ICERAT Beta released!
2008-12-28Over the past month (or two) we have been working on developing a new detection system for MSN viruses. We have named this new system ICERAT. The aim of ICERAT is to improve our overall detection rate and minimise waiting times on updates; this is a plus for you and a plus for us.
During the month of January we will be conducting a trial of the new detection system through our MSN Virus Info Gatherer tool. MSN Virus Info Gatherer has been modified so that it only includes our detection system which will attempt to pick up any MSN viruses that MSN Photo Virus Remover is unable to detect. MSN Virus Info Gatherer will then send us the data for review and additions made to the ICERAT database.
MSN Photo Virus Remover will download the latest ICERAT database and use it to pickup any viruses that were previously undetectable.
How does ICERAT work?
ICERAT monitors MSN/Windows Live Messenger and waits for the virus to activate it’s self and try to send the messages to your contacts. When this occurs it terminates the program that is attempting to interact with Messenger and gathers some data. The data is sent to us so that we can add the detection to our database.
The ICERAT database is then downloaded by MSN Photo Virus Remover and the detections used.
As normal the data will be checked over by a human and not an automated process to minimise the chances of a false positive, which means there will be a waiting period of about 24 hours.
Using ICERAT:
1) Save all open documents and close any unnecessary programs/programs you aren’t actively using.
2) Ensure MSN/Windows Live Messenger is open.
3) Set a monitoring period (between 10 and 120 minutes). The monitoring period should be twice the normal time between the virus sending it’s self. e.g. if the virus sends the messages every 15 minutes then the monitoring period should be at LEAST 30 minutes, but longer is preferable.
4) Press START.
5) Ensure you are logged in to MSN/Windows Live and use it as normal.
6) When the monitoring period is finished it will send off a report to us if any detections were made.
Possible Side Effects:
As ICERAT is still in the Beta testing stage we do not expect it to be perfect, some side effects that may occur during use are:
• Termination of legitimate MSN add-ons
• Crashing of some applications
These are rare occurrences, but the possibility is still there. ICERAT does not delete any files or make any changes to your system, so if any of the above does occur allow the scan to finish and restart your computer.
This is one of the major improvements we have been developing for our software and our site, we hope you enjoy it.