Hello, P. Johnson.
On Friday, 5 November 2004, 12:03:59 AM, you wrote:
PJ> I'm getting a new computer and want to get the best PJ> firewall and virus protection I can, and have been PJ> looking at Trend Micro PC-cillin Internet Security.
Regarding the issue of antivirus software and The Bat!, you might want to check the following RITLabs Knowledge Base article, which is directly relevant (e.g., the use of antiviral plug-ins):
On how to protect message bases from being damaged.
http://www.ritlabs.com/kb/idx/16/043/article/
Others on the list have brought up the problems associated with antivirus products that lack plug-ins for The Bat! and this article describes that issue and possible problems (that I *will* face, I fear).
I have been evaluating TB! 3.0.1.33 and I use Norton AntiVirus as part of Norton SystemWorks. My evaluation period is up, but I received very few messages, which is why I think that NAV did not trash my installation of TB. I was "spared," because I had very few messages.
I am very concerned, however, that I will have all kinds of problems if I can afford to register The Bat! and reinstall it on my computer after I perform a clean installation of Windows XP Professional (SP 2). I was given SystemWorks 2005 Premier as a gift and the giver cannot return it. (I am also going to replace the Windows XP firewall, which lacks egress control, as several people have mentioned. Fortunately, as others have said, good, *free* firewall software exists; plus, I have a hardware firewall/router/switch. ZoneAlarm works well with me under Windows 2000 Professional, and I got used to handling its warnings easily.)
If The Bat! polls all of my e-mail accounts and downloads all of the messages (and I plan to clean out the accounts via a Web interface), I will have enough message bases to put me in real danger of damaged TB files, slow performance by The Bat! and lost e-mail. NAV might cause havoc with TB, although I do not recall any posts mentioning NAV causing problems with TB.
It has been a while since I installed SystemWorks, so I do not know if I can choose not to install NAV and use a product that has a plug-in for TB.
I thought that the article would be of interest to you, and to other members of the list. (The bottom line is that RITLabs states that you should use an antivirus product that has a plug- in for TB.) The article contains good advice in a short space.
I wish that I could find a solution to this issue myself, because I know that I am going to be a trouble!
Do any other users of Norton AntiVirus have problems with The Bat! and damaged files or slow performance?
Alexander S. Kunz has given me much information about Kaspersky's products and he is an experienced professional, but I am basically stuck with NAV. (Registering The Bat! is going to cost a relative fortune for me, because of my current financial status, so I just cannot afford to ditch the Symantec product that I received as a gift.)
I hope that the Knowledge Base Article helps!
Cordially,
David
P.S. -- Symantec will never offer a plug-in for TB. Because of TB's relatively small user base, Symantec would have no economic incentive for a plug-in. (Now, if we could just find a way to increase drastically the number of people who use TB...!)
I know that I want to be a registered user, despite the fact that I am basically stuck with Norton AntiVirus, which I fear could lead to some *very* messy consequences.
I want to follow the guidelines of the KB article, because RITLabs knows their product, obviously, but I cannot afford to do so. I know that RITLabs offers a plug-in API, but I do not think that my basic experience with ANSI C will allow me to do anything with the API. ;-) -- http://ddickerson.igc.org/
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________________________________________________ Current version is 3.0.1.33 | 'Using TBUDL' information: http://www.silverstones.com/thebat/TBUDLInfo.html
