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Virex 6.1

virex-icon.gif (2045 bytes)

About Virex

Network Associates Virex is a commercial software product that has been site licensed for distribution to the San Francisco State University campus community. The current version of Virex is 6.1 and is designed for Macintosh OS 7.x-9.x. Faculty, staff and students are licensed to install and use this software at home.

Virex protects against the following types of Viruses

Downloading Virex

Download the file, virex61.hqx using a Web browser (e.g., Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer) onto your desktop. If you do not know how to download the file, follow the 5 steps immediately below:

  1. Make a PPP connection to SFSU, if you are dialing-in through a modem.   If you are on the SFSU campus in a computer lab or office, you probably already have a direct Internet connection.
  2. Start a Web browser such as Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer and go to the Anti-Virus Information Web page at the Web address:  http://www.sfsu.edu/~doit/helpdesk/av/.
  3. Scroll down the Web page to the Downloading VirusScan or Virex section.
  4. Locate the Macintosh platform in the table and click on the link Virex 6.1 under the Download column.
  5. The file will automatically be downloaded to your computer's desktop.  You will see a dialog box that displays Save "virex.hqx," BinHex Decode and then UnStuff Virex.6.1.smi.  The result will be a folder named Virex 6.1 virex-folder.gif (2047 bytes) on your computer's desktop.

Installing Virex

  1. Double-click the Virex 6.1 folder to open it. install-window.gif (31247 bytes)
  2. Double-click the Installer icon.installer-icon.gif (1824 bytes)  The Virex Installer window will appear. 
  3. Click the Scan button in the dialog box that appears, then click the Scan button again.

If the Virex application does not find any virus infections, continue with the installation.   If the application does find infected files, be sure to delete or repair those files before you continue.  When the scan has completed,  the Virex Installer window will return.

  1. Click the Install button. 
  2. Make sure that all of the installation options are selected, then click the Install button again to continue.
  3. The Installer will copy Virex and all of the program components you selected to your hard disk. When it finishes, click Quit to quit the Installer.
  4. You will be prompted to Restart your computer as soon as possible.  Click the OK button.
  5. Restart your computer to ensure that the Virex Control Panel and its related modules load into the Mac OS environment.

Configuring Virex

  1. Locate the installed folder, Virex on your computer's hard drive and double-click on it to open it. virex-window.gif (38643 bytes)
  2. Double-click the Virex icon virex-icon.gif (2037 bytes) to start up the program.   The Virex 6.1 application window will appear.
  3. Click the Preferences button pref-button.jpg (6707 bytes).  The Virex Application Preferences dialog box will appear with the category Diagnose selected.
  4. Verify that the following General and Compressed Files settings are checked: app-prefs.gif (22345 bytes)
    • Use SpeedScan
    • Use Heuristics
    • Audible Virus Alarm
    • Display file Names
    • Diagnose Floppy disks on Insertion
    • Diagnose Compressed Files
  5. Scroll down the preference category pane until the EUpdate category icon eupdate-icon.gif (2206 bytes) is visible.  Click on the EUpdate icon .
  6. Verify the following settings are established:
    • TCP/IP FTP is selected for Electronic Updating
    • Update Server is ftp.nai.com.
    • Update Folder is /virusdefs/mac/virex
  7. Click the Save button.

Updating the Virus Definitions

Updates to the Virex virus definitions are usually provided at the beginning of each month.

  1. Establish a PPP connection to the SFSU campus network, or your private ISP, if you are dialing-in through a modem.   If you are on the SFSU campus in a computer lab or office, you probably already have a direct Internet connection.
  2. Locate the Virex folder on the hard drive and double-click on it to open it.
  3. Double-click the Virex iconvirex-icon.gif (2037 bytes) to start up the program.   The Virex application window will appear.
  4. Click on the EUpdate button eupdate-button.jpg (5928 bytes) on the application tool bar.  The tool bar will change to an Update status... gauge.
  5. Upon completion, you will be prompted with a dialog box that states, The update "Virus Definitions..." has been applied.  Click the OK button.
  6. After the update has completed, click the Diagnose button on the application tool bar to rescan your hard drive and check for new known viruses.

