Yes, the sale is a positive. At least they got
rid of something which may potentially distract them
from focusing on more important things...
To follow up on the technical comparison between
the NAV and MCAF VirusScan, I found the testing results
from PC Magazine Online. Not surprisingly Norton Anti-virus
won the Editor's Choice (May 14, 1996)
(or go to pcmag.com for
a complete description)
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Editors' Choice
Norton AntiVirus for Windows 95
Norton AntiVirus for NetWare
The Chicken Little predictions of 8,500 known viruses attacking your PC have not come to pass--and they probably never will. But for
the 200 or so that truly exist
in the wild, no better desktop protection exists today than our Editors' Choice, Symantec Corp.'s Norton AntiVirus for Windows 95.
Symantec's Norton AntiVirus for NetWare Version 2.0 receives our Editors' Choice for networked antivirus protection.
Norton AntiVirus, the most consistent of the products we tested, made excellent use of Windows 95's features and detected nearly
every virus we threw at it. A highly customizable utility, Norton AntiVirus also makes very effective use of Windows 95's tabbed dialog
box metaphor.
Though DOS-based TSRs have proved effective at detecting viruses, they don't always work under Windows 95. As a result, Norton
AntiVirus uses a VxD (Auto-Protect) for real-time signature scanning. Scanning inbound and outbound files, along with all inserted
media, Auto-Protect caught 100 percent of our boot-sector and file-based viruses and let only two polymorphic viruses slide. Norton
AntiVirus can also detect viruses in .ZIP files. We were also pleased to find that the utility could detect and remove the Word Concept
macro virus.
Is there any room for improvement here? Sure. Norton AntiVirus could offer users more control when they use the AutoProtect module.
Currently, you can't make the module scan a particular directory or file.
Command Software Systems' F-Prot Professional for Windows 95 deserves honorable mention here. Although it lacks the smooth
Windows 95 integration of Norton AntiVirus, it was virtually unbeatable when it came to virus detection.
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For McAfee Associates: VirusScan for Windows 95, BootShield:
A veteran in the antivirus wars, McAfee' VirusScan for Windows 95 ($65) proved the most Windows 95-ready of all the antivirus
products in this evaluation.
VShield 95, McAfee's real-time virus protection, is available via the Windows Taskbar, and you can scan for viruses right from the
Windows Explorer. On our detection tests, VirusScan for Windows 95 missed only one in-the-wild file infector but, like IBM AntiVirus,
skipped 11 boot-sector viruses. The boot-sector misses occur because of the way Windows 95 accesses the boot sectors on floppy
disks. McAfee is aware of this and plans to have a fix for it in the next version. The program can identify macro viruses currently and
should be able to remove the more common ones in the next release.
BootShield ($35), McAfee's companion software, works with all DOS and Windows-based antivirus programs and includes McAfee's
Scan for DOS. Its main component, BootLock, monitors the boot sector on your hard disk and effectively prevents a virus from
modifying the boot sector, legitimately or not. BootLock will not keep a virus from attacking the file allocation table or the system setup
(CMOS) areas of your computer directly, though.
While BootShield protects your boot sector from virus attack, VirusScan uses Code Tracing for rule-based signature scanning and
Code Matrix to identify polymorphic viruses. VShield easily caught files copied to and from our test system across the network and
from a floppy disk, and it also stopped infected files from leaving the system.
McAfee has enhanced VirusScan with new features such as integration into Explorer's right-mouse-button functionality. A context
menu can pop up with a Scan for Viruses option. In addition, you can scan a single file by simply dragging it onto the VirusScan icon.
With VirusScan, you also can create VirusScan Configuration (VSC) files to eliminate reselecting scan options for often-repeated
tasks. VirusScan will create a shortcut to VSC , so you can launch it from your desktop.
VirusScan was able to remove most of the viruses in our test sample. A right mouse click on the infected file brings up a menu that
lets you choose how to handle the infected file. One of the few features missing from VirusScan is the ability to create a rescue disk, though it does ship with its own. Activity logging is solid if not too fancy, and integration with Windows 95 ranks first rate. In all, McAfee has delivered another fine product, and once VirusScan improves its boot-sector virus detection, it will warrant a wholehearted recommendation. |
