VirusBlockade™ II Help Options Dialog Box The VirusBlockade Options dialog box could easily have been named the “Preferences” dialog box. Before you read this Help file – if you have not done so already, kindly read the two definitions at beginning of the Main Window Help file. TABLE OF CONTENTS… A) Password Protection… Button; B) If You Want All Floppy Disks to Eject… Checkboxes and Alert Text Box; C) Rookie Switch™… Checkbox and Rookie Message™ Button; D) Bypass Key… Buttons; E) Icon Display… Buttons; F) Unattended Operation Checkbox; G) “Help”, “Cancel” and “Save” Buttons. ----------------------- A) PASSWORD PROTECTION… BUTTON… Password protection effectively locks out any person whom you don’t want fiddling round with your VirusBlockade settings. When you have a password set and some unauthorized person who doesn’t know the correct password tries to access VirusBlockade on your Macintosh, that person cannot get at the important dialog boxes (Scan Disks, Scan Files, Options, Lock Disks), or use the Manually Lock or Unlock Disks checkbox; therefore that person cannot change any of your private, personal settings. Even you, yourself, cannot access VirusBlockade if you cannot remember the password you typed. When you click the Password button, the Password dialog box appears and prompts you to type in a password; then click the Save button. The Password dialog box appears a second time and asks you to retype your password again; click Save again. Typing the password twice makes sure you have typed it the same both times, that you typed it in as you had intended, which probably will mean you didn’t make a mistake. If you made a typing mistake, or can’t remember your password, you are in big trouble! When you want to leave the Options dialog box and return to the Main Window , click Save; VirusBlockade won’t save the password if you don’t click Save at this point. To clear a password, you have to get to the Password dialog box. When the Password dialog box appears, don’t type in anything (that is, don’t enter a new password or even any blank spaces); click the OK button. After you set a password, you won’t be asked for it until you finish this session and then open VirusBlockade again. ----------------------- B) “IF YOU WANT ALL FLOPPY DISKS TO EJECT…” CHECKBOXES AND ALERT TEXT BOX… When you click the If you want all floppy disks to eject… checkbox, there is no way you or anyone cannot make a floppy disk stay in the Macintosh; VirusBlockade always SPITS OUT the floppy disk. The If you want all floppy disks to eject… checkbox comes in VERY handy when you give a demonstration of the Macintosh or when you have public Macintoshes where you don’t want anyone to be able to copy to and from the machine. It keeps out ALL HTDs. When you click the …and display the following alert text checkbox, a message displays after the floppy disk ejects. Edit the message to suit your needs. ----------------------- C) “ROOKIE SWITCH™” CHECKBOX… AND “ROOKIE MESSAGE™” BUTTON… (You must first set a password in order for the Rookie Switch™ checkbox to become active.) C.1 “Rookie Switch™” checkbox… When you click the Rookie Switch™ checkbox, you can finally feel confident that your Macintosh won’t get infected by an UNknowledgeable, inexperienced user (“rookie”, “greenhorn”, “novice”). For example, you can have a rookie do data entry work and you can be worry-free at the same time. What you don’t want to happen is the greenhorn click “Yes” to an important alert warning box such as: “A very mean virus, Trojan Horse or worm has been found on your disk. Do you want to proceed?” If (s)he were to proceed, you’ve now got an infected Macintosh on your hands. The rookie might click “Yes” to such a message out of ignorance, lack of understanding or fear. Whatever the reason, what matters is that your Macintosh is at HIGH RISK when a novice works on it. The rookie didn’t “intend” to infect your Macintosh, but it got infected nonetheless. The reason it got infected is because the UNknowledgeable user neglected to recognize one very critical point, thereby prompting him/her to perform a couple of very important actions. The critical point comes when an alert box appears saying something like: “A virus, Trojan Horse or worm has been located on your disk. Do you want to proceed?” The two important actions to do are: 1) stop work IMMEDIATELY; and 2) go find someone who can deal with the HTD because the very next character you type could infect the Macintosh. Without the Rookie Switch, you probably would have to go through an arduous explanation with the novice about how to recognize the critical alert box and what to do when the alert box appears (which would be not to type one more key and go get help). And still – you never feel completely confident the novice user knows what NOT to do. For peace of mind, use the Rookie Switch. When VirusDetective finds an HTD and the Rookie Switch is ON, the Macintosh screen freezes and UP POPS a message (called the Rookie Message) to the UNknowledgeable user which tells the rookie (s)he cannot continue work without getting assistance and don’t bother to restart because restarting will not let the novice regain control of the Macintosh. What the Rookie Switch does is FORCE the novice user to stop work and go get help – thus preventing the Macintosh from getting infected! You can see the Rookie Switch is tailor made for rookies! Steps to follow: 1) Get into the Options dialog