--------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 171 VIRUS INFO Ref: F2D00000 Date: 02/05/98 From: MINH VAN Time: 07:55am \/To: ALL (Read 1 times) Subj: Scan/MCafees Virus Scanner hello. does anybody know whether SCAN is still being issued under DOS ? :) i don't like win95. --- Squish/386 v1.11 * Origin: Independence BBS. Fairfield, NSW. Australia. 61-2-9726-8985. (3:713/622) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 171 VIRUS INFO Ref: F2D00001 Date: 02/06/98 From: LUTHER KOLB Time: 12:17am \/To: ROD FEWSTER (Read 1 times) Subj: Best Antiviral Program * In a message originally to Luther Kolb and Kurt Wismer, rod fewster said: rf> If I'd read Luther's reply to Kurt earlier I could have rf> saved myself a rf> message! That will teach you to read everything before you reply to anything! :-) rf> IMO, touting one scanner as "better" than another simply rf> because it rf> accurately names (or purports to accurately name) more rf> viruses _is_ rf> a technowank ... but it's gotta be worth a lot more than rf> "inverse rf> piggybacking". :) Not much! rf> Yep ... anyone who could read between the lines knew which rf> way Vesselin rf> was heading. (Business is business.) :) Sure business is business, but it was clear to me for a long time that Bontchev was in F-Prot's pocket. I would have had more respect for the dude if he'd been honest and said "I'm recommending F-Prot out of employee loyalty because I'll be going to work for Frisk Software soon." Nobody expects him to promote anything except F-Prot NOW because we all know he works for Frisk, but in those days he was pushing F-Prot while still claiming to be unbiased. rf> Jimmy Kuo (McAfee) raised a valid point in a.c.v a few days rf> ago when he rf> said _no_ AV product tests are 100% independent. rf> If you think about this carefully, he's 99% right. For rf> example: even rf> though I take every possible precaution to ensure that my rf> own testing rf> is fair to everyone, my tests would be slightly skewed in rf> favor of AVP rf> and TBAV because, between the two of them, they have all my rf> viruses. I'll accept that, but I think you're putting shit on yourself for no reason. rf> (Other AV companies can get these viruses through the CARO rf> grapevine, rf> but _I_ don't give viruses to anyone except Eugene and rf> Frans.) rf> It's often said that magazines give "Editor's Choice" rf> awards to those rf> AV companies with the biggest ads. Although it sometimes rf> looks that rf> way I'd hate to think that this is really happening, Bullshit Rod! It "looks that way" BECAUSE most magazine awards go to the company that spends the most on advertising! rf> but even ignoring rf> this aspect, IMO most magazine tests aren't worth the paper rf> they're rf> written on by virtue of the fact that they're written by rf> geeks! You're right about the geeks! rf> I personally know of only ONE computer journalist who has rf> even the rf> faintest clue about viruses. He has a collection of many rf> thousands of rf> viruses and usually runs his tests on several hundred, You're obviously talking about Jan Wikstrom, and I agree, he's the only PC writer in Australia worth reading, about viruses or anything else. rf> which puts him rf> way out in front of that PC World geek who did an rf> internationally rf> published "antivirus product review" last year using only rf> SIX viruses! rf> (The same PC World geek canned ThunderByte for Windows95 rf> "because it rf> used heuristic cleaning rather than positive rf> identification" ... back in rf> the days when TBAV for Windows95 had NO cleaning functions rf> AT ALL! So rf> much for _his_ credibility!) You should have sued that stupid fuckhead for his back teeth! rf> Jimmy _is_ 99% right ... if you pull _most_ "independent" rf> AV tests apart rf> you'll find _some_ bias (in PC magazine tests you'll often rf> find blatant rf> lies and outright stupidity as well!) ... although now that rf> Dr Solomon's rf> no longer have a financial interest in Secure Computing the rf> Urban Myth