal computer security solution. The frequently available updates and robust support from McAfee are other reasons why you’ll want to have it installed in your PC.

Brian Pereira