McAfee daily DAT question

[Ionizer]

I'm just moving over to using McAfee AV after using Norton for several
years. Symantec offers an "Intelligent Updater" page which allows daily
updating of virus definition files:
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/download/pages/US-N95.html
You just download the file to your desktop, double-click on it and your
definitions are updated almost instantly.

McAfee *seems* to offer the same thing, but I have yet to use it:
http://vil.nai.com/vil/virus-4d.asp They seem quite cautionary about
using these files, referring to them as "pre-release, beta, or test
versions..." but are they basically just the same thing that I am
accustomed to with Symantec's Intelligent Updater?

Thanks,
Ian.

 

[David H. Lipman]

No.

There is a higher False Positive rate with them and other consequential problems.

Dave




| I'm just moving over to using McAfee AV after using Norton for several
| years. Symantec offers an "Intelligent Updater" page which allows daily
| updating of virus definition files:
| http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/download/pages/US-N95.html
| You just download the file to your desktop, double-click on it and your
| definitions are updated almost instantly.
|
| McAfee *seems* to offer the same thing, but I have yet to use it:
| http://vil.nai.com/vil/virus-4d.asp They seem quite cautionary about
| using these files, referring to them as "pre-release, beta, or test
| versions..." but are they basically just the same thing that I am
| accustomed to with Symantec's Intelligent Updater?
|
| Thanks,
| Ian.
|
|

 

[Peacekeeper]

Also they are not automatically updated. You have to unzip the dats and
manually copy them to the relevant folder

 

[Ionizer]

I'm just moving over to using McAfee AV after using Norton for several
years.

Thanks David and Peacekeeper for the responses. I guess I'll just settle
for the weekly updates from McAfee for now.

Regards,
Ian.

 

[David H. Lipman]

If you get on McAfee's listserver, you will receive a notification of when the DAT files are
released. This is especially good when a new "hot" infector is in the wild and McAfee
updates the DAT files on days other than Wednesday.

Dave




| | > I'm just moving over to using McAfee AV after using Norton for several
| > years.
|
| Thanks David and Peacekeeper for the responses. I guess I'll just settle
| for the weekly updates from McAfee for now.
|
| Regards,
| Ian.
|
|