mtucker@greyrock.mso.colostate.edu (Michael R. Tucker) (04/24/91)
Hi everyone,
I work in a computer lab at CSU, and we find ourselves with a
little extra money in our budget to invest *maybe* in one of the
newer virus protection programs on the market. (we already have
Gatekeeper, and Disinfectant) I am looking for info on Symantec
Antivirus for Mac (SAM). Any reccomendations, cautions, steering
to other programs? Any help is appreciated............
-Thanks
--
| Mike Tucker | " Great Spirits have always |
| mtucker@greyrock.mso.colostate.edu | encountered violent opposition |
| mtucker@lamar.colostate.edu | from mediocre minds." |
| *opinions are my own* | - A. Einstein | weiss@watson.seas.ucla.edu (Michael Weiss) (04/25/91)
In article <MTUCKER.91Apr23141932@greyrock.greyrock.mso.colostate.edu> mtucker@greyrock.mso.colostate.edu (Michael R. Tucker) writes: > newer virus protection programs on the market. (we already have > Gatekeeper, and Disinfectant) I am looking for info on Symantec > Antivirus for Mac (SAM). Any reccomendations, cautions, steering > to other programs? Any help is appreciated............ You know what? There's not a whole lot to recommend SAM over Gate and Dis. SAM does the same as both of the two you currently have, and it has some nice password protection. You can get updates on viruses over the phone (they also send update cards to all registered users). OTOH, I'm not too sure that it's worth all the money. Granted, it's not all THAT expensive, but it's more than free (for Gate and Dis). Also, SAM is not as user-friendly as Dis.
hoepfner@heawk1.gsfc.nasa.gov (Patrick Hoepfner) (04/26/91)
weiss@watson.seas.ucla.edu (Michael Weiss) writes: >In article <MTUCKER.91Apr23141932@greyrock.greyrock.mso.colostate.edu> mtucker@greyrock.mso.colostate.edu (Michael R. Tucker) writes: >> newer virus protection programs on the market. (we already have >> Gatekeeper, and Disinfectant) I am looking for info on Symantec >> Antivirus for Mac (SAM). Any reccomendations, cautions, steering >> to other programs? Any help is appreciated............ >You know what? There's not a whole lot to recommend SAM over Gate and Dis. For the purposes you stated, use in a public area by many different people will use the Mac (if I remember correctly) you will find that you will NEED to password protect this file. We have some in a public use area and you may be surprised who messes with the CDEVs and changes things. The other thing is that the authors of Disinfectant and Virus Detective have no plans to update their programs to handle the new HyperCard virus (MacWEEK 4/16/91). SAM and Virex (from Microcom) have been updated to handle thisnew virus. You would have to find out if GateKeeper offers protection from this virus. >Also, SAM is not as user-friendly as Dis. This is a matter of opinion! When you have more features and options you have more items to change. If you don't modify SAM's default settings, then it is as easy to use as Disinfectant (IMHO). Don't get me wrong. I think that there NEEDS to be a freeware or shareware product and I think that John Norstad (author of Disinfectant "freeware") and Jeff Shulman (author of Virus Detective "shareware") should be given a medal. I just think that many Mac's in public use areas need the password protection and audit trail ability that only the commercial packages have. And because of the financial investments of these companies, they will provide the virus updates that John and Jeff may not be able to provide for time and financial reasons. As always, just my thoughts... hoepfner@heasfs.gsfc.nasa.gov NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
pejacoby@mmm.serc.3m.com (Paul E. Jacoby) (04/26/91)
In article <hoepfner.672626123@heawk1> hoepfner@heawk1.gsfc.nasa.gov (Patrick Hoepfner) writes: > The other thing is that the authors of Disinfectant and Virus Detective > have no plans to update their programs to handle the new HyperCard virus > (MacWEEK 4/16/91). SAM and Virex (from Microcom) have been updated to > handle thisnew virus. You would have to find out if GateKeeper offers > protection from this virus. But you need to keep this in context--both Jon Norstad and Jeff Shulman have apparently said that the reason they will NOT update is because the virus is written in HyperTalk, and as such is easily modifiable to avoid whatever detection-mechanism they implement. Will everyone who