Date: Fri, 13 Jun 1997 01:25:34 -0400
From: crispen@INTERNIC.NET
Reply-To: TOURBUS-Request@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
To: TOURBUS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
Subject: TOURBUS -- 12 JUNE 1997 -- ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
This post contains inline ASCII graphics. Text-to-speech readers should
turn off punctuation now.
/~~~~~~~~~|~~~~~~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~~|~~~~~~~~~~|~~~~~~~~~~~~~/~~~|~\
| "Why | Surf When / You Can | Ride The | Bus?" / | \
|__________|__________/__________|__________|___________/ | \
/ /______|----\
| KEEP CUSTOMERS COMING BACK - INCREASE YOUR WEB REVENUE / | |
| * * * Add 40,000 PERSONAL ADS to your web site * * * |//////| |
| http://www.one-and-only.com/associates/index.htm |//////| |
| |//////| |
~~~/~~~\~~/~~~\~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/~~~\~~~~
\___/ \___/ T h e I n t e r n e t T o u r B u s \___/
TODAY'S TOURBUS TOPIC: ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE (PART ONE)
TODAY'S TOURBUS STOP: http://www.eliashim.com/4home.html
http://www.virusafe.com/
http://www.download.com/
Ahh, Summer. Okay, so it isn't *officially* Summer yet ... but it sure
does feel like it. The grass is green, the days are long, and there are
only 8 more months left in the National Hockey League playoffs.
Actually, one of my favorite summer activities when I was a kid was going
on camping trips with my dad. My dad used to be a YMCA Director (before he
got a real job), so I spent most of my youth at strangely-named YMCA camps
like "Camp Takatoka" (OK) and "Camp Konokwee" (PA).
No, really. I still have the mosquito bites to prove it.
What does this have to do with today's TOURBUS post? Well, to tell the
truth, nothing. *BUT*, for those of you who are in the States, I just want
to remind you that Sunday is Father's day. If you are like me, you
probably forgot to get your dad a card. Well, if you are looking for the
PERFECT card to send your father, your fearless bus driver has the answer:
*---------[ HE RAISED YOU AND YOU'RE GONNA SEND HIM A TIE? ]--------*
Send Dad a walkin' talkin' Father's Day email card. Download
a FREE animated card that's a heckuva lot more original than a tie!
*-----------------[ www.mediasyn.com/tourbus.htm ]------------------*
*----------[ Put a Little Hockey Action on Your Desktop ]-----------*
Free Colorado Avalanche Desktop Theme Package
Take the 1997 Cyber Shopper Survey and download
a free Windows 95 desktop theme.
*----------------[ http://www.navidec.com/survey ]------------------*
Today's voyage of our little bus of Internet happiness is the first of a
two part post on virus software. The second part will appear next week. :)
Back on May 15, I wrote
Before you rush out and spend your hard-earned money on an anti-
virus program, though, give me one more week to find some free
anti-virus programs for you that will automatically scan Internet
downloads. With 80,000 people reading this post, if such a
program exists, I am certain that someone will tell me about it.
Well, that week sort of turned into a month. But, after reading *42*
letters from TOURBUS riders around the world who recommended particular
anti-virus packages, I now know more about anti-virus software than I ever
needed to know (gee, I wonder if I can get the University to give me
college credit for this?!).
Anyway, judging from the letters that I received, the most popular
anti-virus freeware -- at least with your fellow TOURBUS riders -- is
"EliaShim's ViruSafe Web."
Why is it so overwhelmingly popular? Well ...
1. It works, and
2. IT'S FREE! :)
As Patrick Unterlerchner" noted:
So, PC World Magazine (May 1997 issue) wrote an article about
"Best Free Stuff Online" and mentioned about an anti virus plug-
in for Web browsers : "EliaShim's ViruSafe Web 3.0". This program
is *FREEWARE*. You can find it at the following address:
http://www.eliashim.com/4home.html
As PC World puts it: "...It [ViruSafe Web] automatically scans
files for virus -- and can detect and remove infected files --
before saving them to your hard drive. For windows 3.x, 95, or
DOS, download size 953K; Free".
