On 14 Dec 2005 at 19:41, Wayne Johnson wrote:

> At 06:53 PM 12/14/2005, Gary VanderMolen typed:
> >Just because both machines have AV doesn't mean one of the two
> >couldn't have its check-outgoing-mail-for-virus function corrupted.
> 
> If the systems are known to be clean then checking out going mail is 
> a complete waste of time. One could at least turn it off on all 
> machines while checking networking problems.

Yeah, but that requires having a clue.  If the system is known to be 
clean, doing *ANY* automatic, large scale checking is a waste of time. 
Doing specific checks [e.g., on downloading executables or removable 
media with executables on them] is really all you need, and I think that 
one of the online services will let you do that [scan a single file or 
folder instead of your entire disk] (and an online scan is guaranteed to 
get you the up-to-the-minute engine with the up-to-the-minute 
definitions, which won't help you against day-0 [or hour-0] exploits, but 
it'll probably be better than your "preloaded" scanner is (and certainly 
can't be worse [and even better: is free [and always up to date]].

Of course, you have to be careful and clueful, and, basically, Norton and 
friends are making their fortunes on fearmongering AND assuming that 
users *aren't* careful or clueful...  HL Mencken comes to mind[*].

  /Bernie\

[*] Nobody ever went broken underestimating the intelligence of the
American public.

-- 
Bernie Cosell                     Fantasy Farm Fibers
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]     Pearisburg, VA
    -->  Too many people, too few sheep  <--       

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