Ian & Stuart's Australian Mac 1993 September/September 93.iso/Archives/Utilities/Virus/Virus Protection/VirusBlockade™ II Ltd. 2.0ƒ/VirusBlockade™ II Ltd. 2.0/VirusBlockade™ II Ltd. 2.0.rsrc/TEXT_-4040_VirusBlockade™ II's Scenarios Text.txt

Text File | 1991-09-26 | 16KB | 134 lines

VirusBlockade‚Ñ¢ II
Sample Option Configurations / Scenarios


In the following pages are some SUGGESTED VirusBlockade sample option configurations based on some “typical” scenarios. For more detailed information on each subject, kindly read each dialog box’s built-in Help file.

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SCENARIO NO. 1)  “I AM THE ONLY ONE USING MY MACINTOSH. I DON’T USE A MODEM. MY MACINTOSH IS *NOT* CONNECTED TO A NETWORK, AND ONLY OBTAIN NEW FILES BY WAY OF FLOPPY DISKS.”

You need only to arrange it so that floppy disks automatically get scanned as each floppy disk is inserted. To have floppy disks get scanned as each is inserted, in VirusBlockade click the Scan Disks button. Find the ‘When you insert a floppy disk, scan…’ – choose under what circumstances you want floppy disks to get scanned.

If you frequently insert floppy disks that you KNOW for a fact are clean of viruses, Trojan Horses, and worms (which you would normally know if the floppy disks have been scanned recently), you might want to choose When you insert a floppy disk, scan…’ ‘…if key is NOT held down), and choose either Caps Lock, Command, Control, Option, or Shift. Let’s say you choose Shift, representing the Shift key. This option means that floppy disks will always get scanned EXCEPT when you are holding down the Shift key. If you hold the Shift key down as you insert a floppy disk, that floppy disk won’t get scanned. However, if you do NOT hold the Shift key down (either intentionally or because you forgot), the floppy disk does get scanned.

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SCENARIO NO. 2)  “I AM THE ONLY ONE USING MY MACINTOSH. MY MACINTOSH IS *NOT* CONNECTED TO A NETWORK. I OBTAIN NEW FILES BY WAY OF FLOPPY DISKS. I ALSO OBTAIN FILES BY COPYING THEM FROM ELECTRONIC BULLETIN BOARDS OR NETWORKS VIA MODEM (DOWNLOADING).”

2.a.  Arrange it so that floppy disks automatically get scanned as each floppy disk is inserted by clicking VirusBlockade’s Scan Disks button as in Scenario No. 1.

2.b.  In addition, since you copy-to-disk from electronic networks (called ‘downloading’), you would want to have files scanned as soon as each file gets written-to-disk (that is, when each file first gets “created” on your disk, in this case, by way of a file just having been downloaded or uncompressed). To have a file automatically scanned as soon as the file gets written-to-disk, which is part of SUPERFAST FILE SCANNING’s capabilities, click the Scan Files button; find the Scan files CREATED on… section in the upper left.

Depending on which disk categories files could get downloaded to, click any (or all) of the four disk category checkboxes: ‘…the startup disk’, ‘…floppy disks’, ‘…other non-networked disks’, or ‘…networked disks’. (Normally, people download files only to their ‘startup disk’.)

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SCENARIO NO. 3)  “I AM THE ONLY ONE USING MY MACINTOSH. I DON’T USE A MODEM. MY MACINTOSH *IS* CONNECTED TO A NETWORK. I COPY FILES FROM A FILE SERVER. HOWEVER, I DO NOT (OR CANNOT) ALLOW OTHER PEOPLE ON THE NETWORK TO ACCESS FILES FROM MY MACHINE.”

Same as Scenario No. 2, as follows:

3.a.  Arrange it so that floppy disks automatically get scanned as each floppy disk is inserted by clicking VirusBlockade’s Scan Disks button as in Scenario No. 1.

3.b.  In addition, similar to Scenario No. 2, Part 2.b., since you copy files to your disk(s), this time from a file server, you would want to have files scanned as soon as each file gets written-to-disk (that is, when each file first gets “created” on your disk).

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SCENARIO NO. 4)  “I AM THE ONLY ONE USING MY MACINTOSH. I DON’T USE A MODEM. MY MACINTOSH *IS* CONNECTED TO A NETWORK. I COPY FILES FROM THE FILE SERVER *AND* I DO ALLOW OTHER PEOPLE ON THE NETWORK TO ACCESS FILES FROM MY MACHINE.”

4.a.  Perform instructions as in Scenario No. 2. You need to set up VirusBlockade to have VirusDetective scan files as soon as each file gets written-to-disk because you copy files to your disk(s) from the file server.

4.b.  Since you let other people on the network access to files on your Macintosh, your files are now at risk of being ALTERED by a virus without any of your files being CREATED, so to speak. You therefore would want to click the Scan Files button; find the Scan files (resources) CHANGED on… section in the upper right. Depending on which of several disk categories your files could get changed on, click any (or all) of the four disk category checkboxes: ‘…the startup disk’, ‘…floppy disks’, ‘…other non-networked disks’, or ‘…networked disks’.

