User Guide

D
User’s Guide 345
DUnderstanding iDAT
Technology
Understanding incremental .DAT files
Tofunctionatpeakefficiency,DrSolomon’sAnti-Virusneedsregularupdates
for its virus definition (.DAT) files. Without them, the software might not
detectnewviruses or respond effectively to removethreats fromyour system.
Prior versions ofthe AutoUpdateutility requiredyouto download and install
theentirevirusdefinitionpackageeachweek.Thatpackagehasgrown
steadily in size with each new virus definition addition and now includes
more than 50,000 virus definitions.
WiththisDrSolomon’sAnti-Virusrelease,DrSolomon’sSoftwareintroduced
anew incremental virusdefinition(.DAT or iDAT)technology that consistsof
small parcels that contain only the virus definitions that have changed
between weekly .DAT file releases—not theentire.DATfileset.Youcannow
download iDAT files that range in size from 100
KB to 110KB, depending on
howmanyvirusdefinitionscomeincluded.Thisdevelopmentmeansthatyou
can download .DAT file updates much faster, and at a far lower cost in
bandwidth, than ever before.
Better still, the AutoUpdate utility makes this process completely transparent
—it will download as many incremental .DAT files as it needs to bring your
software up to date. If your .DAT files are older than the backward range of
iDAT packages available, or if an iDAT download fails for any reason, the
utility will download the entire current .DAT file package. In either case, the
AutoUpdate utility ensures that you have absolutely current .DAT files to
protectyoursystem,withouttheneedtoworryaboutwhichfilestodownload.
Simply point the utility to an update source, schedule a time for the
AutoUpdate task to run, and let the utility do its work.
IMPORTANT: Incremental updates apply only to .DAT files. Dr
Solomon’s Software does not provide incremental updates for scan
engine files. To update your engine files, use the SuperDAT utility. The
SuperDAT utility will download and install only full .DAT file updates.