rf> that "Solly always wins because Solly owns the magazine and rf> Solly rf> provides all the viruses" carries a lot less weight. That might be the case NOW, but nobody, not even you, can tell me Dr. Solomon winning Secure Computing's Best Player of The Month Award month after month after month wasn't the result of biased testing! Don't you think it's just a little bit TOO coincidental that the minute Dr. Solomon's business relationship with Secure Computing ends, AVP becomes #1 ??? I'm not knocking Dr. Solomon, it's a good program, and occasionally it might deserve to be #1, but it has NEVER been good enough to be #1 ALL THE TIME! That's BULLSHIT, and you know it as well as I do! LuKE --- * Origin: TBAV ---> tbav.com.au ... AVP ---> antivirus.com.au (3:640/886) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 171 VIRUS INFO Ref: F2D00002 Date: 02/07/98 From: ROD FEWSTER Time: 08:34am \/To: PAUL WALKER (Read 1 times) Subj: Best Antiviral Program > Hi Rod, > rod fewster to Kurt Wismer, 03 Feb 98 09:43. > rf> AVP currently claims "only" 12240 viruses in its database. Are you > rf> saying Solly's is better because it claims to detect an additional > rf> 4000 viruses ... THEIR OWN "VIRUSES ... the bulk of which Secure > Are you seriously claiming that they wrote these viruses just to bulk up > their score? *Thousands* of them? Because I'm afraid I don't believe > *that*. :) Not even slightly. "Their own viruses" = "viruses in their collection which they designate as viruses". Others, including Secure Computing, may designate what is or is not "a virus" by applying different sets of parameters. (Should a tester use a particular "virus" simply because ONE antivirus company tells him it _is_ "a virus" ?) --- * Origin: --==[ Secure Antivirus Systems International ]==-- (3:640/886) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 171 VIRUS INFO Ref: F2D00003 Date: 02/07/98 From: ROD FEWSTER Time: 08:37am \/To: EUGENE KASPERSKY (Read 1 times) Subj: Best Antiviral Program Privet! Nice to see you coming down to earth to chat with us mere mortals! :) > p 28 1998, letter from rod fewster to Luther Kolb: > rf> AFAIK, no other AV currently detects Red Team ... probably because > rf> no-one else has cracked it. > just because it is not in-the-wild. This virus is not so cool. I > remember Zhengxi and one week to analyze it... Let's remember Concept > and month to analyze Word formats... There's always something new on the horizon. > And now we are playing with Excel 4 formats because of new Excel4 macro > virus. .... and winning! :) --- * Origin: --==[ Secure Antivirus Systems International ]==-- (3:640/886) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 171 VIRUS INFO Ref: F2D00004 Date: 02/07/98 From: ROD FEWSTER Time: 08:45am \/To: LUTHER KOLB (Read 1 times) Subj: Best Antiviral Program > Sure business is business, but it was clear to me for a long time that > Bontchev was in F-Prot's pocket. I would have had more respect for the > dude if he'd been honest and said "I'm recommending F-Prot out of > employee loyalty because I'll be going to work for Frisk Software soon." > Nobody expects him to promote anything except F-Prot NOW because we all > know he works for Frisk, but in those days he was pushing F-Prot while > still claiming to be unbiased. A few other people have expressed similar sentiments. I guess Vesselin was in a difficult position at the time. It's impossible to be 100% unbiased when you're actively involved with one particular antivirus program ... or two, in my case ... and like AVP and TBAV, F-Prot is generally regarded as being one of the best. This makes it kinda hard to keep the _appearance_ of bias (and commercial "advertising" for your own program) out of the conversation without looking like a total dork ... but as echo moderator, this is what I try to accomplish. > rf> my tests would be slightly skewed in > rf> favor of AVP > rf> and TBAV because, between the two of them, they have all my > rf> viruses. > I'll accept that, but I think