IDG News Service,
Buenos Aires Bureau
(This article
has been widely reproduced by many specialized magazines in several languages)
All right. I
confess it. I do not like antivirus software, and I have none installed in my
computer. I have found that most software of that sort is a pain, especially
when resident and working in the background.
I have tried
antivirus programs many times, but I have always found that they invariably make
my machines slower, they require constant loving care (that is, frequent
updates and adjustments) and more often than not they consume more resources
than what I am willing to allow them and, sometimes – only sometimes – they can
play havoc with the data they are supposed to protect. For instance, Norton
antivirus is known for blocking an entire Eudora e-mail folder if it finds a
virus there. This causes Eudora to malfunction, and the entire folder contents
can be lost. It has not happened to me, but some of my friends have already had
that painful experience.
So, for
several years now, I have had no antivirus software in my computer. Infection
incidents? None. And beware: I am not a secluded monk isolated from the world.
My office computers are permanently connected to the Internet, and I get about
400 e-mail messages a day, mostly from mailing lists. I exchange files day in
and day out with my colleagues at the IDG News Service, and with friends and
clients, and have never, ever, have I received a report that I had sent an
infected file to them.
How come,
then? Am I exceptionally fortunate? Have the virus epidemics that affected the
whole civilized world (or just the computerized world, bah!) spared my beloved
machines every time? Not a chance.
I do have
viruses. They do reach me. But they do not infect my system, although I have no
antivirus in place. How it is possible? Let me tell you a story.
Yesterday I
was asked to report on the new antivirus scanning service that Hispasec
Sistemas is offering for the Spanish speaking Web users. This system uses the
Trend Micro "House call" antivirus engine, that is also available in
English at http://housecall.antivirus.com/housecall/
(See separate report.)
When I ran the
service on my "D" drive, where I keep my data and my e-mail messages,
the software found 17 infected files, with an staggering variety of viruses of
all kinds. There they were, the whole lot of them, with all their cryptic names
and destructive power: Troj Mtx A, W97M Classes A, B and D, 666 Test, Pretty
Park, and many others. I also had some of the famous ones: I love you, and the
recent and very infective Anna Kournikova, also known as VBS Kalamar.
Then I ran a
scan of my "C" drive. The result: not a single file was infected.
None of the viruses, with their all their potential for wrong doing, had ever
left their original files on the "D" drive, and I had never re-sent
them by e-mail, inadvertently or not.
Of course,
after the scan I deleted or cleaned all the infected files. But I could as well
have left them there. They had caused no harm for years. They would have
probably remained harmless in the future.
Let's say I
have been a "healthy virus carrier" all these years (not infectious,
either). And this is due to a few factors that I would like to share with you
now:
1. Most
viruses, Trojan horses, and worms come now through e-mail, and they are
relatively unsophisticated. The previous generation of viruses (or
"virii", as some would like us to say) was, let's say, smarter and
more sophisticated. They were smaller. They knew how to hide in executable
files and diskette boot sectors. They even used stealth techniques for fooling
the scanners. The diskette boot sectors were a great hiding and infecting
place. But who uses diskettes any more? These viruses still exist, but I have
not seen one in years. The ones that spread today need the services of Windows
software and, most particularly, Microsoft e-mail software. Conclusion: I do
not use Microsoft Outlook. I use Eudora. It's a lot safer.
2. The new
generation of virus require some sort of "permission" from the user
to do their tricks. Your e-mail software must be set to automatically run
executable content, or you have to click on the fatidic icon. I never do. My
software does not run executables on its own, and I never click on suspicious
files. And what if the icon indicates a picture file, for instance? I look at
the extension. None of my software and operating system hides the extensions. I
know that some extensions are dangerous:
.exe, .vbs, .scr, .com. And I know that some malicious software tries to pass
for a lamb with a "first" fake extension. But the real one is always
there, if your software is not set to hide it.
3. I do not
allow automatic macro execution in the Office suite programs.
4. I have
backups. If for any reason – virus related or not – something happens, I know I
have most of my significant data backed up on another drive, on another
machine, and that eventually it will all find its way to my CD burner.
So, viruses
are not such a terrible threat after all. I have lived with them for years, and
I am here to tell you the story. Be cautious, though. They are no joke.
|