[comp.virus] AI in Anti-Viral products

71435.1777@CompuServe.COM (Bob Bosen) (03/01/91)

What exactly is AI anyway? I've heard this buzzword used and abused
for years and I avoid it because I think almost everybody interprets
it differently.

SafeWord VIRUS-Safe "learns" a little bit as it is used. I doubt if
this is what you are referring to as true "AI", but it is pretty smart
and it helps to simplify the lives of your users. Basically, it
maintains a list of programs whose integrity it has already
authenticated, along with the rules the user (or his supervisor) has
established regarding when, how, and how often to re-check the
integrity of each file. Whenever a user attempts to execute a program
whose name is not on this list, SafeWord VIRUS-Safe automatically
opens a dialog window and informs the user that it has not yet
"learned" how to authenticate this program. The user is asked if (s)he
would like to define a set of simple rules for authentication of the
program now and in the future. Any rules the user provides during the
ensuing short dialog are retained and enforced from then on.

Is that AI? Not by my definition. But it's probably more or less along
the lines you want to achieve... Certainly it works. In SafeWord
VIRUS-Safe, we call it "LEARN mode".


- -Bob Bosen-
Enigma Logic Inc (Creators of SafeWord VIRUS-Safe [Now Shareware])
2151 Salvio Street #301
Concord, CA   94520
USA

Tel: (415) 827-5707
FAX: (415) 827-2593
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