deddard
04-24-2003, 06:25 PM
I just spent a few hours wrestling with a client's computer in his home. He had all sorts of problems, people emailing him telling him they had viruses from him, his system was as slow as a three legged dog with a hernia, AV wouldn't run, programs died on their backside after a couple of seconds etc...
Anyway, it seemed that a virus could well be causing all the problems, but his Macafee virus scan wouldn't run (and was way out of date) we couldn't access the net to update any definitions (and I couldn't figure out macafee's site anyway!)
I advised him to purchase a newer AV, and as he is on cable, a firewall.
THe local PC World had an offer on for Norton Utilities/firewall bundle, so as he is an old chap without transport, I whipped down there and got it for him. This will solve a few of his other problems in the future, as he will be able to run the repair and maintenance tools as well.
I had the Norton virus definitions on a CDR, and managed to get the system limping along enough to scan and eventually kill a few virus/trojans (w32.bugbear etc) that were actually resident in the system (hence they didn't want to play with AV) after a reboot and scan, everything that shouldn't be there did the honourable thing and died.
This took several hours (I know it's best to take the system home, but it wasn't a real option in this case) and I was wondering how the techies on this board go about virus scanning clients computers with up-to-date definitions?
I have a couple of copies of Norton AV, and can manually download definitions to my computer, extract them to the client's machine and then run a scan from dos -IF they are running FAT/FAT32.
What virus scanner do you all use for this? I know norton do a corporate version - is this what I need?
My basic requirements are that the AV can be run on client's computers with:
UP TO DATE virus definitions
The ability to run on NTFS (not possible with Norton emergency disks)
Not cost a fortune.
Suggestions? pointers? any help appreciated.
Another point is how do you provide a permanent solution for AV? is it possible to be a reseller for Norton/Macafee etc. without spending a fortune?
Is it easy to become an OEM (and would this route be applicable)
I know there are free AV/Firewalls out there, but many of them are a bit hard to grasp for non-techies. This particular guy is 85, so the nice friendly Norton interface was pretty much what he needed.
Anyway, it seemed that a virus could well be causing all the problems, but his Macafee virus scan wouldn't run (and was way out of date) we couldn't access the net to update any definitions (and I couldn't figure out macafee's site anyway!)
I advised him to purchase a newer AV, and as he is on cable, a firewall.
THe local PC World had an offer on for Norton Utilities/firewall bundle, so as he is an old chap without transport, I whipped down there and got it for him. This will solve a few of his other problems in the future, as he will be able to run the repair and maintenance tools as well.
I had the Norton virus definitions on a CDR, and managed to get the system limping along enough to scan and eventually kill a few virus/trojans (w32.bugbear etc) that were actually resident in the system (hence they didn't want to play with AV) after a reboot and scan, everything that shouldn't be there did the honourable thing and died.
This took several hours (I know it's best to take the system home, but it wasn't a real option in this case) and I was wondering how the techies on this board go about virus scanning clients computers with up-to-date definitions?
I have a couple of copies of Norton AV, and can manually download definitions to my computer, extract them to the client's machine and then run a scan from dos -IF they are running FAT/FAT32.
What virus scanner do you all use for this? I know norton do a corporate version - is this what I need?
My basic requirements are that the AV can be run on client's computers with:
UP TO DATE virus definitions
The ability to run on NTFS (not possible with Norton emergency disks)
Not cost a fortune.
Suggestions? pointers? any help appreciated.
Another point is how do you provide a permanent solution for AV? is it possible to be a reseller for Norton/Macafee etc. without spending a fortune?
Is it easy to become an OEM (and would this route be applicable)
I know there are free AV/Firewalls out there, but many of them are a bit hard to grasp for non-techies. This particular guy is 85, so the nice friendly Norton interface was pretty much what he needed.