Webscan for Windows 95
by Durand C. "Randy" Waters

First there was scan and clean, then shield (all three are now in VirusScan) and now Webscan. Will all the different programs ever stop? Probably not, but this one runs by itself; so you do not need to have VirusScan to make it operate properly.

What the manufacturer says:

One of the things you learn when you read the index file is that you will down load more than just the Webscan antivirus program. A comment prior to the above file list statesMcAfee’s Webscan provides virus protection from the Internet. Files that are downloaded through Web browsers or attached to e-mail are automatically scanned for viruses. Spry Mosaic and Pegasus E-mail are included.

Where:

To try it out, go to http://www.mcafee.com (it was not on the Alamo PC BBS, though ScanVirus was). Selecting PRODUCTS will lead you to a hotlink for McAfee’s File Transfer Protocol (FTP) site. Each directory has an index file (this one is called 00-index.txt). It is best to download it and find just those files you need. Even at 28,000 bps, this transfer took a little while.

Files:  Webscan Version 1.01 North American Evaluation Release

        wbs101e0.zip    0,335 KB        0 of 4  Documentation

        wbs101e1.zip    1,052 KB        1 of 4  Program Files

        wbs101e2.zip    1,278 KB        2 of 4  Program Files

        wbs101e3.zip    1,315 KB        3 of 4  Program Files

        wbs101e4.zip    0,163 KB        4 of 4  Program Files

If you put the 0 and4 zip files on one diskette, they will all fit on four (4), 3.5, 1.44 MB DS/HD diskettes. Only the3 zip file will not, also, fit on a 5.25, 1.2 MB DS/HD diskette.

Cost:

McAfee asks $65.00 for Webscan alone and with their VirusScan being another $65.00, the $130.00 for total virus protection is fairly expensive for what I feel should be an integrated shareware product.

Size:

The antivirus software compressed in the five files above only expands 1.17 MB. When you start the setup process, you realize you are installing theInternet In A Box suite. If you do not have an internet service provider, this is an excellent way to start. The problem comes for those of us that already do have one. In this case, the installation provides you with software you may not want..

Documentation:

As much as none of us like it, there are always instructions to be read. In this case, there is one readme.1st file, a readme.wri and sevenpdf files. If you do not have the Adobe Acrobat Reader, the readme.1st file will tell you how to get it. Thesepdf files give you a very nice set of documentation, if you want to print all 42 pages. Start with the Table of Contents (webtoc.pdf) so you will get an idea of how these files are organized. Then open each chapter by clicking on its hypertext link title. Unfortunately, I did not see how to go from one chapter to the other without going back to the Table of Contents, but that is not difficult; just choose the File Menu and select the webtoc.pdf (Adobe Acrobat Reader does not seem to keep multiple documents open at the same time. Opening one closes the previous one.)

Chapter 1 is About This Document (about.pdf),
Chapter 2 is Product Overview (pverview.pdf),
Chapter 3 is Installing Webscan (install.pdf),
Chapter 4 is Component Checklists (chklist.pdf),
Chapter 5 is Making Webscan Work For You (makework.pdf) and
Appendix A is Directory Listing (dirlist.pdf),

These documents are very thorough and give you a good idea of what the installation will be like and how to use the programs primary features. As a longtime member of the Alamo PC Help Committee, I encourage you to read a programs documentation. It helps you use the program much better and overcome difficulties as they occur.

Interoperability:

Webscan will work with Spry Mosaic and the 16 bit version of Netscape. I found it worked very well with Netscape’s 32-bit version for Windows 95. It will, also, work with Netcom NetCruiser, but says there are problems with Microsoft’s Internet Assistant and warns against using it and Webscan together.

Operation:

I initially tried to check it out using Spry Mosaic, but I did not notice Webscan active during the download or the save process. Of course, it could be running as a TSR, upon starting Spry Mosaic, but there was no small icon in the Start Menu (on the left side, with the clock), so I do not think it was working even though it is supposed to install and integrate automatically. The documentation does say you can only check one file at a time, so selecting more than one file to download at a time negates this program. Two significant drawbacks.

Updating

: A desirable feature is for the virus signature files to be updated each month and the program files each quarter. As time goes by, you will learn I feel that regularly updating the application program and the virus signature list are very important features in considering with which program to go. The latest update available on their Website was March of 1996, which is two months old.

Recommendation:

All in all, I would not, for an established internet user, recommend it until McAfee Associates releases it without all theInternet In A Box programs. I really feel it should be a part of their ScanVirus program. However, for the individual that has no internet service provider and the programs to make such a connection, this would be a excellent way to get started and try out a national provider (InterServ, a new face to Compuserv).

Webscan for Windows 95 by Durand C. "Randy" Waters