 

Scheduling the Automatic Update

The Automatic Update setting is only appropriate to people with a constant connection to the Internet.

  1. Locate the Virex folder on the hard drive and double-click on it to open it. sched-window.gif (28424 bytes)
  2. Double-click the Virex icon virex-icon.gif (2045 bytes) to start up the program.
  3. Click on the Schedule menu and select Edit Schedule.   The Schedule Editor dialog box will open and you will see a series of three menus on the lower half of the dialog box.
  4. Click on the top menu (labled as "Diagnose" by default) in the series of three and select eUpdate.
  5. Click on the bottom of the three menus (labled as "After Startup" by default) and select At Specific Time.   The time option to the right of the menu will become active.
  6. Click on the option menu (labled as "Monthly" by default) and select when the update is to occur.  Select Monthly, because updates to the Virex virus definitions are usually provided at the beginning of each month.
  7. Adjust the date and time to specify when the next eUpdate event will be performed.   Enter a date that is few days after the beginning of the month to ensure that the updated virus definition will be available. sched-options.gif (5984 bytes)
  8. Click the Add button.  A summary of the task will appear in the area at the top of the Schedule Editor dialog box.  This event will now be executed once a month.
  9. To give the untitled task a name, click in the task name field to select it, then type the new name.
  10. Click the Save button.  The Schedule Editor dialog box will close. task.gif (3619 bytes)
  11. Click the File menu, then select Quit to quit the Virex application.

The automatic update event will be performed on the same day of each month.  Your computer must be on for the update to take place.  If it is not on at the time that the eUpdate event is scheduled, then the event will be performed the next time you boot up the computer.

Known Issues

  1. Because Virex 6.1  software includes a new scanning engine with improved capabilities, you cannot use Virus Updates intended for Virex v6.1 software with Virex software v5.8.x or earlier.

  2. To start or run the Virex Control Panel scanner from the Virex Control Strip module from Virex contextual menus, or from the Virex DropScan utility, you must use the versions of these program components that come with Virex 6.1 software. Previous versions will not function correctly.

  3. Heuristic analysis might slow the Virex scanner's speed and, on rare occasions, might report a possible new virus in a file that is not infected. Unless however, you are confident that you have a low risk for virus infection--that is, you rarely download files, receive e-mail, or exchange disks or files with other computers--McAfee and Dr Solomon recommend that you enable this feature. The benefits of early virus detection and repair will, for most users, outweigh the slight performance impact that this feature might cause.

  4. The Virex software will not attempt to remove viruses from files it identifies as potentially infected using heuristic or generic scanning in order to avoid inadvertently damaging files that have not proven conclusively to be infected. Instead, the Virex software will recommend that you send a sample of the suspicious file to McAfee or Dr Solomon virus researchers for analysis. If the file does harbor a virus, McAfee and Dr Solomon researchers will provide a virus update to remedy the problem.

    The Virex software will also allow you to delete the potentially infected file in order to protect your system. McAfee and Dr Solomon recommend, however, that you provide one of the companies with a copy of the file for analysis, along with a copy of your Virex log file. The log file now lists the Virus Definitions file the program used to detect the infection and indicates whether it used heuristic scanning to do so.

  5.  If you use the Virex software's Scan at Download feature, the software completes the scan operation correctly and lists any infected files it finds, but it does not display the other information that normally appears in its log file, including scan times and dates, or Virex settings information. To have the Virex software display the correct log information, use the Virex control panel or the Virex application to scan your hard disk at regular intervals.

  6.  If you have formatted your startup disk so that it uses HFS+, the  extended-format Hierarchical File System introduced with Mac OS 8.1, you cannot scan or install the Virex software from floppy disks.  You can, however, copy the installation files to your hard disk and install the Virex software from there, or you may install from a Virex CD-ROM.

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Last Modified: 29 May 03
doit@sfsu.edu