El Mac 9/El Mac 9.iso/Shareware/Utilities/McAfee VirusScan 1.0.1/McAfee VirusScan™/VirusScan™ 1.0.1/VirusScan™ 1.0.1.rsrc/STR#_207.txt

Text File | 1996-03-08 | 6.9 KB | 328 lines







.



.





åProtection





The VirusScan application by itself will not protect your system against

infection. It will only locate and repair previously infected files and disks.

To protect your system against infection, you must install the VirusScan

Extension.



The VirusScan application contains the VirusScan Extension. When

properly installed, it will protect your system against all of the known

Macintosh system viruses.



WARNING: The VirusScan Extension will not protect your system against

unknown viruses! If a new virus appears, we will have to release a new

version of VirusScan to recognize it.



Use the “Install VirusScan Extension” command in the “Protection” menu

to install the VirusScan Extension in your currently active Extensions

folder (under System 7) or in your currently active System folder (under

System 6). You must restart your Macintosh to activate the VirusScan

Extension.



Use the “Save VirusScan Extension” command in the “Protection” menu

to save a copy of the VirusScan Extension to any location of your

choosing.



The VirusScan Extension is simple, small, efficient, and unobtrusive. It

does not need to be configured. In fact, it has no control panel interface at

all, so it cannot be configured. The VirusScan Extension will never ask you

to make a decision. It should have no noticeable effect on the performance

of your Mac. It is very small and can easily be used on floppy startup

disks (e.g., in university labs with floppy-only Macs). The VirusScan

Extension does not interfere with the normal operation of VirusScan or

other anti-viral applications, or with programming environments,

installer applications, or other system software.





If you run an application which is infected by one of the known Mac

viruses, the VirusScan Extension beeps ten times, quits the application,

and presents an alert. For example, if the application “MacWrite” is

infected by the nVIR virus, the following alert appears when you try to

run MacWrite:




"


"



"


"


"


"


"


"


"


"


"



"


"





The VirusScan Extension only detects and blocks viruses; it does not

remove them. To remove a virus, you must use the VirusScan application.



With System 6, if you use a disk which is infected by the WDEF virus or

by the CDEF virus, the VirusScan Extension beeps ten times, presents an

alert, and temporarily neutralizes the virus. You can safely use the disk;

the virus will not spread. To remove the virus from the disk, you can

either rebuild the Desktop file or use the VirusScan application. Rebuilding

the Desktop file is usually easier.



If you use a HyperCard stack which is infected by the MacMag virus, the

VirusScan Extension beeps ten times, presents an alert, and temporarily

neutralizes the virus. You can safely use the stack; the virus will not

spread. You should use the VirusScan application to remove the virus from

the stack.



If you have an VirusScan Extension file which is infected by the INIT 1984

virus, when the virus attacks during startup, the VirusScan Extension

beeps ten times, and an alert is presented at the end of the startup

sequence. The virus is neutralized and does not spread or cause any

damage, but the non-viral part of the infected VirusScan Extension runs

as usual.



The name of the VirusScan Extension begins with a special invisible

character. This special character does not appear in Finder windows. In

standard file dialogs and in some other contexts, it appears as a box.



The special symbol is present to force the VirusScan Extension to be the

first extension loaded when you start up your Macintosh. This is

important: the VirusScan Extension should be loaded first! If you rename

the VirusScan Extension, make certain that you rename it so that it comes

first in alphabetical order in your Extensions folder or your System

folder. With System 7, be very careful to leave the VirusScan Extension

in the Extensions folder. Do not move it to the System folder proper or to

the Control Panels folder. To avoid problems, we recommend that you do

not rename the VirusScan Extension.



The reason the VirusScan Extension should be loaded first is to properly

detect and block the INIT 1984 virus, which spreads from INIT to INIT at

startup time. If the VirusScan Extension does not load first, and if some

earlier extension is infected by the INIT 1984 virus, then the VirusScan

Extension will not be able to detect or block the virus when it attacks

during startup.



A number of other popular extensions also have the requirement that they

should be loaded first. Before installing such an extension, scan it with the

VirusScan application to make certain it is not infected by the INIT 1984

virus or any other virus. Then install it. Depending on how the extension

is named, it may load before or after the VirusScan Extension. Don’t

worry if the other extension loads first. You have already made certain

that it is not infected, so it shouldn’t cause any problems.





The VirusScan Extension icon should appear at the bottom of your screen

every time you restart your Macintosh. If an error occurs and the

VirusScan Extension cannot load properly, the VirusScan Extension will

beep ten times and it will draw a special error version of the icon (the

normal icon with a large “X” superimposed.)




#


#



#


#


#


#


#


#





The VirusScan Extension icon normally appears first in the row of

VirusScan Extension icons which appear when you restart. One exception

to this is under System 6 with Apple’s Communications Toolbox installed.

The Communications Toolbox icon may appear first, in which case the

VirusScan Extension icon appears second.



If you wish to remove the VirusScan Extension for some reason, open

your Extensions folder (under System 7) or your System folder (under

System 6) and drag the VirusScan Extension icon to the trash (or

anywhere else outside of the System folder). Then restart your

Macintosh.



Contrary to the instructions found in many software manuals, it is not

necessary to remove the VirusScan Extension when installing software.

There are no known cases where the VirusScan Extension interferes in

any way with installers.



The VirusScan Extension detects and blocks viruses at their initial point of

attack. Unlike some other virus protection INITs, it does not scan floppies

each time they are inserted into a disk drive and it does not scan files

each time they are opened. This strategy is what makes the VirusScan

Extension so small and efficient.



The VirusScan Extension will not detect files which are partially infected

but not contagious, since these kinds of infections never attack the

system. These non-contagious infections are harmless, so this is not a

major problem. The VirusScan application does detect these kinds of

infections.