Anti-Virus Installers Issues:
Kenn's
19980903: Anti-Virus Installers Issues:
September/1998
Tech
Notes
Tech Note #3
- a. important notes about the Windows 3.1x version -
- b. important notes about the Windows 9x version -
- c. important notes about both versions -
- d. automated changes to the operating system environment -
Both sets of anti-virus installers have been updated since the summer. In particular, please update your Windows 3.1x disks immediately. The Windows 9x installer update is not as drastic, but it is the first version (v2.42) which will run on Windows 98.
a. Important Notes about the Windows 3.1x version:
- Changes to the Windows 3.1x version: The summer crews found a number of systems on which the Windows 3.1x installer would not run properly. Most were 486SXs with 8 MB of RAM, and some systems had the Western Digital Drive Overlay. The installation problems usually occurred about halfway through, after the first reboot. Windows either hung restarting, or Windows wouldn't start at all. Network Associates made a change to the anti-virus software and I made a change to the installer:
i. Network Associates has changed the command line scanner which they insert at the beginning of AUTOEXEC.BAT. Previous versions had used the protected-mode scanner (SCANPM.EXE) which sometimes caused memory problems. Neil B. found that changing that line to run SCAN.EXE instead solved the problem, in many cases. However, as of VirusScan 3.2.0 for Windows 3.1x, that line has been replaced with a new boot record scanner called BOOTSCAN.EXE, which will hopefully address some of the problems we were getting on drives with unusual boot records (like those using "drive overlays" from Disk Manager or EZ-Drive).
ii. There was also a problem relating to the DOS environment required for certain Windows sound drivers to load. Brian H. helped me resolve that problem in the installer.
This doesn't mean that you won't have problems with the Windows 3.1x installer. I have said it before and I'll say it again: The Windows 3.1x Anti-Virus Installer/Updater is also a vicious system test. Even though Windows appears to be working fine on any given system, if there are any driver conflicts, corrupt drivers, memory conflicts, or hardware conflicts, or if 32-bit disk and file access are not configured correctly, you are very likely to get errors during the install!
- RAM requirements: Vshield for Windows will not load with less than 8 MB of RAM. My installer checks the system RAM using MEM.EXE. If it doesn't find at least 8 MB, the software will install, but Vshield will not be set to load automatically at Windows startup. This will also occur if MEM.EXE is not found on the system, by the way. (Thanks to Richard S. for pointing that out.)
- DOS/Windows environmental requirements: As documented below, the installation routine makes numerous alterations to your DOS/Windows environment, both to assist the installer work properly, and to ensure your workstation complies with division standards. (And to save you a lot of time checking your CONFIG.SYS, AUTOEXEC.BAT, SYSTEM.INI and WIN.INI files!) Information from the Network Associates FAQ web page (see below) makes some suggestions which are in direct conflict with these standards. In particular: do not disable 32-bit file access, do not disable 32-bit disk access (unless you have a CD-ROM drive sharing the primary IDE bus with the hard drive), and do not remove SMARTDRV from AUTOEXEC.BAT. Trust me: you are making more work for yourself, and slowing down the system, if you do any of these things. However, there is one tip on the FAQ page which is worth noting. On systems with 8 MB of RAM, if the SMARTDRV line does not specify the amount of RAM allocated to SMARTDRV in DOS and Windows, McAfee Anti-Virus may not run properly. If this is the case, try changing the line to:
C:\WINDOWS\SMARTDRV.EXE 2048 256
or
C:\WINDOWS\SMARTDRV.EXE 4096 128
I have most definitely seen this make a difference. Ironically, my installer used to make this change automatically. As of version 2.32, however, this feature was removed.
- Your Input Requested!!!: I can't remember why I removed that code from the installer. If any technician has thoughts on why my installer shouldn't automatically set the memory allocation for SMARTDRV based on system RAM, please e-mail me (superculdesac@yahoo.com). If I don't hear otherwise, I plan to put it back in the next version of the installer, due for release in January/1999.
- "Weird" Windows Errors: Sometimes the installer works as much as a corrupt-Windows-detector as an installer (even though the installation is successful!). If you get some odd "Windows Greek" error messages (you know, something like "GetSegmentLoadApp returned an exception at 0x0157af96e4 Ignore, Retry, Abort?"), plunge ahead with Ignore, Retry, or whatever seems to let you proceed, and see if it doesn't install itself anyway. It probably will. Then you can see about fixing or reinstalling Windows! If it doesn't seem to work, make sure the workstation is unlocked, and try again. If it still doesn't work, make sure your drivers for 32-bit disk access are correct and that you don't have any other corrupt drivers, incorrect drivers, memory conflicts or hardware conflicts.
