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Law Technology Product News (Volume 6, Issue 4, p. 31, col. 1)
April 1999

Anti-Virus Software: Nuking the Bugs

by Wayne Spivak

SEVERAL times each week, someone sends me e-mail saying "Don't open files called 'Spot,' they contain a Virus!" Inevitably, I write back saying that according to the Symantec Anti-Virus Center, and McAfee Information Library, the virus is a hoax!

Every major anti-virus software manufacturer has a research and development Web site that can inform you of what's real and what's not. They are useful additions to your bookmarks.

It's a very good idea to use anti-virus software on your computer to be safe. The cost of losing my data and/or reconstructing systems makes buying anti-virus software very appealing. To date, with the exception of disks taken from the college where I teach, (I presume they contain viruses), I have never been infected.

I can't say this of some of my clients. For the most part, they have been infected by the less voracious varieties, which are annoying, but not damaging. However, one client did lose most of the data on about a dozen machines because of a virus.

What is a computer virus? According to the Symantec Anti-Virus Research Center a computer virus is "A parasitic program written intentionally to enter a computer without the user's permission or knowledge."

There are several different types of viruses. Again according to Symantec,

"Virus[es] are classified by the ways they infect computer systems:

Program: Executable program files such as .Com, .Exe, .Ovl, .Drv, .Sys, .Bin

Boot: Boot Record, Master Boot, FAT and Partition Table.

Multipartite: Both program and boot infector.

Anti-virus software is offered in several different varieties. There are client software programs and server software programs. There also are specialty programs, such as e-mail scanning software.

Because most of us use a workstation, you should install both the anti-virus program and the "shield" program. This "shield" program constantly monitors all files (or executables programs where most viruses live) used by all your programs.

As in any type of system providing protection, there is a cost to the benefit. In the case of anti-virus software, it's a decrease in system performance. Remember that each file you access is checked against known viruses. This takes time, and time is akin to performance. However, it may just be worth the effort, especially if you get infected!

Most of the software manufacturers now have some sort of automated system for updating the virus definitions (also called signatures, which detect the virus code) and also the fix or cleaning codes. If you look at a vendor, and they don't offer this type of service, usually through the Internet, you're wasting your money. Each week, a new virus is detected, and the signature files are updated.

Viruses are a way of life on any computer platform. Anti-virus software is now a required program!

ANTI-VIRUS VENDORS

(Software specifically made for the desktop)

Wayne Spivak is president of Bellmore, N.Y.'s SBA*Consulting. His e-mail address is wspivak@sbaconsulting.com.