Managing Viruses with F-Prot

A computer virus is a program written by a programmer for the purpose of annoying you or intentionally damaging your computer or the information that is stored in it. Almost all viruses hide inside the program files on your computer (not in your data files) and are set up to infect other program files when you execute them. Many hide on your hard drive or on diskettes in a special place known as the boot sector where they cause damage when you try to boot your computer. Aside from a newer virus called the Word Macro Concept virus that affects WORD 6 document files, you need not be concerned about infection of data files.

All your computers were originally virus-free. They get infected when you try to run a program you have obtained elsewhere, such as from the Internet or on a diskette from someone else who has not checked it for infection. To reduce the risk, all computers in the PCs for Families program are protected by an anti-virus program named F-Prot Professional which analyzes every program you try to execute. Every few weeks you should have F-Prot check your entire hard disk, just to make sure you have no programs with viruses lurking in the background. F-Prot is set up to inform you whenever it finds a virus. When it does, it is frequently able to disinfect or remove the virus, and you should allow it to do so. Any program with a virus that cannot be disinfected must be deleted from your disk. In such cases we strongly suggest that you contact project personnel and that you not attempt to operate your computer.

If you want to read more about viruses, you might look at the F-Prot website. A short tutorial and a virus encyclopedia can be found at the Dr. Solomon site. There is also an extensive compilation of Anti-Virus Resources for those with further interest.

Using F-Prot

Below is a picture of the main control panel which you would use to have F-Prot to make a scan of your disk.

Whenever you receive a new diskette from an unknown source, we suggest that you scan it for viruses immediately before using it. Just highlight Scan Drive A and then click on Execute Task. Every few weeks you should scan your entire hard drive. Just highlight Scan Hard Drives and click on Execute Task. The remainder of these pages are devoted to setting up F-Prot. If you have any questions, we suggest that you set it up as shown in the following images.

Properties

The properties panel determines how a virus scan takes place when you request a scan of an entire drive.

Preferences

The preferences menu is especially important because it sets up the features that control unattended virus scanning, including in DOS mode. The following images show how to set up the active protection options.

Dynamic Virus Protection should always be enabled. Checking the Report only box will cause F-Prot to identify the virus before allowing you to attempt disinfection. Be aware that when the Prompt before denying access box is checked, you have the option to continue execution, which may cause the virus to spread.

Virstop provides dynamic protection in DOS mode.

Memory scanning is extra protection and reports the presence of viruses in computer memory.

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