PCINTEL.RVW 920831 Comparison Review Company and product: Intel Corp. 3065 Bowers Ave. Santa Clara, CA 95051 USA 503-629-7000 Sales: 800-538-3373 44-793-431-155 BBS: 503-645-6275 44-793-432-955 Fax: 800-458-6231 503-629-7580 44-793-431-166 FaxBACK800-525-3019 44-793-432-509 503-629-7576 Pay: 900-288-7700 ($30 per call) 44-793-431-144 44-793-421-777 (French) 44-793-421-333 (German) LANProtect 1.0 Summary: Netware scanner with scheduling utility. Cost Rating (1-4, 1 = poor, 4 = very good) "Friendliness" Installation 2 Ease of use 2 Help systems 1 Compatibility 2 Company Stability 3 Support 3 Documentation 1 Hardware required 2 Performance 2 Availability 2 Local Support 1 General Description: Detect-only scanner with scheduling provisions. Server-based within a network. Comparison of features and specifications User Friendliness Installation Shipped unprotected on writable media, both 720K and 360K disks. The product received is identified as a "30 day test drive version". This may account for the fact that it doesn't work. An installation program is provided. There is no provision for manual installation. You must install with "SUPERVISOR" rights. Therefore, you must have an expendable Netware system to test this product. Ease of use The product uses the standard Novell menuing system interface, and should not be difficult to use. However, the product appears to have much the same options as Novell security in general, and therefore a thorough grounding in Novell security would seem to be a pre-requisite. Help systems None provided. Compatibility A special "Michelangelo" disinfector is provided. The documentation for it states that it will overlay an infected boot sector with a "standard" boot sector. This it does. Bootable disks will thus become unbootable. As it only overlays the boot sector, it is ineffective against Michelangelo infections on hard disks: likely a good thing. You wouldn't want to lose your partition table. Company Stability Intel? Surely you jest. Company Support A number of options for communicating with Intel's NetDirect system are listed. Registered users receive signature updates for a year. Note that the "800" numbers for the US and Canada do, indeed, work from Canada. As with everyone else, Intel received a copy of the initial evaluation for their own review. I received a telephone call from one of their service people who asked about some of the points raised. He seemed to be quite genuinely interested in the points raised, and asked about other antiviral software that addresses the shortcomings of the LANProtect product. He also stated that the "current" product is now 1.5, and that it does contain some disinfection capability. Documentation The documentation is extremely short. It gives directions on the invocation of the program, and some of the options in terms of when to scan, who to report the results to, and so forth. There is a READ.ME file on disk which contains errata. It also suggests that "Detailed information on viruses can be obtained through a product such as:" and then presents a promotional blurb for the Hoffman Virus Summary list. Probably a good thing. The "What is a Computer Virus" section is terse to the point of being useless. I'll bet you didn't know that a BSI could "spread via the network cabling". Or that a "TSR" virus "infect[s] all files as they are run" (like DIR-II, perhaps?) And, of course, we have the obligatory mention of the modem as a source fo infection. Hardware Requirements Novell Network. Performance The manual lists endorsements from both Novell and the NCSA: the NCSA has slightly more cautious wording. Note that no disinfection capability is mentioned for this product. Local Support None provided. Support Requirements Likely requires thorough knowledge of Novell security provisions. General Notes Although LANProtect is currently a "single layer" of protection, the server based approach to scanning and protection is another layer that should be added to "complete" the picture in future. Intel appear to be concerned to make this product a more complete and viable package in future. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1992 PCINTEL.RVW 920831 ====================== roberts@decus.ca rslade@vcn.bc.ca rslade@vanisl.decus.ca "Watch me disappear!" CLICK. - Ryan's version of the "Treasure" Cat Author "Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses" 0-387-94663-2 (800-SPRINGER)