by Bruce P. Burrell (bpb@umich.edu)
for the U-M Virus Busters (virus.busters@umich.edu)
Last Modified: 7 March 1997

This information can be freely reproduced in any medium, as long as the information is unmodified.

Date: Mon, 24 Feb 1997 17:26:52 -0500 (EST)
From: "Bruce P. Burrell" 
To: pcavu@umich.edu
Subject: New version of F-PROT (PC) antivirus software available

Hi, folks.  Since we still support F-PROT even after the site licensing of
Dr. Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit (DSAV), I'll continue to announce new
versions of F-PROT as they become available.  I won't give as much detail
as I used to; see the NEW.226 and VIRLIST.LIS files for the nitty-gritty. 

In case you wonder why I'd bother to announce new versions of F-PROT since
we now can use DSAV, I'll point out that: 

   1. It's still an EXCELLENT product for detecting and removing viruses
      (though its -prevention- leaves a good deal to be desired.  That's
      why they sell a Professional version; seems fair to me....)

   2. F-PROT Professional, which is based on F-PROT (ShareWare) for
      which we have a site license, was the only product in our tests that
      came close to comparing favorably with DSAV

   3. F-MACROW.EXE, the macro virus detecting program, is probably the
      best such program that exists for detecting and removing macro
      viruses.  (It cannot, however, prevent macro viruses from running
      unless YOU scan each file before you use it, EVERY time)

   4. Our site license is good until 9/97, and after that one may continue
      to use F-PROT on an individually owned computer for private use
      (See ORDER.DOC for details)

   All in all, F-PROT is a very good fallback to have for DSAV.  I hope
nobody minds the roughly one piece of extra mail these announcements will
generate every two months. 

   Oh, yes: I suppose I should announce it, huh?  Well, F-PROT version
2.26 was released today, and it is available on the U-M Virus Busters web
page (http://www.umich.edu/~wwwitd/virus-busters/), in ~swdist/f/fprot for
those who are U-M members with uniqnames, and at archive.umich.edu in
/pub/msdos/virus/supported for anonymous ftp.  It detects over 10,000
viruses and removes over 70% of them.  Over 66% of the viruses it
recognizes are identified exactly, and the name scheme has been overhauled
better to conform with the "CARO" standard (both Very Good Things).


   So far, we've received very few problem reports about DSAV -- a couple
of typos in my doc files, mostly.  If you DO have problems, please let me
know (bpb@umich.edu or virus.busters@umich.edu); we want this to be as
smooth as possible for everyone, so all suggestions are welcome.  Of
course, any questions about viruses are always welcome, whether they
relate directly to DSAV or F-PROT. 

   -BPB

University of Michigan AntiVirus Team Leader
University of Michigan Data Recovery Team Leader
PGP 2.6.2 key fingerprint = 0D A5 98 3C 91 DA E0 DD  9C 6D FA 8F 4D 34 95 ED