User Guide

Using the Dr Solomon’sAnti-Virusapplication
176 Dr Solomon’sAnti-Virus
Why use the Dr Solomon’s Anti-Virus application?
Maintaining a secure computing environment means scanning for viruses
regularly. Depending on the degree to which you swap floppy disks with
other users, share files over your local area network, or interact with other
computersviathe Internet,scanning“regularly” couldmeanscanningas little
as once a month, or as often as several times a day. Other good habits to
cultivateincludescanningrightbeforeyoubackupyourdata,scanningbefore
you install new or upgraded software, particularly software you download
from other computers, and scanning when you start or shut down your
computer each day.
Use the VShield scanner to scan your computer's memory and maintain a
constant level of vigilance between scanning operations. Under most
circumstances, this should protectyoursystem'sintegrity.Butgoodanti-virus
security measures incorporate complete, regular system scans because:
• Background scanning checks files as they execute. The VShield scanner
looks for viruscodeasexecutable files runor when youreada floppy disk,
but the Dr Solomon’s Anti-Virus application cancheck for code signatures
in files stored on your hard disk. If you rarely run an infected file, the
VShield scannermight not detectthe virus until itdeploys itspayload. The
Dr Solomon’s Anti-Virus application, however, can detect a virus as it lies
in wait for an opportunity to run.
• Virusesaresneaky.Accidentallyleavingafloppydiskinyourdriveasyou
start your computer could load a virus into memory before the VShield
scanner, particularly if you do not have the scanner configured to scan
floppy disks. Once in memory, a virus can infect nearly any program,
including the VShield scanner.
• TheVShield scanner requirestimeand resources.Scanningforvirusesas
yourun,copyor savefilescan delay,though veryslightly, softwarelaunch
times andother tasks.Depending onyour situation, thiscould betimeyou
might rather devote to important system operations. Although the impact
is very slight, you might be tempted to disable the VShield scanner if you
need every bit of available power for demanding tasks. In that case,
performing regular scan operations during idle periods can guard your
system against infection without compromising performance.
• Goodsecurityis redundantsecurity.Inthenetworked,web-centricworld
in which most computer users operate today, it takes only a moment to
download a virus from a source you might not even realize you visited. If
a software conflict has disabled background scanning for that moment, or
if you have not configured background scanning to watch a vulnerable
entry point, you could end up with a virus. Regular scan operations can
often catch infections before they spread or do any harm.