PCVIRCID.RVW 930819 Comparison Review Company and product: Parsons Technology One Parsons Drive P. O. Box 100 Hiawatha, IA 52233-0100 USA 319-395-9626 319-395-7300 Technical Support: 319-395-7314 Fax: 319-395-9626 Orders: 800-223-6925 75300.631@compuserve.com Virucide Plus 2.41 Summary: Menu driven scanning and disinfecting program and TSR scanner and activity monitor, written by McAfee Associates. Cost US $49.00 Rating (1-4, 1 = poor, 4 = very good) "Friendliness" Installation Ease of use 4 Help systems 3 Compatibility 3 Company Stability 2 Support 3 Documentation 3 Hardware required 4 Performance 3 Availability 3 Local Support 2 General Description: A simple and relatively inexpensive virus scanning and disinfecting program. The menu driven interface provides a number of useful options, including on-screen virus information. The program now includes a separate program to add "resident" protection. Recommended for novice or intermediate users in non-critical situations, or as "first line" defence. Comparison of features and specifications User Friendliness Installation I am glad to see that the program now ships on write protected disks, both 360K and 720K. Installation instructions include the production of a "working disk": another safe and helpful feature. Installation is clear and straightforward, being simply the copying of the program and related files to the appropriate disk or area. The INSTALL program is now somewhat more important since the installation of the resident scanner requires modification of the AUTOEXEC.BAT. (Note that in the test installation, this was not completed by the INSTALL program.) Although the manual indicates installation is to be done from drive A:, it can be performed from any drive, and to any drive, including floppies. (One error is evident on "floppy only" machines: the program tries to check the C: drive even when it doesn't exist, and returns an error to the user. Another is that, regardless of the drive you are installing to, the default for checking is C:.) Installation takes a longer time than one might think, given the elementary copying operation, but the installation program is clear and "well prompted". However, if there is a problem with copying any of the files, the installation will abort without comment and without completion. A possible security weakness is that the installation program, while it does run a scan, does not "know" the results of the scan. In fact, you can exit from the virus scan without any recognition by the process. It is left to the user to decide whether or not to "boot clean" if a virus is found. Ease of use Operation is easier than the manual indicates. The default settings are well chosen, and although there are command line switches and options that can be set on screen, they merely provide alternate avenues to the same operations. All options are available as menu items, and the menu interface provides a sense of being "in command" with all functions at the user's fingertips. Prompts are clear and informative. The "3-D windowing", although attractive, does, at times, clutter the screen and distract from the functionality by overlaying and highlighting portions of the menus that are not currently being used. Configuration of the ViruCide Shield program may be difficult for novice users. This is no really a fault of the program, but a limitation of the knowledge necessary to understand the protections being applied to the system. Help systems The F1 key now provides onscreen help in many areas. One decided advantage is the "Virus Info" window, which provides a list of viri, and will bring up two or three paragraphs of information on selected viri. While useful to a novice or intermediate user, this function does not require extensive disk space, as it is simply a "boilerplate" expansion of the McAfee VIRINFO.TXT table which is supplied with the disk. (Indeed, do not make the mistake of deleting this file under the impression that it serves no purpose.) Compatibility Virucide will detect all of the most common viri, and is roughly "level" in that regard to most commercial products, although it lags behind such scanners as SCAN and FPROT. Given the association between Virucide and McAfee Associates, this is rather odd. (Version 2.41 of Virucide is dated May 7, 1992, but the copyright date on the VIRINFO.TXT file is 1989.) However, a "current" version of Virucide should prove effective against better than 99% of viri encountered. Company Stability Parson's Technology is a mid sized software distribution house, with a very wide selection of products. McAfee Associates, however, have indicated that license for this product may be dropped. Company Support Of the first group of commercial vendors contacted, Virucide was the first product actually received for review. Having received the May 1990 version in December, I received the January 1991 version in mid February as a "free upgrade". I have seen numerous references by users of other Parsons' products to superior customer service. The documentation states that questions submitted through Compuserve or GEnie will be answered within one business day. I tested this out via an Internet message to Compuserve, and, unfortunately, it doesn't live up to billing. Documentation The documentation is clear and concise, but at times makes the product appear to be more difficult to use than is actually the case. Chapter one is now a short and simple, but reasonably accurate overview of viral operations. It tends to be a bit alarmist, but this is a fairly common failing with antiviral documentation. Of greater concern is the fact that the README file on disk is an executable program. While this may ease the use, it is a somewhat insecure practice. The README program is run by default during the installation process. Hardware Requirements No special hardware required. Performance As above, Virucide has no particular strengths, or weaknesses, in speed of operation or numbers of viri detected. Local Support Parsons Technology has accounts on both Compuserve and GEnie, and the documentation is even aware of the fact that Compuserve can be reached from the Internet. To the best of my recollection, Parsons do not participate in the GEnie virus and security roundtable. Support Requirements For general installation and operation, Virucide should not need any support. The novice user should be able to use the system as is, and the intermediate user will be able to make better use of the options available. General Notes The only advantage that the advanced user will find in Virucide is the "Virus Info" window as a "ready reference". However, as a "quick check" for novice or intermediate users, the product deserves consideration. copyright Robert M. Slade 1991, 1993 PCVIRCID.RVW 930819 ====================== roberts@decus.ca rslade@vcn.bc.ca rslade@vanisl.decus.ca "Ignorance is never out of style. It was in fashion yesterday, it is the rage today, and it will set the pace tomorrow." -- Franklin K. Dane Author "Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses" 0-387-94663-2 (800-SPRINGER)