- McAfee Technical Support: Network Associates' web site has an excellent FAQ page for their Windows 3.1x Anti-Virus software. If you are having problems, please check this location for the latest information from the people who wrote the software.
b. Important Notes about the Windows 9x version:
- Changes to the Windows 9x version: The summer crews did not report many problems with the Windows 9x version, but I have:
- The famous mouse pointer hang-up: The Windows 9x installer is happiest if you close all open windows before you start, and run it from Start ... Run, not from Windows Explorer or My Computer. You can run it from a local drive (eg. A:\SETUP.EXE) or from a network drive (eg. X:\MCAFEE\WIN9X\SETUP.EXE) or from a UNC (eg. \\SCH021\MCAFEE\WIN9X\SETUP.EXE). After you click "Start Install", leave the mouse pointer near the middle of the screen, or the installer will hang about a minute into the install. If you forget, and you notice a system just sitting there for a long time with a window that says the installation is still proceeding, just move the mouse pointer so it's somewhere over that window.
- ScreenScan and other Vshield Settings: Technicians are reminded that the ScreenScan option is installed by default (see May/97 Tech Note #7 for more information), and that Vshield is configured for best performance by default (as discussed in January/97 Tech Note #4 and the announcement section of the March/97 Tech Notes). When installed on technicians' systems or administrative machines, you may wish to disable ScreenScan for your own convenience. On student workstations, changes to these settings are strongly discouraged! If a teacher or lab facilitator complains that the workstations seem to take a long time (perhaps as much as half a minute) to recover from the screensaver, please explain that the reason for this is that the McAfee software automatically uses the time the screensaver is active to scan all files on the local hard drive for viruses, and that this is considered an essential component of our anti-virus strategy.
- Automatic Hard Disk Maintenance: The Windows 9x installer is geared for lab workstations which are booted usually only once a week and left on till Friday afternoon. The 32-bit versions of ScanDisk and Defrag are set to run when the system is booted. This regular preventative maintenance is recommended. If a system is rebooted in the middle of the week, the user can simply click the X at the right hand side of the little minimized DOS box that appears at the bottom of the screen, and the hard disk maintenance will not run for that session only. For systems where this feature is not desired, the setting can be changed from WSD1 Anti-Virus Utilities ... Automatic Hard Disk Maintenance under Programs on the Start Menu.
- McAfee Technical Support: Network Associates' web site has an excellent FAQ page for their Windows 9x Anti-Virus software. If you are having problems, please check this location for the latest information from the people who wrote the software.
c. Important Notes about both versions:
- Stalled Installations: When the installer gets to the screen with Notepad open to a document saying:
THIS INSTALLATION IS STILL IN PROGRESS!
Please do not disturb the workstation while the
installer runs in "silent mode".
... if that screen stays up for a half hour or longer and there doesn't seem to be any disk activity at all, it's a pretty safe bet the installer didn't load for some reason. Scroll down the document in Notepad and follow the instructions for completing the installation manually. Don't do this unless you're quite certain the installation is stalled, though!
- Unlock the workstation: Both installers require the workstation to be unlocked and neither installer makes any attempt to check for locking first. In other words, it is just like any other piece of software you install. With this one exception: you do not have to disable or uninstall existing McAfee Anti-Virus software. Both installers handle that automatically.
- Disk Space requirements: Because both installers copy installation utilities and compressed files to the hard drive before they install the software, they both require more disk space to run than they will ultimately use up on the hard drive. The installer may require 10 or 15 MB of space to run, but if you're installing it on a workstation that has a previous version already installed, it will very likely only increase the used disk space by two or three MB. On systems where space is at a premium, you may find you will have to copy an installed program to a location on the network, delete it from the hard disk, run the installer, then copy the program back. You cannot copy the McAfee directory to install the software! Various system files are updated during the installation process, so you must run SETUP.
- Network Installation: Both installers work fine over the network. In order to set up a network share for your McAfee installations follow these steps:
i. Create two new directories on your server, either in an existing read-only share, or create a new read-only share for each.
ii. Copy all files from the Win 9x disks to one directory, and all files from the Win 3.1x disks to the other directory. In both cases copy the files from disk one first!
iii. When you copy the last disk you will be asked if you wish to overwrite the existing WINSTALL.INF file that you just copied from disk one. The answer is yes. If you inadvertently answer "no", it will still work, but you will be prompted for disks!
iv. You may now run SETUP.EXE from a network drive connection or from the UNC.
