Links to Virus Information

We take viruses seriously, and so should you. The list of viruses which our clients have endured in the past two years includes:

• AntiExe: A common virus that trashed a client's laptop computer.
• Bleah.B: The F-Prot software we had installed failed to catch this one.
• Bye: imported by a client from Italy
• Form.A with its cheery message, "Fuckings go to Corinne."
• John.A, which attacks Word and Excel macros. McAfee failed to detect this one.
• Monkey_B (along with Empire, a variant)
• the very common Stoned
• and code ostensibly written by virus author Vicodin ES, which reads the computer's user name and declares, "I think (user name) is a big stupid jerk!" McAfee failed on this one, too.
• More (posted October 2000): PrettyPark, Melissa, I Love You, CIH, and a couple of others whose names escape me kept us plenty busy this year.

The threat is real.

Because it's important to have access to current sources of information on computer viruses, we offer the following links:

• We've found an outstanding program by Proland Software that finds and cleans macro viruses that McAfee ViruScan has failed to detect. Protector Plus is available as a download for a 30-day evaluation without charge.
  (In fairness we should note that Protector Plus has on occasion failed to detect viruses that ViruScan can find and clean. You can run evaluation copies of both ViruScan and Protector Plus on a system for double protection.)
  
• We're also particularly fond of DataFellows' F-PROT Professional as a good solid virus killer, though like all the others, it fails once in a while (see Bleah.B, above).
  
• The Data Fellows computer virus information service is an excellent source of information about virus patterns and problems.
  

• Command Software Systems, the U.S. distributor for F-PROT, offers The Joe Wells Virus Encyclopedia(r).
  

• Another of our favorite products is Dr. Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit. Dr. Solomon provides a Virus Central Web site.
  
• Another favorite virus information site is the Vet Virus Zoo.

Of course, you can easily overreact to the threat of viruses. If you've received a warning and think it might be one of those endlessly circulating virus hoaxes, check Rob Rosenberger's Computer Virus Myths page. It's a savvy evaluation that separates the real threats from the simple scares.

By the way (since you asked), we do like the McAfee anti-virus products and provide evaluation copies on every computer that we sell. We know less about Symantec's Norton Anti-Virus, though a lot of our clients swear by it. We have had a few experiences where we've fixed systems with F-PROT or Protector Plus where the McAfee and Norton products have failed to detect or kill the virus-or recover the data.

url: http://www.landmark.org/viruslnk.html. First posted January 11, 1998. Last update: October 20, 2000.