uses SAM or Virex be forced to upgrade again and again as various individuals modify the HC script for the new virus? >>Also, SAM is not as user-friendly as Dis. > This is a matter of opinion! When you have more features and options > you have more items to change. If you don't modify SAM's default > settings, then it is as easy to use as Disinfectant (IMHO). While I will not deny the SAM has more options, it is FAR from friendly with even the defaults. The reason I say this is that blasted floppy-scanning dialog! It has to be the most intrusive, obnoxious, machine-slowing bits of code every written. The fact that Disinfectant's INIT can do the same job without so much as BEEPING makes me hate SAM all the more. And why should I be warned by SAM every time the Font/DA Mover adds something to the System file? This is normal behavior, but it can scare the beejeebers out of a neophyte user. "The documentation TOLD me to do this, and now the program is giving me a virus!" Personal opinions also; I am forced to use SAM at work, and dislike it immensely. I use Disinfectant at home exclusively. -- .--------------------------------------------------------------------. | Paul E. Jacoby, 3M Company | | | Maplewood, MN 55144-1000 | Parachuting? Why jump out of a | | => pejacoby@3m.com | perfectly good airplane? |
jln@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (John Norstad) (04/27/91)
In article <1991Apr26.130358.2711@mmm.serc.3m.com> pejacoby@mmm.serc.3m.com (Paul E. Jacoby) writes: > But you need to keep this in context--both Jon Norstad and Jeff Shulman > have apparently said that the reason they will NOT update is because the > virus is written in HyperTalk, and as such is easily modifiable to avoid > whatever detection-mechanism they implement. Will everyone who uses SAM > or Virex be forced to upgrade again and again as various individuals > modify the HC script for the new virus? That's what Henry Norr wrote in his MacWeek article, but he must have gotten this from Jeff, not from me. As I told Henry, the reason I'm not updating Disinfectant for the new HyperCard virus is because I don't make any attempt in Disinfectant to deal with the entire complex issue of application-specific viruses which spread via the application scripting languages. These are very different from the other kinds of viruses which Disinfectant was designed to deal with. Adding detection and repair capabilities to Disinfectant for these kinds of viruses would be a very major task, and I don't have the time or the energy at this point for such a project. John Norstad Academic Computing and Network Services Northwestern University j-norstad@nwu.edu
pejacoby@mmm.serc.3m.com (Paul E. Jacoby) (04/30/91)
In article <1991Apr26.193058.17522@casbah.acns.nwu.edu> jln@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (John Norstad) writes: >In article <1991Apr26.130358.2711@mmm.serc.3m.com> >pejacoby@mmm.serc.3m.com (Paul E. Jacoby) writes: >> But you need to keep this in context--both Jon Norstad and Jeff Shulman >> have apparently said that the reason they will NOT update is because the ^^^^^^^^^^ Good thing I put this in here...that's what I get for quoting something from MacWeek :-) >That's what Henry Norr wrote in his MacWeek article, but he must have >gotten this from Jeff, not from me. As I told Henry, the reason I'm not >updating Disinfectant for the new HyperCard virus is because I don't make >any attempt in Disinfectant to deal with the entire complex issue of >application-specific viruses which spread via the application scripting Thanks for the clarification Jon, much appreciated. -- | Paul E. Jacoby, 3M Company | | | Maplewood, MN 55144-1000 | Parachuting? Why jump out of a | | => pejacoby@3m.com | perfectly good airplane? | | (612) 737-3211 | |
LARRY@slacvm.slac.stanford.edu (Larry ) (05/01/91)
In article <MTUCKER.91Apr23141932@greyrock.greyrock.mso.colostate.edu> mtucker@greyrock.mso.colostate.edu (Michael R. Tucker) writes: > Any reccomendations, cautions, steering > to other programs? After using SAM for a long time, I started using Rival, by Microseeds. This program is just as effective, and is as unobtrusive as SAM is obtrusive. It's easy to use, and it works. It's also easy to update. User groups can get free copies of new antitoxins. They are in the midst of making a system 7 compatable version which will also work on the HC virus. I like it.