box by clicking the Options button; 2) Set a password; 3) Click the Rookie Switch checkbox; 4) Click the Rookie Message button; 5) Change the Rookie Message user-configurable (customizable) text to say what you want it to say. 6) Click the Save button of the Rookie Message dialog box; 7) Click the Save button of the Options dialog box; finally, 8) Close the Control Panel desk accessory. Okay now – the rookie has gone to get you, the Macintosh Coordinator, for help. You are now standing in front of your machine. The screen shows the Rookie Message and is frozen – what to do? First, it is advisable to send the rookie away so (s)he won’t see what you are doing. Second, click the Password button and type in the correct password. Third, disinfect or delete the infected file. NOTE: What happens to infected files depends on the settings in the Scan Files dialog box (that is, whether you want VirusBlockade to notify you when it finds an infected file, and whether you want it to delete, move or rename the infected files). C.2 “Rookie Message” button… When you click the Rookie Message button, VirusBlockade presents the Rookie Message dialog box. The Rookie Message consists of two parts: 1) the fixed message (which you cannot change); and 2) an additional message that is user-configurable (which you CAN change). The fixed part of the Rookie Message says: “A possible virus or similar problem has been detected on your {disk/file/disk or file}. You will NOT be able to proceed. Restarting will not allow you to gain control.” The additional, user-configurable part of the Rookie Message says: “STOP IMMEDIATELY!!! Consult {G. Addams}, your Macintosh Coordinator (Room XXX), before attempting to continue work !” Change this message to fit your needs. This user-configurable part you can delete entirely, or change any of it at your discretion. ----------------------- D) BYPASS KEY… BUTTONS… The Bypass Key consists of six buttons; choose one: A) None; B) Caps Lock; C) Command; D) Control; E) Option; and F) Shift. [When you click None , this is essentially the OFF position.] You click only ONE Bypass Key. You can’t click two different Bypass Keys, one Bypass Key to prevent Loading at the time of startup, and a second Bypass Key to prevent Automatic Locking and Unlocking. It is the same key in both cases – the thing that changes is WHEN you hold down the bypass key. The bypass key is designed to NOT do certain actions at certain times. What the bypass key does is: D.1 During Startup, VirusBlockade Won’t Load… When you hold down the bypass key during startup,VirusBlockade doesn’t get loaded [VirusBlockade will normally load]. As the first of three scenarios, let’s say your goal is when you start up your Macintosh, when you hold down the “Option” key, you don’t want VirusBlockade to load. How you do this is click the fifth button down (which represents the Option key). Then restart your Macintosh and hold down the Option key until you see the VirusBlockade icon display with a ‘circle/slash’ through it. VirusBlockade will not have loaded. D.2.1 When Insert or Mount a Disk, the Disk Doesn’t Automatically Lock… When you hold down the bypass key when you insert or mount a disk, the disk doesn’t get automatically locked (that is, holding down the bypass key counteracts your default instructions in the Lock Disks dialog box to automatically lock disks). As the second of three scenarios, let’s say your goal is that when you insert or mount a disk, when you hold down the “Caps Lock” key (one of the choices for the bypass key), you don’t want VirusBlockade to automatically lock. How you do this is click the second button (which is the button that represents the Caps Lock key). Hold down the Caps Lock key at the same time you insert or mount a disk – the disk will not automatically lock. D.2.2 When Eject or Unmount a Disk, the Disk Doesn’t Automatically Unlock… When you hold down the bypass key when you eject or unmount a disk, the disk doesn’t get automatically unlocked (that is, holding down the bypass key counteracts your default instructions in the Lock Disks dialog box to automatically unlock disks). Finally, the third and last of three scenarios, let’s say your goal is that when you eject or unmount a disk, when you hold down the “Shift” key (another choice for the bypass key), you don’t want VirusBlockade to automatically UNlock. How you do this is click the sixth button (which is the button that represents the Shift key). Hold down the Shift key at the same time you eject or unmount a disk – the disk will not automatically UNlock. ----------------------- E) ICON DISPLAY… BUTTONS… VirusBlockade displays one of four icons when it loads at startup. The four possible icons are: E.1.1 “Normal” icon… The normal icon is the default icon. E.1.2 “Bypass” icon… The “bypass” icon is the “normal” icon with a circle/slash through the icon. E.1.3 “Error” icon… The “error” icon is the “normal” icon with a question mark on both sides of the icon. The “error” icon displays whenever VirusBlockade encounters any problems when loading (such as when there is a lack of sufficient memory). If you get the “error” icon, rename “VirusBlockade” to “aVirusBlockade”. “aVirusBlockade” should load BEFORE any other startup documents. If the “error” icon displays yet again, replace your current version of VirusBlockade with a fresh copy from a master disk or from a source where the probability is high that you have a pristine copy. You