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Originally published at Internet.comIn the wake of the Melissa epidemic, InoculateIT Personal Edition arrives as a perfect solution for those worried about their systems contracting a bleeding-edge virus. And with InoculateIT PE, what has previously kept many users from reliable virus scanning is no longer a problem.
Whether the purchase price of the scanner itself, the continual cost of virus definition updates, or the per incident pricing of support has left your system susceptible to recently developed viruses like Melissa, price in one form or another has always been a formidable setback for most users when it comes to protecting yourself from computer viruses. InoculateIT changes all of that.
Completely Free Service
Computer Associates (who also develops the network virus scanner Inoculan AntiVirus) has decided to make a freeware personal edition of their high-end InoculateIT Anti-Virus software. With the free download users also get free access to weekly virus definition updates as well as free online support.
Computer Associates decided to offer InoculateIT Personal Edition (IPE) as a service for computer users in order to significantly limit the damage caused by viruses to PCs. Computer Associates believes virus protection is an integral part of the PC and should not have to be purchased separately - a philosophy that end users can greatly benefit from.
While not quite as fast or feature-rich as commercial virus scanners like VirusScan and Norton AntiVirus, InoculateIT does combine solid speed with an adequate feature-set. Most importantly, InoculateIT users will not be giving up any protection by using the free scanner in favor of one of the costly alternatives (scanners themselves typically run between $30-50, and monthly and yearly maintenance plans for support and definition updates cost $50 or more a year).
Real-time Protection from Viruses
IPE detects and cleans in real-time conventional file and boot sector viruses as well as macro viruses hidden in Office Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and Access databases. IPE also detects polymorphic and stealth viruses which modify their signatures in an attempt to avoid detection.
The scanner provides Internet protection as well, with automatic monitoring of all downloaded files and e-mail attachments. InoculateIT checks the boot sector and memory during start-up and then relies on a real-time monitor that runs in the background and scans files as they are executed and/or written to and from disk.
InoculateIT PE provides a configuration wizard for setting up various options in the program itself and for the real-time monitor. While there aren't as many configuration options in IPE as you'll find in some scanners, IPE's set of options will sufficiently help you customize the program to your needs. And if your needs change over time, you can always upgrade to the high-end InoculateIT Anti-Virus edition or the network scanner Inoculan.
InoculateIT PE 5.0
The latest release of InoculateIT Personal Edition, version 5.0, adds a variety of essential new features and improves on several existing ones. New additions and changes in the latest release include:
Auto Download feature (automatically downloads the most recent virus definition file),
Double Byte Character Set compliancy allows use on foreign (non-English) computers,
Scans new types of files (PowerPoint .PPT files, Access database .XLA templates,
and HTML .SCR scripts),
MS Word 2000 and Excel 2000 scanning and disinfection capabilities,
Scan support for encrypted and/or password-protected files,
Scans and disinfects viruses that are hidden in files embedded within another file,
Directory tree view option, and much more
Another important change in v5.0 is the improvement made to the out of date warning system. In v4.5, an out of date message would appear after InoculateIT had been running for more than six months - regardless of how current the definition file was. For this reason, an out of date message started appearing on many users' computers recently, regardless of the date of their definition file.
Version 5.0 changes the out of date warning system to focus instead on how current your definition file. Additionally, the new release allows you to select how often you should be reminded to update your definition files for the latest protection.
The Bottom Line
It's true that InoculateIT PE lacks the attractive interface, blazing speed, and advanced features of more costly alternatives. Still, it's hard to argue with a service that provides you with a free scanner, free definition updates, and free support. Combined with a solid if not spectacular feature-set, the more than adequate IPE scanner is a perfect solution for users seeking a completely free - but comprehensive - virus protection service.
Author: Forrest Stroud
Read article at Internet.com site