you're putting shit on yourself for no > reason. I'm not putting shit on myself ... I'm just stating a fact. If I had _only_ Solly's collection then my tests would _have_ to be skewed in Solly's favor. > rf> It's often said that magazines give "Editor's Choice" > rf> awards to those > rf> AV companies with the biggest ads. Although it sometimes > rf> looks that > rf> way I'd hate to think that this is really happening, > Bullshit Rod! It "looks that way" BECAUSE most magazine awards go to > the company that spends the most on advertising! Most people seem to agree with you on this, but I'm not so sure. (Maybe the fact that if a magazine intends to run an antivirus feature next month the advertising department calls up AV companies to buy space in that issue has something to do with it.) > You're right about the geeks! I have an automatic geek detector! :) > That might be the case NOW, but nobody, not even you, can tell me Dr. > Solomon winning Secure Computing's Best Player of The Month Award month > after month after month wasn't the result of biased testing! Don't you > think it's just a little bit TOO coincidental that the minute Dr. > Solomon's business relationship with Secure Computing ends, AVP becomes > #1 ??? I don't think the tests would have been _deliberately_ biased. Netiv pulled this kinda crap and his reputation fell through the floor. I dobut very much if Solly's would be silly enough to fall into the same trap. Maybe Secure Computing's virus collection is sourced elsewhere now ? > I'm not knocking Dr. Solomon, it's a good program, and > occasionally it might deserve to be #1, but it has NEVER been good > enough to be #1 ALL THE TIME! That's BULLSHIT, and you know it as well > as I do! IMO, _no_ antivirus program is good enough to be #1 all the time! --- * Origin: --==[ Secure Antivirus Systems International ]==-- (3:640/886) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 171 VIRUS INFO Ref: F2H00000 Date: 02/13/98 From: BRETT KNUCHEL Time: 02:16am \/To: MINH VAN (Read 1 times) Subj: Scan/MCafees Virus Scanne MV> hello. does anybody know whether SCAN is still being issued under DOS ? ) MV> don't like win95. Indeed it is. It is now a protected mode program. I think the latest version is 3.15. Rather than looking for a filename starting with "S", I think you now find it starting with "PM". If you are on the net try ftp://ftp.mcafee.com Regards Knuckles ... nfx v3.1 FREEWARE OFFLINE MAIL READER FOR DOS/WINDOWS --- EzyQwk V1.49b2 00F90061 * Origin: Gaz's Grotto #1 Adelaide +61-8-8351-8670 33k6 (3:800/2) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 171 VIRUS INFO Ref: F2H00001 Date: 02/12/98 From: LUTHER KOLB Time: 01:16am \/To: ROD FEWSTER (Read 1 times) Subj: Best Antiviral Program rf> A few other people have expressed similar sentiments. I rf> guess Vesselin rf> was in a difficult position at the time. It's impossible rf> to be 100% rf> unbiased when you're actively involved with one particular rf> antivirus rf> program ... or two, in my case ... and like AVP and TBAV, rf> F-Prot is rf> generally regarded as being one of the best. This makes it rf> kinda hard rf> to keep the _appearance_ of bias (and commercial rf> "advertising" for your rf> own program) out of the conversation without looking like a rf> total dork rf> ... but as echo moderator, this is what I try to rf> accomplish. You try TOO hard! I'm not saying you should be like Bontchev or Netiv or the Dr. Solomon staff and shove TBAV and AVP up everybody's noses every chance you get, but it's a well known fact that TBAV and AVP are always right up near the top, so why don't you just say so ? rf> > rf> It's often said that magazines give "Editor's Choice" rf> > rf> awards to those rf> > rf> AV companies with the biggest ads. Although it sometimes rf> > rf> looks that rf> > rf> way I'd hate to think that this is really happening, rf> > Bullshit Rod! It "looks that way" BECAUSE most magazine awards go to rf> > the company that spends the most on advertising! rf> Most people seem to