- No Student Access to McAfee: The Windows 3.1x installer places all the icons for McAfee anti-virus utilities in the ACE - Teacher Applications group. On systems locked with Quick Lock or ACE Windows Lock that means the students can't access them. The Windows 9x installer places the McAfee icons in a new folder called WSD1 Anti-Virus Utilities, but this folder is not copied to the student profile. It is automatically placed in the profile of the user you are logged on as, the "Admin Start Menu" subfolder in Profiles, the sysop profile if present, the teacher profile if present, and the tech profile if present. If you have other profiles which you wish to include, simply copy it from one of these locations. (You can always find it in the profiles subdirectory of Windows, under "Admin Start Menu".) Also, the familiar Vshield icon is no longer visible in Program Manager or on the taskbar. Vshield is configured so that it can't be disabled. Since the only way this setting can be changed is from the VirusScan Console or from Vshield itself, the potential for students' tampering with this setting should be somewhat reduced. If a teacher, lab facilitator, or tech wishes to confirm whether Vshield is active, the procedure now is to restart Windows (in Windows 3.1x) or to close all programs and log on again (in Windows 9x). When you see the McAfee splash screen at logon, you know Vshield is running.
- Corrupt Data Files: Sometimes a system will give the error that the anti-virus data files are corrupt and should be reinstalled. If this happens, reboot. If the error message occurs a second time, reinstall the software. If it doesn't, move on.
- Create an Emergency Disk: It is strongly recommended that all division technicians maintain an up-to-date emergency anti-virus disk. Format a floppy. SYS it. Then access the Create Emergency Disk icon in ACE - Teacher Applications (Win 3.1x) or WSD1 Anti-Virus Utilities (Win 9x) and follow the instructions there.
- McAfee Technical Support: Network Associates' web site has an excellent FAQ page for their software, including anti-virus products. If you are having problems, please check this location for the latest information from the people who wrote the software.
d. Automated Changes to the Operating System Environment: Technicians who have joined the division recently may be unaware that it is our practice to automatically apply several Windows configuration standards during the anti-virus installation process. In most cases, the changes will make little or no difference to the operation of the system (particularly if the system has been already configured to division standards). In some cases, however, you may notice that installing the anti-virus software actually improves the performance of a workstation slightly, or that an odd problem disappears afterwards. Very rarely do these configuration standards cause any problems, but a list of the automated changes follows, for those interested. As you can see, there are far fewer changes made to Windows 9x workstations than to the Windows 3.1x systems. This is due in no small part to the fact that CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT play a smaller role in Windows 9x, and that some of these standards are built right into the Windows 9x operating systems.
- Windows 9x Automated Configuration Procedures:
i. Workstations are set to never be Browse Master.
ii. SCANDISK is set to run during the boot process. Command line switches ensure all fixed disks are checked, errors are repaired automatically, corrupt clusters are deleted, and the screen does not pause to show the summary.
iii. DEFRAG is set to run during the boot process. Command line parameters ensure that the C: drive is defragmented, using the "unfragment files" setting.
iv. The Spool MS-DOS Print Jobs setting is disabled for all parallel ports except LPT1.
- Windows 3.1x Automated Configuration Procedures:
i. Workstations are set to never be Browse Master.
ii. SCANDISK is set to run during the boot process. Command line parameters ensure that all fixed disks are checked, errors are repaired automatically, corrupt clusters are deleted, and the screen does not pause to show the summary.
iii. DEFRAG is set to run during the boot process. Command line parameters ensure that the C: drive is defragmented, using the "unfragment files" setting.
iv. The PATH statement is edited to ensure that the Windows directory is accessed first, and that the DOS and root directory are second and third.
v. The TEMP and TMP environmental variables are set to the TEMP subdirectory of the Windows directory. If the directory does not exist, it is created.
vi. Any files in the TEMP directory with an extension ending in MP are deleted automatically at bootup.
vii. The STACKS statement is written/edited to ensure there are at least 9 stacks at least 256 bytes in size.
viii. The FILES statement is written/edited to ensure that DOS can access at least 50 files simultaneously.
ix. The size of the command interpreter environment is set to 2048 bytes.
x. Extended Control-C checking is disabled.
xi. The F5 and F8 keys are disabled at boot to prevent bypassing the boot sequence. Also, the pause between the "Starting MS-DOS" message and the boot process is skipped.
xii. The maximum number of breakpoints in Windows is set to at least 768.
xiii. The DMA buffer size in Windows is set to at least 250.
xiv. On systems with 8 MB of RAM or less, the vcache setting (for 32-bit file access) is changed to 512 KB.
xv. On systems with CD-ROM drives, MSCDEX is loaded before SMARTDRV.
xvi. On systems running SMARTDRV, the BUFFERS statement is deleted from CONFIG.SYS.
DISCLAIMER: This document is intended for the reference of computer support personnel within Winnipeg School Division No. 1. There is no warranty or liability if procedures recommended here have an adverse affect on any systems. Use them at your own risk. Any trademarks mentioned are the property of their owners, none of whom have certified any information provided here. Opinions expressed here are personal only and do not represent the policy of Winnipeg School Division No. 1 or any other organization anywhere.
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