should then scan your startup disk for any HTDs that may have caused the tampering. E.1.4 “Failed self-check” icon… The “failed self-check” icon (the normal icon with an exclamation point on both sides of the icon). The “failed self-check” icon displays when VirusBlockade perceives that it, VirusBlockade, has been tampered with. The Icon Display section of the Options dialog box consists of three buttons that let you control which VirusBlockade icons get displayed during startup. Select one of these three buttons: E.1) Always; E.2) Never; and E.3) On Error. E.2.1 “Always…” button… When you click the Always button, each of the four icons will display at appropriate times during startup. E.2.2 “Never…” button… When you click the Never button, only the “failed self-check” icon (E.1.4) will display during startup, when appropriate. No other icon besides the “failed self-check” will show up during startup. E.2.3 “On Error…” button… When you click the On Error button, only the “error” icon or the “failed self-check” icon will display at startup, when appropriate. ----------------------- F) UNATTENDED OPERATION CHECKBOX… Whenever VirusBlockade needs to inform you of something (such as when a search string matches a file), it sends you a message and it will pause – until you (or someone else) click the OK button. Until someone clicks OK, ALL other applications that had been running stop running, “dead in their tracks”, so to speak. If VirusBlockade is running on a Macintosh that functions as a FILE SERVER, this pause (which stops everything) CAN have dire consequences because all operations stop until someone clicks the OK button. A file server’s administrator could very easily perceive the messages and the pause as disruptive, or at least annoying. File servers characteristically have no one around who routinely monitor the file server’s activities. NOTE: The Unattended Operation checkbox is applicable to ANY Macintosh, not only to file servers. A Macintosh functioning as a file server is only one example of when the Unattended Operation checkbox can come in extremely handy! When you click the Unattended Operation checkbox, you instruct VirusBlockade NOT to display any messages and NOT to pause – what it does do is BEEP once, and then BLINK its VirusBlockade icon alternately with the Apple icon located on the far left of the menu bar (much like the Alarm Clock desk accessory blinks when its alarm goes off). The BEEP and BLINKING indicate to you that VirusBlockade has something important to tell you! The Unattended Operation checkbox does not affect the CONTENTS of the message(s) – only the FORM of the message changes. Instead of getting a message along with the pause that stops everything, you get the beep and the VirusBlockade icon/Apple icon starts blinking at you, which you can choose to ignore for some time. It is your choice when you want to pay attention to the blinking – you may want to retrieve the pending message(s) now, or you may want to wait ‘til later. All messages accumulate IN MEMORY until you retrieve them OR there is no more memory OR you shut down the Macintosh.When you shut down the Macintosh, the Macintosh’s memory gets wiped out – therefore, since the messages are in memory, ANY and ALL messages you may have had get …forevermore… WIPED OUT! Don’t shut down before you read your queued up (pending) messages! To retrieve your queued up message(s), the only thing you have to do is open (highlight) the VirusBlockade Control Panel. As soon as the VirusBlockade Control Panel opens, VirusBlockade checks for pending messages. VirusBlockade then displays the pending messages in the same kind of dialog box as the Help dialog boxes. The messages not only contain the messages themselves but also the date and time the user put the infected file onto the Macintosh (or file server, as the case may be). Like with the Help dialog boxes, you can copy the file (this time containing messages) to the Clipboard. If you click Text->Clipboard button, the messages get copied to the Clipboard. Then put the contents of the Clipboard into a file (probably using your favorite word processing application) which you can then save between shutdowns. If you have clicked VirusBlockade’s Unattended Operation checkbox, click VirusDetective’s Unattended Operation checkbox as well. If one is ON, the other should be ON. If one is OFF, the other should be OFF. They go together as a team. To close the dialog box and return to the Main Window, click the OK button. REMEMBER: if you shut down your Macintosh prior to retrieving your pending messages, ANY and ALL messages will be LOST! ----------------------- G) “HELP”, “CANCEL” AND “SAVE” BUTTONS… G.1 “Help” button… If you want to copy the text file to the Clipboard, click the Help->Clipboard button. Paste the contents of the Clipboard wherever you wish (most likely a word processing application). Click the OK button when you want to close the Help file. G.2 “Cancel” button… When you click the Cancel button: 1) if you made any changes, VirusBlockade presents an alert box that asks “Save changes to {name of the dialog box}?”. You have the choice between: Don’t Save, Cancel (this cancel cancels the first cancel) or Save; 2) if you didn’t make any changes, VirusBlockade brings you back to the Main Window. G.3 “Save” button… If you click the Save button, VirusBlockade saves any changes and then closes the dialog box. ----------------------- -the end -