agree with you on this, but I'm not so rf> sure. rf> (Maybe the fact that if a magazine intends to run an rf> antivirus feature rf> next month the advertising department calls up AV companies rf> to buy space rf> in that issue has something to do with it.) You mean they call and tell AV companies "If you spend $100,000 a year on advertising with us, we'll make sure you get favourable treatment whenever we do an Anti-virus Test Report." rf> > That might be the case NOW, but nobody, not even you, can tell me Dr. rf> > Solomon winning Secure Computing's Best Player of The Month Award rf> month rf> > after month after month wasn't the result of biased testing! Don't rf> you rf> > think it's just a little bit TOO coincidental that the minute Dr. rf> > Solomon's business relationship with Secure Computing ends, AVP rf> becomes rf> > #1 ??? rf> I don't think the tests would have been _deliberately_ rf> biased. Netiv rf> pulled this kinda crap and his reputation fell through the rf> floor. Fuck him! He deserves everything he gets! rf> I dobut very much if Solly's would be silly enough to fall rf> into the same rf> trap. Maybe Secure Computing's virus collection is sourced rf> elsewhere rf> now ? OK, perhaps the tests weren't _deliberately_ biased, but the latest results prove they were _unintentionally_ biased. Happy now ? :-) rf> > I'm not knocking Dr. Solomon, it's a good program, and rf> > occasionally it might deserve to be #1, but it has NEVER been good rf> > enough to be #1 ALL THE TIME! That's BULLSHIT, and you know it as rf> well rf> > as I do! rf> IMO, _no_ antivirus program is good enough to be #1 all the rf> time! Shit Rod, all you seem to do these days is defend opposition anti-virus companies! LuKE --- * Origin: TBAV ---> tbav.com.au ... AVP ---> antivirus.com.au (3:640/886) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 171 VIRUS INFO Ref: F2H00002 Date: 02/12/98 From: LUTHER KOLB Time: 01:18am \/To: CHEN SAGIV (Read 1 times) Subj: e-Safe * In a message originally to Boudewijn Joosten, Chen Sagiv said: CS> BJ> From friends I heard a lot of good things from a virusscanner called CS> BJ> *e-Safe*. Has anyone positive or negative remarks on this product ? CS> 2. It's a Good virus-scanner , i'm using the Virus-Safe . CS> so i'm protected from any kind of virus , from the Internet CS> and from the uploads of my users. 52% detection isn't "good" in my book! Supporting local programmers is fine, but you have F-Prot and TBAV on your BBS, and they're both better. LuKE --- * Origin: TBAV ---> tbav.com.au ... AVP ---> antivirus.com.au (3:640/886) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 171 VIRUS INFO Ref: F2H00003 Date: 02/12/98 From: ROD FEWSTER Time: 07:51pm \/To: LUTHER KOLB (Read 1 times) Subj: Best Antiviral Program > You mean they call and tell AV companies "If you spend $100,000 a year > on advertising with us, we'll make sure you get favourable treatment > whenever we do an Anti-virus Test Report." :) > OK, perhaps the tests weren't _deliberately_ biased, but the latest > results prove they were _unintentionally_ biased. Happy now ? :-) Like I said, it's hard to find an AV tester who's NOT biased in some way by external influences ... even if it's only where he gets his viruses. > Shit Rod, all you seem to do these days is defend opposition anti-virus > companies! Not really ... I'm just practising to be Mother Theresa. :) --- * Origin: --==[ Secure Antivirus Systems International ]==-- (3:640/886) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 171 VIRUS INFO Ref: F2K00000 Date: 02/12/98 From: KOSTJA LITVINOV Time: 08:58pm \/To: CHEN SAGIV (Read 1 times) Subj: e-Safe  Hello, Chen !!! MH>> Never heard of it...do you know a web/ftp site that hosts it? MH>> What platform/OS does it operate under? CS> This AV is running Under : CS> A. Windows 3.xx CS> B. Windows 95/98 CS> C. Windows NT4+ (inclding NT5 Beta). CS> Fine AV , i'm using it. Can it work under MS-Dos? Bye! Have a good time! --- * Origin: Saint-Petersburg, Russia. (2:5030/662.18)