User Guide

8
User’s Guide 277
8Using Specialized
Scanning Tools
Scanning Microsoft Exchange and Outlook mail
Dr Solomon’s Anti-Virus provides you with two complementary methods to
protect your Microsoft Exchange or Outlook e-mail system:
• TheVShieldscanner includes an E-MailScan modulethat runs continuous
background scan operations on e-mail as it arrives on your server.
• The E-Mail Scan extension allows you to scan your mailbox on the
Exchange server at your own initiative, and at times convenient for you.
An unobtrusive plug-in architecture gives you access to the E-Mail Scan
extension from directly within your Exchange or Outlook client application.
When and why you should use the E-Mail Scan extension
Most of the fastest-spreading viruses, worms, and other hostile agents that
have emerged in the last few years have proliferated via e-mail. E-mail offers
a fast and omnipresent medium that virus writers can use to distribute
infectedattachments,whichthey oftentrickusersintoopeningandactivating.
Newer viruses, as VBS/BUBBLEBOY demonstrated, might even be able to
work without users having to open or read even the e-mail message itself.
TheMicrosoftExchangeandOutlooke-mailclientsareparticularlyvulnerable
to infections of this sort because of their powerful macro and script
interpretation capabilities. As withthe rest of the Microsoft Office application
suite,theExchangeclientsoftwaremakesextensive useofmacros,marked-up
text, script commands, and similar capabilities that lend themselves to virus
attack.
Use the VShield E-Mail Scan module to run background scan operations on
your e-mail system and to maintain a constant level of vigilance between the
scan operations you run with the E-Mail Scan extension. Under most
circumstances, this should protect your system's integrity.
If you have a large backlog of mail on your server that you have not yet
scanned, if you log off from your Exchange server, or if you stop the E-Mail
Scan module at any point, you should use the E-Mail Scan extension to scan
your mailbox to ensure system integrity. Viruses could easily remain in old
e-mailmessagesstoredonyourserverorine-mailmessagesthatarriveduring
periods you are logged off from your e-mail system.