When you have clicked any of the four checkboxes in the Scan Files (Resources) CHANGED on… section, it could happen that you perceive file scanning occurring too frequently when your Macintosh is otherwise “just sitting there,” unengaged. Frequent file scanning quite often happens because some applications and system extensions perform updating configuration (or recordkeeping) files frequently without your knowledge or control – some programs are designed to update frequently more than others.

There is not much you can do about frequent file scanning since VirusBlockade cannot tell whether files are being changed by a virus or changed because that is the design of the program. You do have some choices. They are: 1) tolerate the situation, 2) don’t use the offending application or extension, or 3) uncheck all the checkboxes in the Scan files (resources) CHANGED on… section, disabling this function.

If you DO decide to uncheck all the checkboxes in the Scan files (resources) CHANGED on… section, in order to keep your Macintosh protected from HTDs, an alternative would be the automatic DISK SCANNING capabilities available to you in the Scan Disks dialog box. There you can have automatic scanning occur at startup on selected disks on selected days of the week, or on certain disks on specified days of the week at a particular time of day.

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SCENARIO NO. 5)  “I ADMINISTER SEVERAL MACINTOSHES USED BY PEOPLE WHO DO *NOT* KNOW WHAT TO DO WHEN THEY ENCOUNTER A VIRUS. AFTER A VIRUS IS DETECTED ON ANY MACINTOSHES USED BY “NOVICE” (UNKNOWLEDGEABLE) USERS, I WANT SOMETHING TO PREVENT THEM FROM CONTINUING THEIR WORK UNTIL I GET TO CHECK THE SITUATION OUT.”

5.a.  Open the VirusDetective desk accessory; click the Options button. click the Can’t Cancel VB scan checkbox, and click the Save button. This makes sure a complete scan is ALWAYS performed.

5.b.  Before you close VirusDetective, set a password in VirusDetective by clicking the Password button. With the password set, no changes can be made to VirusDetective by anyone who doesn’t know the password. Close VirusDetective.

5.c.  Open the VirusBlockade Control Panel. Arrange it so that floppy disks automatically get scanned as each floppy disk is inserted by clicking VirusBlockade’s Scan Disks button (as in Scenario No. 1).

5.d.  You want each file scanned as soon as the file gets “written-to-disk” (that is, when each file first gets “created” on your disk. To have a file automatically scanned as soon as the file gets written-to-disk, which is part of VirusBlockade’s SUPERFAST FILE SCANNING’s capabilities, click the Scan Files button; find the Scan files CREATED on… section in the upper left. (Similar to Scenario No. 2, Part 2.b. and Scenario No. 3, Part 3.b.)

5.e.  You may also want each file scanned as each file gets CHANGED. Click the Scan Files button; find the Scan files (resources) CHANGED on… section in the upper right. (Similar to Scenario No. 4, Part 4.b.)

5.f.  Next, set a password (make sure the novice user does NOT know what the password is). To set a password, click the Password button in the Options dialog box.

5.g.  Then set a password. Only after you have set a password can you click the Rookie Switch™ checkbox (located in the Options dialog box). To customize the message that will show up on the screen when VirusDetective finds a virus, click the Rookie Message™ (“a message for rookies”) button. The novice user cannot go any further with his/her work until (s)he does what the message says, which should include something like “Go get {G. Addams}, the Macintosh Coordinator – (s)he will know how to deal with this problem.”

5.h.  Once you do the above for one user, you can do it for other users as well in a very efficient way. All you do is copy the VirusBlockade Control Panel and the “VBII Prefs” file to any additional Macintoshes where unknowledgeable users will be stationed. Be sure to put each file in its proper location depending on which System you have – see the “VirusBlockade™ II Installation” instructions (in TeachText format).

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SCENARIO NO. 6)  “I ADMINISTER A PUBLIC MACINTOSH. I WANT TO TURN IT INTO A FLOPPY DISK ‘VIRUS-DETECTING-STATION’.”

6.a.  Open the VirusDetective desk accessory, and click the Options button. click the Can’t Cancel VB scan checkbox. This makes sure a complete scan is ALWAYS performed. Click the Save button.

6.b.  Before you close VirusDetective, set a password by clicking the Password button. With the password set, no changes can be made to VirusDetective by anyone who doesn’t know the password; close VirusDetective.

6.c.  Open the VirusBlockade Control Panel. Click the Scan Disks button.
In the When you insert a floppy disk, scan… section, select …always; also click the …in batch mode checkbox and …and notify user checkbox; click the Save button. When you set the options this way, ALL floppy disks, whether infected or not, will always get ejected, no matter what.

6.d.  Go to the Options dialog box. Set a password so that no one can make changes that you don’t know about. Unless the person knows the password, they can’t make any changes to VirusBlockade.

