Mcafee Associates Essay Research Paper McAfee Associates

Mcafee Associates Essay, Research Paper

McAfee Associates is a manufacture of anti-virus, network security, and management software located in Santa Clara, California. McAfee was founded in 1989 by John McAfee, who was a computer programmer for General Electric and for Lockhead.(Pitta, 1994) Bill Larson joined McAfee in 1993 as chief executive officer and President. McAfee is a fast growing company with approximately $90 million in annual revenue.(Carlton, 1996) McAfee’s method of distribution has lead to their success. McAfee lets businesses download the software and if they decide to keep it, the customer pays a licensing and registration fee.(Carvel, 1996) McAfee Associates specialize in producing products that prevent viruses on the Internet from destroying your computer software and files. More than half of McAfee’s revenue comes from Internet related products.(Marcial, 1996) McAfee commands 67% market share in anti-virus software.(McAfee Network, 1994) Two of McAfee’s best selling software packages are VirusScan which protects your computer from viruses and Netshield which helps monitor security in local area networks (LANS).(Pitta, 1994) Both programs are shareware and can be found on Prodigy, America Online, CompuServe, or the World Wide Web. All McAfee products and upgrades are downloaded in fully functional form. McAfee software is never distributed with time bombs or with encryption. Every month approximately 100,000 people download software from McAfee and about 20% will eventually pay for it.(Pitta, 1994) Customers or thieves have 2 months to pay for it and register with McAfee. Once a customer is registered, the fee of $100 entitles them to future upgrades and technical support. McAfee collects the latest virus specimens that are sent in by customers around the world. McAfee researchers find a cure and offer monthly updates for their products. McAfee Virus Researchers will kill 98% to 99% of the viruses they receive.(McAfee Network, 1994) VirusScan is used to clean personal computers of viruses found from using contaminated floppy disks and from using the Internet. McAfee’s Technical Support Department has composed a list of the most common viruses. 1. Concept 2. Antiexe 3. Monkey B 4. Wazzu.A 5. NYB 6. MDMA 7. Stealth C 8. Anticmos 9. Form.A 10. Junkie (McAfee Virus Info, 1996) One of McAfee’s most common virus is Concept, which was discovered in the United States in 1995 and attaches to Microsoft Word documents. Concept is spread through e-mail packages which allow it to spread quickly. It is prevalent among business offices and corporations. Concept doesn’t destroy documents but creates a change with the “Save As” function and it won’t let the user choose a drive or save a document.(McAfee Concept, 1996) Other indications of Concept infection is the “Templates” tool button which will be grayed and it will cause the document to act as a template file. Once infected by Concept this Macro virus will copy itself to other documents, delete files and create many problems within the system.(McAfee Concept, 1996) Scanning with VirusScan will clean the Concept virus. Antiexe is another virus that overwrites the Master Boot Record of the computers hard drive.(McAfee Antiexe, 1996) Antiexe was discovered in the beginning of 1995 in Russia. Detection of Antiexe is sometimes difficult because the virus hides from anti-virus software by displaying an uninfected sector. Antiexe is spread by booting the computer with an infected floppy disks. Once the computer displays the “non-system disk” message, the infection has already been completed. With each additional boot of the computer the virus will continue to infect each floppy disks that is used in the computer. Again VirusScan will clean the computer of this virus. McAfee’s virus researchers discover the first Macro virus capable of infecting Microsoft Excel spreadsheets on July 24, 1996.(McAfee Issues, 1996) This virus that appeared in two different corporations in Alaska and Africa is called Laroux. Laroux rapidly infects spreadsheets but doesn’t appear to damage the data. Microsoft Excel is only affected by Laroux, Macintoshes appear not to be. To determine if a computer is infected, simply choose the Tools/Macro option, and if the names “auto_open” and “check_files” appear, the computer is infected.(McAfee Issues, 1996) Similar to most viruses, it is spread through floppy disks and files exchanged via the Internet. Researchers from McAfee worked through the night to find a cure for the Laroux virus. Available now on the Internet, is a free working evaluation of the Laroux virus detector, offered as a public service. Also available is a Web page containing information and discussion groups about the Laroux virus. McAfee not only manufacturers software for detecting and cleaning viruses, but also for Network Management Systems. McAfee’s consultants will design a network system that is customized to the organization. McAfee will install a network that will allow the organization to choose products and services that work with the overall technology and design scheme already implemented.(McAfee Service, 1996) McAfee will help companies that struggle with the installation, transition, and learning curve of Microsoft’s Windows 95. Surveys of Industries show that transition to Windows 95 takes approximately one to three years for organizations.(McAfee Service, 1996) McAfee will provide extensive on-site training services for all McAfee