October 1995 Upgrading versus Updating ------------------------- The users of anti-virus software are accustomed to update their antiviral software at regular intervals. Updates are necessary if your AV software is primarily a scanner. The spreading of new viruses in the past has been relatively slow. It took a year, sometimes even two for new viruses to become common. Now, with the explosion of the public networks, virus spreading became much faster. The many forums dealing with viruses, paradoxically contributed to the rapid dissemination of viruses. Once a virus or malware code becomes news, then hundreds of collectors will look to add the hot item to their collection. Many viruses escaped in the wild this way, Nightfall and the Word.Concept macro to mention just a couple. Some viruses set records in becoming common within three to six months from being reported. Therefore, scanner based anti-virus software need frequent updating. Some products are updated monthly, there is one that updates even weekly! InVircible has a virus scanner too. Its database contains only the most common and widespread viruses, just about a couple of hundreds, which are about 5% or less of the total number of viruses. Naturally, it takes quite a long time, a year or longer, for a virus to become really widespread. Only few viruses make it, and this is why IV's scanner has very few viruses added to its database, annually. In 1995, to the date of this document, only Quicksilver.1376 was added since it became really common. NetZ Computing keeps developing and improving InVircible on a regular basis. These improvements are released as product upgrades, to distinguish them from the scanners' updates. We encourage you to send us your problems with viruses and antivirus software, as well as your suggestions. Many improvements in InVircible were inspired by users' suggestions and wishes. Do you need to upgrade an IV version? ------------------------------------- Not necessarily! If the current version of InVircible works properly on your machine, then it's unlikely that you need to upgrade. Unless you want to, because of a new features included in the newer version. A text file named WHATSNEW.xxx is released with each upgrade. In this file you'll find a list and description of the new and improved features. Before upgrading your current version, read the document to decide if you need the upgrade. There is no need to upgrade InVircible more frequently than once to twice a year, at the most. In the five years since its first version, InVircible's older versions, up to two years of age, still prove efficient against new viruses that appeared just recently! Network administrators are advised to upload the upgraded version to the server, to the directory from which IVlogin is run (see appendix B in the online manual). This will automatically upgrade InVircible's version on all workstation. How to upgrade your licensed IV copy. ------------------------------------- The purchase of a license for the utilization of a specific version of InVircible is not limited in time. You licensed floppy also provides you the possibility to upgrade without additional charges, for a period of one year from the date of the production of the software. The installation of the IV license to your hard disk earmarks the HARD DISK, not the software, as an IV licensee. To upgrade from a lower version, download the newer InVircible version from the BBS or network. Open the ZIP file into a temporary directory, change directory to the one containing the new version and run the IVB.EXE program. Watch if the "Licensed" label appears at the upper left corner of the screen. If yes, then your license is still valid for this upgrade and you can then proceed with INSTALL/FAST. It will overwrite the older version with the new one and it will inherit the license of the former version. To upgrade the license on the floppy, format the diskette (deleting all files won't suffice, there is a hidden armor file on these floppies, this is why it needs formatting) and copy the new version files to it. When done, issue the command IVB /A A: (or B:) to re-install the IV Armor on the floppy. In case the newer version indicates "Sentry" instead of "Licensed" with the new IV software, then the term of the license on your FLOPPY expired for upgrades. The current last version will continue to be functional for as long as you keep it. You can then choose to purchase a new license (registered floppy) for another term, or stay with your current version, for as long as you wish. The upgrading of the license works only upward. For example, once you changed the license from ver 6.01x to 6.02, then the lower versions will not recognize the license anymore. For licensed users working under OS/2 and Windows 95. ----------------------------------------------------- To upgrade your license to reflect both in DOS and in the 32 bit OS DOS shell, you will need to run InVircible ONCE in a real DOS environment.