PCDSAVT.RVW 950604 Comparison Review Company and product: S&S International plc. Alton House, Gatehouse Way Aylesbury, Bucks HP19 3XU England Phone: +44 1296 318700 Fax: +44 1296 318777 Sales: +44 1296 318800 Sales Fax: +44 1296 318888 BBS: +44 1296 318810 support@sands.co.uk S&S Software International, Inc. 17 New England Executive Park Burlington, MA 01803 USA +1-617-273-7412 fax"+1-617-273-7474 +1-800-595-9175 support@sands.com Dr. Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit (AVT) 7.10 Summary: Multilayered detection and disinfection system, strong scanning and disinfection components, intended for advanced use. Cost Rating (1-4, 1 = poor, 4 = very good) "Friendliness" Installation 2 Ease of use 3 Help systems 3 Compatibility 4 Company Stability 3 Support 3 Documentation 3 Hardware required 4 Performance 4 Availability 2 Local Support 3 General Description: Menu driven (TOOLKIT) activity monitoring (VirusGUARD, GUARDMEM), change detection (ViVerify, Certify), scanning (FINDVIRU), disinfection and operation restricting (Author, NOFLOPPY, NOHARD) suite of programs. Also contains additional utilities (SHRED, TKUTIL, DEFERBAT, DEFERKEY). Comparison of features and specifications User Friendliness Installation The program is shipped on non-writable 1.44M disks, two for DOS and one additional one for Windows. (Other disk formats can be requested.) There are two installation programs, both of which run from DOS. Windows installation will install all of the DOS software as well. The installation program will, at the user's discretion, also add the resident portion of the package to the AUTOEXEC.BAT file, however it does not affect the PATH statement, and therefore all virus checking must either start from within the \TOOLKIT directory (or whichever one the user creates), or be invoked with a full pathname. A handy feature is the inclusion of a card of installation instructions actually packed with the disks, but these are not quite enough for the novice. The instruction call for using the FINDVIRU program to check for infections before doing the installation (which is good) but don't say which disk it is on. (The file actually resides on the Toolkit DOS disk #2, so it is not intuitively obvious.) I have recommended the manual installation. The installation program provided is simple and quick, and I can see no problem with using it. However, the full advantage of this product is not, and probably cannot be, provided with an automated installation. Ease of use The TOOLKIT program provides a clear and uncluttered menuing system to access the various parts of the package. The screen messages and displays are intelligible and there is little chance for confusion. There are a number of command line options for use with the various programs when not using the TOOLKIT interface. The defaults are well chosen, and should be appropriate for most situations, and for novice users. For situations where client support is available, the message generated by VirusGuard on detection of a virus can be customized to direct the user to the local security support person. Help systems Online help is available. The Windows version contains the VIRUS-L FAQ document. (Careful readers will note that the FAQ is the 1992 version, but that was current at the time of testing.) The "Virus Encyclopedia" is also available online. Note that online help is currently the only source of information about the American offices. Compatibility No conflicts were encountered in testing. Company Stability S&S International is an established presence in the antiviral software field, and has been so for some years. For some years it published Virus News International (now Secure Computing). Company Support The manual no longer lists provision for support through distributors, but the online help (choose Index, then Distributors) lists a truly impressive array of agents. The earlier version I reviewed came from OnTrack in the United States, and I have been extremely impressed with the regularity of updates that they shipped. The current package appeared to come from the S&S office in Massachusetts, but no American address is given in the manual: you have to look it up in the online help. (I am told that an "American" edition is in process.) Documentation The documentation is an excellent study work for those just entering the computer virus field and wanting an introductory work. The explanation of how viral programs work is one of the best general treatments of the subject, even including suggestions for companies wishing to set up policies and procedures for in house data recovery teams. Even before the table of contents, there are sections detailing "Quick Virus Check", "Quick Repair", and "Quick Install" for the novice. The "Virus Encyclopedia", an excellent reference to known MS-DOS viral programs, is now a separate manual, but still included with the package. Hardware Requirements The Toolkit now requires 330K of memory and 2.5 to 4 megabytes of disk space to install (for DOS and Windows versions respectively). The FINDVIRU scanner can still be run from a floppy disk. Performance This package is consistently cited as being one of the two most accurate scanners for virus identification, and also one of the two best in terms of disinfection. The package now has the ability to scan "inside" archived and compressed files, although this is not enabled by default. NetWare and OS/2 versions are also available. Mac, NT and Windows 95 versions are in development. The TKUTIL program can remove references to CPAV, MSAV and NAV in startup files. Normally I would deplore a hostile action against a competing antiviral product, but I'm not sure that principle applies here. The action is not taken by default, and the user must find the refernce in the manual and specifically request the action. Also, these products have given such a high rate of false alerts that many antiviral researchers recommend against their use. Local Support The company seems to have become more responsive on the Internet, and from a call on VIRUS-L for review programs was the first to arrive. In addition, the East Coast office in the US provides both a World Wide Web site (http://www.sands.com) and ftp (ftp://ftp.sands.com). Support Requirements The package is easy to use, particularly in the areas of scanning and disinfection, and should not require any additional assistance in detection of known viral programs. However, the package has very strong and sophisticated protection components which would give fullest advantage when installed by knowledgeable support personnel. The ongoing upgrade programs provided should be very strongly considered in the case of this package. General Notes This package provides very strong antivirus protection to the advanced user, and very strong virus scanning capability for all users. Therefore, this package is highly recommended for use by advanced users, who are willing to make the commitment to study the material provided. The package is recommended for novice users where local support is available. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1992, 1995 PCDSAVT.RVW 950604 ====================== DECUS Canada Communications, Desktop, Education and Security group newsletters Editor and/or reviewer ROBERTS@decus.ca, RSlade@sfu.ca, Rob Slade at 1:153/733 Author "Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses" 0-387-94311-0/3-540-94311-0