McAfee VIRUSSCAN 4.5 Administrator's Manual page 22

About VirusScan Software
The new release also adds multiplatform support for Windows 95, Windows
98, Windows NT Workstation v4.0, and Windows 2000 Professional, all in a
single package with a single installer, but optimized to take advantage of the
benefits each platform offers. Windows NT Workstation v4.0 and Windows
2000 Professional users, for example, can run VirusScan software with
differing security levels that provide a range of enforcement options for
system administrators. That way, corporate anti-virus policy implementation
can vary from the relatively casual—where an administrator might lock down
a few critical settings, for example—to the very strict, with predefined settings
that users cannot change or disable at all.
At the same time, as the cornerstone product in the McAfee Active Virus
Defense and Total Virus Defense security suites, VirusScan software retains
the same core features that have made it the utility of choice for the corporate
desktop. These include a virus detection rate second to none, powerful
heuristic capabilities, Trojan horse program detection and removal, rapid-
response updating with weekly virus definition (.DAT) file releases, daily beta
.DAT releases, and EXTRA.DAT file support in crisis or outbreak situations.
Because more than 300 new viruses or malicious software agents appear each
month McAfee backs its software with a worldwide reach and 24-hour "follow
the sun" coverage from its Anti-Virus Emergency Response Team (AVERT).
Even with the rise of viruses and worms that use e-mail to spread, that flood
e-mail servers, or that infect groupware products and file servers directly, the
individual desktop remains the single largest source of infections, and is often
the most vulnerable point of entry. VirusScan software acts as a tireless
desktop sentry, guarding your system against more venerable virus threats
and against the latest threats that lurk on websites, often without the site
owner's knowledge, or spread via e-mail, whether solicited or not.
In this environment, taking precautions to protect yourself from malicious
software is no longer a luxury, but a necessity. Consider the extent to which
you rely on the data on your computer and the time, trouble and money it
would take to replace that data if it became corrupted or unusable because of
a virus infection. Corporate anti-virus cleanup costs, by some estimates,
topped $16 billion in 1999 alone. Balance the probability of infection—and
your company's share of the resulting costs—against the time and effort it
takes to put a few common sense security measures in place, and you can
quickly see the utility in protecting yourself.
Even if your own data is relatively unimportant to you, neglecting to guard
against viruses might mean that your computer could play unwitting host to
a virus that could spread to computers that your co-workers and colleagues
use. Checking your hard disk periodically with VirusScan software
significantly reduces your system's vulnerability to infection and keeps you
from losing time, money and data unnecessarily.
22 McAfee VirusScan Anti-Virus Software