Miscellaneous Virus Information

By Rory Hakkarainen, roryh@sc.edu , 777-6015

 

1.        McAfee v4.5.1 multi-platform for desktop is now out.  It is different from v.4.5 in the way that it doe some things.  Please give me some time to play with it before you try and deploy it or ask me questions.  This version WILL support Windows ME.

 

2.        McAfee has come out with an installation designer that will allow me to make the virus software look like the way that I configured it on my machine and put out an MSI file with those settings.  This will be desirable for the vast majority of folks and make installation so much easier and quicker.  I can configure 2000, NT, 95, ME and 98 all from my one machine and put those settings into the MSI file.  I then plan on making a self-extracting and executable ZIP file for them to download rather than using DOS and PKUNZIP, etc.  If you want a special setup for a lab (other than what I come up with), you will probably have to install it the hard way and then Ghost the other machines.  I have just been working with version 1 of the product and they have already come out with version 1.1.  This is new.  I am trying to streamline the process.  Please give me some time.

 

3.        Normally I have everyone (everyone should be doing this) doing an autoUPGRADE.  This gets the new DAT files and the scan engine at the same time.  I put the sdat4XXX.exe (ex: sdat4136.exe) into a folder I have on Plato and rename it to setup.exe after deleting the old setup.exe.  The folder is \\plato\apps\free\virus\superdat.  It also contains two other necessary files: (1) setup.iss and (2) pkgdesc.ini.  There is also a “How to use auto…” Word document in the folder that is not necessary, but explains how the Superdat process works.  The sdat4xxx.exe is about 4.8 MB in size.  I just discovered through experimentation that if I put McAfee’s 4XXXxdat.exe (ex: 4136xdat.exe) into the folder and rename it to setup.exe rather than putting the sdat4XXX.exe into the folder and renaming it that: (1) it will update the DAT files only in the correct manner, (2) it is only about 1.52 MB in size, which will cut down on the upgrade time significantly for home modem users; and bandwith and upgrade time for backbone users as well.  I verified with McAfee tech support that it does work.  They had never done it this way (they were impressed and tried it themselves) and either did an update or upgrade against the two different files.  I told them that our clients got confused between upGRADES and upDATES and that I always wanted them to do it the same way.  The trick is that when I notice that there is a scan engine upGRADE I have to remember to use the Superdat instead of the xdat in the \\plato\apps\free\virus\superdat folder.  I am old, but will try and remember.  This should all be transparent to our clients.

 

4.        Confidential please!!!  We are working very hard on renewing McAfee.  Please hold on for a little longer.  The deal would include Groupshield and Webshield and support for many UNIX flavors.  The price is astronomical, but we are hoping McAfee will accommodate us at the price we can afford.   Keep your fingers crossed, as the deal is not DONE yet.

 

5.        The Virex product for Mac O/S X is not out yet.  We will let you know when that becomes available.                                                   

 

6.        Please disable WinScript handling (VBS) on the machines that you are responsible for.  See:  http://www.f-secure.com/virus-info/u-vbs/