Date: Tue, 05 Sep 1995 00:08:39 EST From: "Rob Slade, the doting grandpa of Ryan Hoff" Subject: VET antiviral (DOS/Windows) PCVET.RVW 950808 Comparison Review Company and product: Company: Cybec Address: PO Box 205, Suite 3, 350 Hampton Street, Hampton, Victoria 3188, Australia Phone: +61 3 9521 0655, +44-6-0683-6780, +353-5-138-3650, +605-281-2757, +649-378-9790 Fax: +61 3 9521 0727 Contact: Nichols Engleman, Roger Riordan Email: support@cybec.com.au, sales@cybec.com.au Product: VET antiviral 8.2 Summary: Scanner, two option resident scanner, activity monitor, disinfector, change detector and utilities. Cost A$90.00 for 1 year license, updates posted quarterly Rating (1-4, 1 = poor, 4 = very good) "Friendliness" Installation 3 Ease of use 3 Help systems 2 Compatibility 3 Company Stability 3 Support 3 Documentation 3 Hardware required 4 Performance 3 Availability 2 Local Support 2 General Description: VET is a fairly standard scanner/disinfector with a strong emphasis on boot sector infectors. VET_RES is a resident scanning system with various options. Utilities included are VCRC, for change detection; HUNT, a "baiting" change detector, and VET_TRAP which saves MBR, boot sector and "top of memory" data for evaluation of suspect new virus. A Windows interface is available, and a NetWare NLM is in final test and should be available when this review sees print. Comparison of features and specifications User Friendliness Installation The program is shipped on a writeable but protected 720K diskette, with another for the Windows interface. The installation program is very well prompted, and explains the choices the user has to make. Two or three sentences of rationale are given as the user cycles through the options presented. Standard installation, while somewhat more complicated than some other products, is quite reasonable, and should give the novice no problem. (Ironically, a possible exception is the installation of the Windows interface. The interface uses the VET program, but is separate from it. Installation of VET adds to the PATH command in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file, but if the Windows interface is installed immediately following, without an intermediate reboot, VETWIN won't be able to find VET.) Custom installation, however, should only be attempted by intermediate or advanced users, and that only after all of chapter one has been read. The manual is somewhat technical, but computer support personnel should feel right at home. (Given VET's origin in college computer labs, this orientation is quite reasonable.) Having said that, technical support staff will find a number of helpful functions for customizing installation, and for aiding installation in sites with many PCs. Both "Master" and "Network" options assist in initiating the program on mulitple PCs in a corporate environment. The installation process is very "careful" and should ensure that no virus contaminates the program. Installation is possible on systems with no hard drive, but some of the installation functions, such as modification of AUTOEXEC.BAT, are not performed. Ease of use Most of the VET programs are command line, rather than menu, driven, but the default usage should be easy enough for most novice users. Users are told very plainly about problems, as well as possible, and recommended, courses of action. Novice users will find that standard usage gives them a fairly solid measure of protection. The only important part of the package that is difficult to use is the change detection component. Intermediate and expert users will find various options which can increase the level of security, or avoid conflicts in specialized environments. Help systems A list of command line options can be obtained with the "?" switch. Compatibility No problems were found in testing. A Windows interface for the VET program is available. The VET_RES programs will sound an audible alarm running under Windows, but will not display the warning screen. Suggestions are made to allow co-existance with various networks. Company Stability Cybec has a significant presence on VIRUS-L, as well as other research groups. It is now to be considered among the top international virus research companies. Company Support The usual. In addition, Cybec is fairly active on VIRUS-L/comp.virus, and is reachable through the Internet. The product is updated quarterly for those with a valid license. Updated documentation on disk makes this look almost like a shareware package. A newsletter called "Cyclops", available to customers, is not as detailed as the "F-PROT Bulletin", but is a lot funnier. Documentation The documentation is now excellent in terms of program operation. The removal of the primer material and the humour is disappointing. Introductory level explanations are, however, inegrated throughout. System Requirements No special hardware is needed. The program will work with MS-DOS 2.x or higher, and can be run from a floppy disk if needed. Performance There is a very strong emphasis on boot sector protection in the package, not surprising, in that it started life as a defence against Stoned and produced the "Man who named Michelangelo". Data bases, detectors and recovery tools are included for analysis of the boot sector and master book record. VET_RES checks the boot sector every time it monitors a change in a floppy disk in the drive, and checks for a disk in the drive when is pressed. Scanning is among the fastest reviewed, and ranks with Thunderbyte and Virex-PC. Unfortunately, the program has not been included in many of the most widely distributed independent scanner trials. My own tests do not indicate any shortcomings in the scanning coverage of the program. Local Support The company is reachable via the Internet. Support Requirements VET is suitable for all user levels, but is particularly recommended for supported sites. General Notes An improvement in the change detection component would contribute to the full multi-layered defence. VET is, however, a significant package, and well worth serious consideration, particularly in large environments. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1993, 1995 PCVET.RVW 950808 ====================== ROBERTS@decus.ca, RSlade@sfu.ca, Rob Slade at 1:153/733 RSlade@cyberstore.ca "Internet, the information network you _can't_ outgrow." - Ido Dubrawsky Author "Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses" 0-387-94311-0/3-540-94311-0