Gee, that pretty much takes care of what we were looking for! By the way,
you can also find ViruSafe on the Web at
http://www.virusafe.com/
Mac users (like me), unfortunately, aren't so lucky. In fact, I couldn't
find *ANY* free Mac anti-virus software that offered what ViruSafe offers.
The closest free, anti-virus Mac software that I could find is called
"Disinfectant," and Disinfectant won't scan files as they are being
downloaded. :(
If you are interested in checking out Disinfectant, though, hop on over to
http://www.download.com/
I also received recommendations for other several PC anti-virus programs --
Dr. Solomon's, F-Prot, McAfee -- and we'll talk about each of those
programs in-depth next week.
One thing that I do want to point out, though, is that almost EVERY
anti-virus software package on the market -- both commercial and freeware
-- slows the performance of your computer considerably. The anti-virus
software does indeed protect you from most viruses and Trojan horses, but
that protection comes at a price. To paraphrase something that I read in
Car & Driver a few years ago, a computer with an anti-virus program
accelerates like is was chained to your house.
Robert Pickle wrote to inform me of an
article that explains this problem in-depth:
This article is entitled, "Beware Utilities That Suck Performance
Out of Your System,"
(http://www5.zdnet.com/anchordesk/story/story_912.html) by
Michael J. Miller, Editor-in-chief of PC Magazine. This article
goes on to discuss Anti-Virus software.
PC Magazine reviewed commercial anti-virus programs -- not the free
programs that we have discussed in today's post -- but the article is still
quite interesting to read. Robert also notes that
These links are in the left hand column: "Antivirus Evaluations,
(http://www8.zdnet.com/pcmag/features/utility/av/_open.htm)"
"Antivirus Testing," "1997 Utility Guide," and "Utility
Quicksand."
This review covers 10 antivirus software programs and their
recommendation went to Norton AntiVirus 2.0 for Win 95, followed
closely by PC-cillin II.
So, some pretty good freeware anti-virus software exists (if you use a PC),
but expect any anti-virus software to impact your machine's performance.
Next week, we'll talk about a couple more anti-virus programs, and give you
a few more tips on how you can keep your computer from becoming infected.
Have a safe and happy weekend!
---------------------------------
TODAY'S SOUTHERN WORDS OF THE DAY
---------------------------------
TUBAFOR (noun). Lumber.
Usage: "Don't make me have to whomp ya upside the head with a
tubafor!"
(Special thanks to Karen Stuart for today's word)
YOU CAN FIND ALL OF THE OLD SOUTHERN WORDS OF THE DAY ON THE SOUTHERN WORD
HOMEPAGE AT http://ua1ix.ua.edu/~crispen/word.html
=--------------------------------------------------------------------=
For info on my new book "Atlas for the Information Superhighway"
Visit http://ua1ix.ua.edu/~crispen/atlas.html
---------------------------------------------------------------------
=====================[ Tourbus Rider Information ]===================
The Internet Tourbus - U.S. Library of Congress ISSN #1094-2238
Copyright 1995-97, Rankin & Crispen - All rights reserved
Archives on the Web at http://www.TOURBUS.com
Join: Send SUBSCRIBE TOURBUS Your Name to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
Leave: Send SIGNOFF TOURBUS to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
PROMOTE your business on the Internet Tourbus. Reach over 80,000
people in a Net-friendly way. Our sponsors say "It works!"
Make it work for you - contact BobRankin@MHV.net for details.
Editors: Reprint TOURBUS in your publication for free - Ask me how.
Send this copy to 3 friends and tell them to hop on the Bus!
=====================================================================
.~~~. ))
(\__/) .' ) )) Patrick Douglas Crispen
/o o \/ .~ The Internet Network Information Center
{o_, \ { Business E-mail: crispen@internic.net
/ , , ) \ Personal E-mail: crispen@brigadoon.com
`~ '-' \ } )) http://www.brigadoon.com/~crispen/
_( ( )_.'
'---..{____} Warning: squirrels.
