[comp.virus] Requirements for Virus Checkers

76476.337@CompuServe.COM (Robert McClenon) (06/03/91)

>From:    microsoft!c-rossgr@uunet.uu.net

>>From:    padgett%tccslr.dnet@mmc.com (A. Padgett Peterson)

>>  6) Must be easy to remove for troubleshooting

>Hey, *my* code never needs to be removed! <grin>

Excuse me, but I use Virex-PC, which is Ross's product.  I do
occasionally need to remove it, not to troubleshoot IT, but because
something is incompatible with it.  One commercial game requires 540K
of FREE memory, not counting MOUSE.SYS, which it uses, and can't fit
if Virex-PC is installed.  A third-party fax board program has TSR
conflicts with Virex-PC.  I don't know what it is doing, but it tries
to take over the same interrupts as Virex-PC and the results are
unpredictable.  (Sometimes it refuses to run.  Sometimes it crashes.)
The need to remove an anti-viral program is not entirely a function of
the anti-viral program's flaws.  I have dealt with the problem by
defining a batch file which creates a dummy file which signifies that
on the next (warm) boot of my PC, Virex-PC is not to be loaded, and
then rebooting.  Anyway, Padgett is right.  A program must be easy to
remove in the event of trouble.  The trouble may not be the fault of
the program.  The game admits it is a hog.  The fax program is written
very sloppily, but it is worth the price I paid for it.  (It came free
with the fax modem board.)

          Robert McClenon
          Neither my employer nor anyone else paid me to say this.

c-rossgr@uunet.uu.net (06/19/91)

>From:    Robert McClenon <76476.337@CompuServe.COM>

(Sorry for the delay...offline for a while)

>Excuse me, but I use Virex-PC, which is Ross's product.  I do
>occasionally need to remove it, not to troubleshoot IT, but because
>something is incompatible with it.  One commercial game requires 540K
>of FREE memory, not counting MOUSE.SYS, which it uses, and can't fit
>if Virex-PC is installed.

The next version of the code runs the resident virus checker in 608
bytes, Robert.  I think I can shave about 150 more off of that....

>  A third-party fax board program has TSR
>conflicts with Virex-PC.  I don't know what it is doing, but it tries
>to take over the same interrupts as Virex-PC and the results are
>unpredictable.  (Sometimes it refuses to run.  Sometimes it crashes.)

Have you called tech support @ Microcom (919-490-1277) and told them
about it?  We might have a fix someplace around, or can attempt to
figure out what's wrong and fix it in the next release.

EVERYBODY: Never accept a problem with a piece of code: the vendor
can't fix it if they don't know there is a problem.

Ross