Personal and Server Side Virus Scanning Solutions

Last modified: Saturday, March 24, 2007

GCom Internet scans all email passing through our Australian based mail servers for both genuine viruses and common virus hoaxes. Both categories of email are rejected at the server level.

Our virus definitions are usually updated every hour and you may generally expect our scanning to protect you from close to 100% of all email borne viruses in the wild.

However, viruses can be hidden within attachments using multiple levels of archiving and sometimes even come through in password protected packages. Scanning at the server level will not detect a virus hidden in such a manner and will also not protect you from several other methods of virus deployment. Accordingly, it is imperative that all users of the GCom network have up to date anti-virus software installed on their computer systems.

For non commercial installations, a free, high quality anti-virus package is available for download at http://free.grisoft.com/. Please be sure to select the free version of the software and not the time-limited trial version.

When installing AVG Antivirus from Grisoft, we recommend the following installation procedure.

• Remove any existing antivirus programs, including existing installations of AVG.
• Commence the installation routine and select the "Custom" option rather than "Standard".
• When you're presented with a set of check boxes to configure, deselect (untick) the "Email Scanner" option.
• If a check box is presented for the "Plugin for Microsoft Office", deselect (untick) that option also.
• Complete the installation and perform an update immediately from the internet to ensure that you have the very latest definitions.

Whichever anti-virus you use, any package is only worthwhile if it is kept up to date. Please be sure to check for updates for your anti-virus package as a daily routine.