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SCENARIO NO. 7)  “I ADMINISTER A PUBLIC MACINTOSH. I WANT IT SO THAT PEOPLE USING THIS MACHINE CAN *NOT* CHANGE ANYTHING OR DELETE ANY FILES.”

7.a.  Click the Lock Disks button. In regard to the startup disk, click the …lock upon startup checkbox. If more than one disk is connected to that particular Macintosh, in regard to other non-networked disks, click the …lock when when mounted checkbox.

TO UNLOCK: If you do NOT click In regard to the startup disk… …UNLOCK upon shutdown, the disk is locked forever, no matter what – until YOU unlock it. However, if you DO click In regard to the startup disk… …UNLOCK upon shutdown, then you (or someone else) can startup from a floppy disk and have access to the now unlocked, “un-writeprotected” disks. [The same applies to the unlocking function of the other two categories (“floppy disks” and “other non-networked disks.”)]

Click the checkboxes for the startup disk to UNLOCK upon shutdown, or floppy disks to UNLOCK when ejected, or other non-networked disks UNLOCK when unmounted. Click the Save button.

7.b.  Click the Options button and set a password. When you set a password, only people who know the password can change your VirusBlockade settings.

7.c.  Some applications CAN NOT run when the startup disk is locked. In System 7.x, you should NOT enable file sharing when the startup disk is locked. Click your desired setup for compatibility. Consider using a second disk. Or partition your hard disk using a disk utility that makes “hard” partitions leaving a small, unlocked, startup disk and a large, locked, “other” disk.

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SCENARIO NO. 8)  “I ADMINISTER AN APPLESHARE FILE SERVER. I WANT TO KEEP THE FILE SERVER CLEAN OF INFECTED FILES.”

8.a.  Arrange it on the file server so that floppy disks automatically get scanned as each floppy disk is inserted by clicking VirusBlockade’s Scan Disks button as in Scenario No. 1.

8.b.  In addition, similar to Scenario No. 2, Part 2.b., since you copy files to the file server, you want to have files scanned as soon as each file gets written-to-disk (that is, when each file first gets “created” on the file server). Likewise you probably also want files scanned when “changed” as in Scenario No 4, Part 4.b.

8.c.  Next, you want all infected files to get moved to a location (specifically, a folder) the user can’t get to. In the Scan Files dialog box, in the When VirusDetective has found a matching file (that is, it has found an infected file), you want VirusBlockade to… section, click …move the matching file to folder… >¿¿Infected Files??. Change the folder name “¿¿Infected Files??” to whatever you want. Then, click the …AND notify you checkbox; click the Save button.

8.d.  Go to the Options dialog box. Click the Unattended Operation checkbox so that when a virus is found, the file server’s total operation doesn’t halt.

8.e.1.  Next, on EACH disk that comprises the file server, create a “desktop-level” folder (but not ON “the desktop” – that is, not ON the gray background) and name the folder the same as in 8.c. (either the original “¿¿Infected Files??” or whatever you renamed it as). (You can choose to let VirusBlockade create these folders the first time it needs such a folder.)

8.e.2.  For each of these folders on EACH disk, set the folder access protection so that only the file server’s administrator can access each folder.

8.f.  In the VirusBlockade Options dialog box, click the Unattended Operation checkbox. This causes VirusBlockade to queue up messages rather than halt all the file server’s operations. One can tell you have queued up messages when the VirusBlockade icon flashes in the Apple menu. To view these messages, simply open the VirusBlockade Control Panel.

8.g.  Finally, open VirusDetective. Go into Options dialog box, and click the No Error Msgs. checkbox. It means that any scanning errors will not display a dialog box and possibly halt server operations. However, know that you will lose information regarding if any errors do occur.

NOTE: BEFORE YOU TOUCH THE “NO ERROR MSGS.” CHECKBOX, READ THE DOCUMENTATION ON IT FIRST – IT’S IN THE VIRUSDETECTIVE’S OPTIONS INTERNAL HELP FILE.

NOTE: AppleShare 2.x is not fully compatible with VirusBlockade II 2.0. Therefore, read the document entitled “VirusBlockade+AppShare FileServ” before using VirusBlockade on an AppleShare file server.

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SCENARIO NO. 9)  “I AM USING A MACINTOSH WHICH FUNCTIONS AS A DEMONSTRATION (DEMO) MACHINE. I WANT TO KEEP PEOPLE FROM INSERTING THEIR OWN FLOPPY DISKS INTO THIS DEMO MACINTOSH TO PREVENT (MAINLY) A COUPLE OF THINGS: VIRUSES AND PIRACY. ESSENTIALLY, I WANT IT TO BE A ‘EYES-ONLY’ MACINTOSH, SO TO SPEAK.”

9.a.  Click the Options button. In the If you want all floppy disks to eject… section, click the …Always Eject Floppy Disks checkbox. Also click the …and display the following alert text checkbox; edit the text to suit your taste.

9.b.  Click the Password button. Set a password so nobody can change your settings. Click the Save button.

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