dds
07-22-2008, 04:00 PM
First, I want to say thanks for the iAntiVirus product. I have been testing it. I appreciate PC Tools for providing an AV solution for the Mac platform. I have been using ClamAV for a while but Im not totally happy with it. I used to love Symantec AV for Macintosh too. Back in the day they actually made a server product for Mac too. But those days are long gone and the Symantec apps have been bloated and messy. Im not trying to discredit those products.
I'd like to take some time here and ask 10 technical questions from the persepctive for a Systems Administrator who manages 200 Mac OS X production systems including desktops an servers:
1) Can you please list all of the iAntiVirus services, daemons and executables please? The User guide PDF included with the app is not very detailed. Id like to see a more detailed document if possible.
2) I see an executable in /Library/iAntiVirus/iavd, which is a strange place to put a binary. Can I ask why the PC Tools developers didn't put this in /bin, /usr/bin, or some other common hidden UNIX directory?
3) When "Protect my Mac" is enabled from the iAntiVirus GUI app, what does it do exactly? Once "Protect my Mac" is enabled, can I quit the iAntiVirus GUI app or does it need to stay on still?
4) Can the iAntiVirus installer be deployed/installed from Apple's ARD (Apple Remote Desktop) admin tool? The iAntiVirus installer appears to be a standard .pkg file. Any caveats to installing iAntiVirus via ARD?
5) Does PC Tools plan on releasing preference maifests for iAntiVirus? Id love to be able to push out iAntiVirus policies and preferences via MCX (Workgroup Manager, Open Directory etc), rather than configuring it manually.
6) When will iAntiVirus no longer be in beta? The 1.0b2 implies to me that iAntiVirus should ne be deployed into production at this time. Do you have a release timeline?
7) Will you ever provide a iAntiVirus server product for Mac OS X (and Mac OS X Server)? Id love to be able to manage and push out virus definitions & updates internally on my LAN with a dedicated server rather than routing my Mac desktop systems to the Internet to the PC Tools definitions servers.
8) Can you explain exactly what files are removed when the iAntiVirus uninstaller is executed?
9) What is "OnGuard"? (I see it in OS X's iAntiVirus black menu bar item near the system clock). OnGuard is not referenced anywhere else in the application. I assume that "OnGuard" the same thing as "Protect my Mac" which is toggled from in the app's main GUI. Right? If so, it needs to have the same name in both the GUI AND the menu bar. Seems inconsistent right now. Cant you name both options "OnGuard"? or something? Just a suggestion...
10) Does iAntiVirus recognize and quarantine Windows viri if they are found on a Mac? Will it prevent Mac computers from harboring/spreading a Windows virus?
You guys could really make this product amazing if you were to look at the enterprise as well as consumers. :-)
I'd like to take some time here and ask 10 technical questions from the persepctive for a Systems Administrator who manages 200 Mac OS X production systems including desktops an servers:
1) Can you please list all of the iAntiVirus services, daemons and executables please? The User guide PDF included with the app is not very detailed. Id like to see a more detailed document if possible.
2) I see an executable in /Library/iAntiVirus/iavd, which is a strange place to put a binary. Can I ask why the PC Tools developers didn't put this in /bin, /usr/bin, or some other common hidden UNIX directory?
3) When "Protect my Mac" is enabled from the iAntiVirus GUI app, what does it do exactly? Once "Protect my Mac" is enabled, can I quit the iAntiVirus GUI app or does it need to stay on still?
4) Can the iAntiVirus installer be deployed/installed from Apple's ARD (Apple Remote Desktop) admin tool? The iAntiVirus installer appears to be a standard .pkg file. Any caveats to installing iAntiVirus via ARD?
5) Does PC Tools plan on releasing preference maifests for iAntiVirus? Id love to be able to push out iAntiVirus policies and preferences via MCX (Workgroup Manager, Open Directory etc), rather than configuring it manually.
6) When will iAntiVirus no longer be in beta? The 1.0b2 implies to me that iAntiVirus should ne be deployed into production at this time. Do you have a release timeline?
7) Will you ever provide a iAntiVirus server product for Mac OS X (and Mac OS X Server)? Id love to be able to manage and push out virus definitions & updates internally on my LAN with a dedicated server rather than routing my Mac desktop systems to the Internet to the PC Tools definitions servers.
8) Can you explain exactly what files are removed when the iAntiVirus uninstaller is executed?
9) What is "OnGuard"? (I see it in OS X's iAntiVirus black menu bar item near the system clock). OnGuard is not referenced anywhere else in the application. I assume that "OnGuard" the same thing as "Protect my Mac" which is toggled from in the app's main GUI. Right? If so, it needs to have the same name in both the GUI AND the menu bar. Seems inconsistent right now. Cant you name both options "OnGuard"? or something? Just a suggestion...
10) Does iAntiVirus recognize and quarantine Windows viri if they are found on a Mac? Will it prevent Mac computers from harboring/spreading a Windows virus?
You guys could really make this product amazing if you were to look at the enterprise as well as consumers. :-)