jmolini@nasamail.nasa.gov (JAMES E. MOLINI) (03/16/90)
Another unnamed user (HBLADM1@UCONNVM.BITNET) writes: > We need advise please. > We have about 70 DOS machines here, some controlled by individuals, > some shared by several staff, and some available to the public. > We would like to have a virus detection capability-- a program > which would be housed in our micro support unit and only used > as part of trouble-shooting. > We would like to use SCAN, but the cost for one copy is the same > as the cost for 70 in our institutional setting ($1475). > Questions: 1. is the above a reasonable approach > 2. what software would VIRUS-L readers suggest You bring up an interesting point. How does someone do virus detection on a shoestring without violating copyrights, or shareware agreements? There happens to be an excellent little public domain program written by Len Levine called FILETEST that performs CRC's on files in your system. I believe that FILETEST, or some similar public domain program is an excellent product to put on all the PC's in the lab. It will (in most cases) DETECT an infection. But then you will need something like VIRUSCAN to IDENTIFY what that potential infection is. Nevertheless, you have reduced the investment you need to make in the identification utility since you only need it when something is flagged by the public domain program on one of the machines. This, however, assumes that you have fairly static executable configurations (no major code development, etc.) on the machines you are supporting. I will discuss this approach in greater detail if there is interest on the board. Jim Molini