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From: ut-emx!chrisj@cs.utexas.edu (Chris Johnson)
Newsgroups: comp.virus
Subject: Re: Followup on new virus (Mac)
Message-ID: <0002.8910051142.AA12544@ge.sei.cmu.edu>
Date: 4 Oct 89 18:09:20 GMT
Sender: Virus Discussion List <VIRUS-L@IBM1.CC.Lehigh.EDU>
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In article <0004.8910041115.AA07054@ge.sei.cmu.edu> eplrx7!milbouma@uunet.UU.NE
T (milbouma) writes:
>I can recommend Symantec's new antiviral package, SAM, which will flag
>any abnormal writes from an application (like Vaccine if you're
>familiar with it, but better than Vaccine).  SAM will at least protect
>your machines from getting infected and also has a Virus scanner
>program that scans for known viruses and can also repair irreplaceable
>apps that are infected.  Part of the protection init also will ask you
>if you want to scan a floppy for known viruses whenever you insert
>one.

Of course, as an alternative to SAM, you can save yourself a lot of
money and go with GateKeeper 1.1.1, which has not only been stopping
viruses around the world 6 months longer than SAM (and all the other
johnny-come-lately commercial systems), but is completely free.
Furthermore, I gather that GateKeeper is significantly more
configurable than SAM insofar as it maintains a privilege list which
can be easily viewed and edited (I've never used SAM, so I don't speak
from first-hand experience on this point, but people assure me that
it's a *very* important difference in practice).

If you need telephone support, though, SAM is clearly better for
you... the closest thing to interactive support available with
GateKeeper is email.

GateKeeper doesn't provide a virus-scanner, but with Disinfectant
available (also for free) it's not much of a problem.

One other thing that makes GateKeeper unique in the world of Macintosh
anti- virus systems is that it keeps a log file that details exactly
what virus related operations have been attempted, when, by whom and
against whom.

GateKeeper 1.1.1 (as well as Disinfectant) is available from most
archive sites, including a local system, ix1.cc.utexas.edu in the
microlib/mac/virus directory.

Well, happy virus hunting no matter what system you choose,
- ----Chris (Johnson)
- ----Author of GateKeeper