[Rhodes22-list] Mark ? about new virus ?

Tue Nov 9 13:13:16 EST 2004

Marc,

Have you ever checked out Sophos anti-virus (www.sophos.com). I've been
using it since 1997 and have been extremely happy w/ it. Unfortunately, it
doesn't come in a consumer version. 

The first time a scan is run, a database containing a CRC for all your files
is created. When the background scanning engine accesses a file, another CRC
is generated and the results are compared to those stored in the database.
If the same, no full scan necessary. 

Norton and McAfee (this may have changed - I haven't really looked into it
for a few years) both do a full scan every time - huge difference in
performance. We used t use McAfee - the users would disable it because it
made their machines too slow. We switched to Sophos and our infection rate
dropped dramatically - both because the performance hit was far less, and
because we were able to configure the central distribution profile to
disallow non-admin access. And noone complained!

It a UK product, so you get the added advantage of having the lab be 5 hours
ahead of us here in the US - 5 more hours to debug a virus and come up w/ a
solution.

The final reason I really like them is that, unlike McAfee and Norton, they
don't subscribe to the "the sky is falling" method of notification. They're
very level-headed and don't try to scare you into anything. A great firm.

Mark

-----Original Message-----
From: rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org
[mailto:rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org] On Behalf Of Marc Steiger
Sent: Tuesday, November 09, 2004 12:45 PM
To: The Rhodes 22 mail list
Subject: RE: [Rhodes22-list] Mark ? about new virus ?

Rik-

It is our experience that Norton Anti-Virus runs very well, but not Norton
System Works. We recommend the Corporate edition of Norton to most of our
clients, and they rarely get a virus once the anti-virus program has been
set up properly. The McAfee program gives us many more problems, but seems
optimized for environments with over 100 users, where we don't do much.

I think if you limit yourself to the Ant-Virus program, and have it update
itself automatically with new virus definitions at least nightly, you will
do well.

Marc Steiger

-----Original Message-----
From: rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org
[mailto:rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org] On Behalf Of Mark Kaynor
Sent: Tuesday, November 09, 2004 12:11 PM
To: 'The Rhodes 22 mail list'
Subject: RE: [Rhodes22-list] Mark ? about new virus ?

Rik,

I agree w/ Herb on this one. It's also been my experience that Norton
Anti-Virus adds a lot of overhead. 

Another thing to consider is that, at some point during the virus removal
process, something in your OS was damaged - it may not have even been a
System Works issue. Do you recall what the infection was? 

Mark

-----Original Message-----
From: rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org
[mailto:rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org] On Behalf Of Herb Parsons
Sent: Tuesday, November 09, 2004 11:33 AM
To: rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org
Subject: RE: [Rhodes22-list] Mark ? about new virus ?

People tend to get carried away with Norton System Works, and routinely
install everything. I recommend against this, as many, probably most, of the
programs are not needed. Some can even be dangerous. I recommend their
Anti-Virus to everyone, and the rest, stay away unless you know what you're
doing.

>>> flybrad at yahoo.com 11/09/04 10:33 AM >>>
Rhodies,

A few weeks ago when Bill and I were, uh, sharing thoughts, I picked up some
nasty spyware/pest/virus/etc. that McCaffe, Spybot, and Ad-Aware couldn't
eliminate.  On the recommendation of a co-worker, I downloaded Norton System
Works which included the Norton anti-virus program (and disabled McCaffe).
Norton "fixed" the problem but the System Works ate up a lot of memory and
really slowed down the laptop.  A few days later, I ran some Norton programs
and the system crashed.  After several attempts I got it to re-boot only to
have it crash on another Norton program.  Finally it died because the
operating system was corrupted.  IBM replaced the hard drive under warranty
but I had to fork over the cash to reload Windows XP (the machine didn't
come with the discs).  After some research on the net with my desktop, it
seems that this is a re-occuring problem with Norton.  Has anyone on the
list had this problem or do any of you computer gurus have an explanation? 
Right now I'm kind of anti-Norton.

I'm back to McCaffe only and so far no problems. 
Maybe it was just Bill!

Brad Haslett
"CoraShen"
--- ed kroposki <ekroposki at charter.net> wrote:

> Ah, a new computer wizard.  Thank you, Ed K
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org
> [mailto:rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org] On Behalf Of Hank
> Sent: Tuesday, November 09, 2004 8:08 AM
> To: The Rhodes 22 mail list
> Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Mark ? about new virus ?
> 
> According to the Symantec (Norton Anti-virus) Website, this is a hoax.
>  The Virus does not exist.
> 
> Hank
> 
> 
> On Tue, 9 Nov 2004 07:57:01 -0500, ed kroposki <ekroposki at charter.net>
> wrote:
> > 
> > Mark,
> >        I received this but wonder if it is new or
> a replay of an old hoax.
> > Ed K
> > 
> > A new virus has just been discovered that has been
> classified
> > By Microsoft as the most destructive ever. This
> virus was discovered
> > yesterday afternoon  by McAfee and no vaccine has
> yet been developed.
> > This virus simply estroys Sector Zero from the
> hard disk, where vital
> > information for its functioning are stored.  This
> virus acts in the
> > following manner:  It sends itself automatically
> to all contacts on your
> > list with the title:
> >          "A Card for You".
> > As soon as the supposed virtual card is opened the
> computer freezes so
> > that the user has to reboot. When the ctrl+alt+del
> keys or the reset
> > button are pressed, the virus destroys Sector
> Zero, thus permanently
> > destroying the  hard disk. Yesterday in just a few
> hours this virus
> > caused panic in New York, according to news
> broadcast by CNN.
> > This alert was received by an employee of
> Microsoft itself.
> > So don't open any mails with subject: "A Virtual
> Card for You." As soon
> > as you get the mail, delete it!! Even if you know
> the
> > sender !!
> > 
> > __________________________________________________
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> www.rhodes22.org/list
> >
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