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Year 2000



Frequently Asked Questions for DOS

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Using Command AntiVirus to Scan During Login to Novell NetWare

Novell NetWare allows administrators to run applications during login via a login script for users connecting to the local area network. This mechanism can be used to require users to run specific applications at least once a day, as determined by your workplace guidelines. Command AntiVirus for DOS also supports commandline options to run a scan once a day which can be used within the script itself. Here is an example of this syntax:

DOS SET FP-DATA="C:\TEMP\SCAN.DAT"
#F:\PUBLIC\UTILITIES\F-PROT.EXE /TODAY /HARD

The first line above sets an environment variable FP-DATA which F-PROT.EXE uses to store a time-stamp file (in this example SCAN.DAT). Use of the /TODAY switch causes F-PROT.EXE to evaluate the current date with the date in the time-stamp file and, based on the return value, scan or not scan.

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Using Command AntiVirus to Disinfect Your Hard Drive
  1. Locate 3 items:
    • A clean write-protected boot disk or emergency boot disk
    • Command AntiVirus for DOS disks
    • Formatted disk for use
  2. Perform a cold boot to the A: drive with the boot or emergency disk.
  3. Insert the disk that contains F-PROT.EXE into the A: drive.
  4. At the A: prompt type F-PROT /HARD /DISINF (this will take longer than running off the hard drive).
  5. It will load virus information into memory and perform a memory scan. If a virus is still found in memory, there is a chance your boot disk is infected.
  6. Command AntiVirus will attempt to disinfect the virus.
  7. If Command Antivirus indicates the virus has been disinfected, run a scan again to be certain it isn't a multi-layered virus.
  8. If Command AntiVirus is unable to repair / fix the infection, the FIXDISK utility file can be used (for generically repairing MBR viruses).

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Command AntiVirus for DOS Command Line Options

F-PROT.EXE is a 16-bit application used to scan for viruses and can be run in command line mode. This file is available with each workstation product including Command AntiVirus for Windows 3.1x, Windows 95 and Windows NT. Below is a listing of the available commandline switches available for Command AntiVirus for DOS with switches used by default color coded in blue.
SWITCH Description
/640 Scan only the first 640K of memory. Some video drivers require this.
/ACCESS Prevents the last access date from changing on a Novell file server. This maintains compatibility with archival software that relies on access dates.
/ALL Search all files, not just executables.
/ANALYZE Perform a heuristic analysis instead of a signature-based scan.
/APPEND When used with /REPORT switch will append the new scan report to an existing report file.
/ARCHIVE Search within .ZIP files. Note that PKUNZIP must be within a PATHed directory, also requires a TEMP environment variable be set.
/AUTO Use with /DELETE or /DISINF switches so Command AntiVirus for DOS will not prompt you before deleting or disinfecting a file. By default /DELETE and /DISINF ask if the file should be deleted or disinfected.
/BEEP Sound an alarm when a virus is found.
/BOOT Scan for MBR and boot sector viruses.
/COMMAND Force command-line mode. This switch won't display any of the Command AntiVirus for DOS menus.
/DELETE Delete all infected files, instead of listing them.
/DISINF Disinfect whenever possible. It will never delete a file that can be disinfected. However, this option does delete first-generation virus samples. A first-generation virus is the "starter" program that begins the infection process. It is rare to encounter one.
/EXT Specify additional filename extensions to scan. Separate each filename extension with a . (period) For example: /EXT=EXE.COM.PRG.DBL.
/FILE Scan for file viruses. This is the default.
/FREEZE Halt the computer when a virus is found.
/HARD Scan all of the physical hard disks in the system.
/HELP or /? Display a list of available options.
/INTER Force interactive mode.
/LIST Produce a report of all files checked, not just those which are infected.
/MONO Force monochrome screen mode. This is useful with some laptops.
/MULTI Prompts for multiple diskettes to scan.
/NET Scans all network drives.
/NOBOOT Do not scan for MBR or boot sector viruses.
/NOBREAK Do not allow the user to press [ESC] key to abort a scan.
/NODOC Excludes all .DO? and .XL? files from being scanned.
/NOFILE Do not scan for file viruses.
/NOMEM Do not scan memory.
/NOPACKED Do not search inside packed files.
/NOSUB Do not scan sub-directories.
/NOUSER Do not search for user-defined virus patterns. This is the default.
/NOWRAP Do not wrap text in reports.
/OLD Do not display out of date warning that occurs after 90 days.
/PACKED Search inside packed files. This is the default.
/PAGE Pause after every screen when displaying information in command line mode.
/RENAME Rename infected files. You may use this switch with /AUTO.
/REPORT Sends the output to the specified file, in addition to displaying it on the screen. For example, /REPORT=virus.txt
/SILENT Generates no screen output at all. This is useful when running the program from a batch file where you will check for the return code.
/TODAY The date of the last scan is stored in an F-PROT.DAT file. If the next scan finds the same date, Command AntiVirus returns an errorlevel 99 and aborts the scan.
/USER Search for user-defined virus signatures.

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Command AntiVirus Command Line Examples

This is a sample command line that would be placed as one of the first few lines in an AUTOEXEC.BAT file. The goal is to perform a daily, full scan before logging onto a network or loading any TSR programs. In this example, it will run F-PROT only once a day, scan the entire hard drive and freeze the computer on virus detection:

C:\F-PROT\F-PROT /HARD /FREEZE /TODAY

In the next example, Command AntiVirus will create a scan report file, only scan the root of the hard drive and rename any files found to be infected:

C:\F-PROT\F-PROT /HARD /RENAME /REPORT=C:\MYDOX\SCAN.RPT /NOSUB

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