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