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Vol. 13, #31 - Jul 28, 2008 - Issue #685
VIPRE Released: The End Of Antivirus As You Know It

This issue of WServerNews is sponsored by
  1. Editor's Corner
    • VIPRE Released: The End Of Antivirus As You Know It
    • VMware To Cut its Hypervisor Price To Zero
    • Upcoming Sunbelt/Double-Take Seminars
    • Quote of the Week
  2. Admin Toolbox
    • Admin Tools We Think You Shouldn't Be Without
  3. Tech Briefing
    • Exclusive VIPRE Interview: Sunbelt CEO Alex Eckelberry
    • Today's WSUS Patch Manager Shoots For Big Enterprises
    • Integrating Existing Applications With SharePoint Server 2007
    • Take Control Of Server Clusters With Microsoft's ClusDiag Tool
    • Virtualizing An Exchange Server Environment
    • Optimizing Hyper-V Performance: Monitoring Tips
  4. Windows Server News
    • The VIPRE Primer
    • VIPRE -- Holy Cow!
  5. WServer Third Part News
    • The Holes Keep On Being Discovered
  6. WServerNews FAVE Links
    • This Week's Links We Like. Tips, Hints And Fun Stuff.
  7. WServerNews - Product of the Week
    • Want to get a raise in the next 30 days? Download Desktop Authority
Want to get a raise in the next 30 days? Download Desktop Authority

Justify your raise with next month's energy bill! Save energy costs by centrally establishing power schemes and shutting down inactive machines. Take 2 minutes to download ScriptLogic's Desktop Authority and save on company energy bills. Managing your desktops with Desktop Authority will also help justify your next salary increase by reducing help desk and administrative costs while increasing user productivity. Try Desktop Authority free for 30 days and receive the new eBrief entitled "Windows Desktop Administration" Download Desktop Authority Today:
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Editor's Corner

VIPRE Released: The End Of Antivirus As You Know It

Well, after a few years and more than a few million bucks invested, I'm happy to say that we successfully released VIPRE on July 22, 2008. You have heard me talking about it before, but now we have a thoroughly beta tested, West Coast Labs Certified antivirus + antispyware product that blows the socks off any other malware protection tool out there. Robert Vamosi from CNET said this: "It takes guts to introduce a brand-new antivirus solution in a crowded market, but Sunbelt Software, known best for its award-winning CounterSpy antispyware, is doing just that by creating its own antivirus engine from the ground up. Arriving late has advantages, however." PC Magazine's security expert Neil Rubenking just gave VIPRE an excellent review with 4 STARS and said: "VIPRE's overall scores are almost as high as those of Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus 6. It detected every malware sample and removed most".

I could go on with PR and hype, but instead, just look at these dry performance graphs. The numbers speak for themselves!
http://www.wservernews.com/080728-VIPRE-Stats

Told ya. The Enterprise version will go RTM the week of July 28. This is big. You can save a lot of resources, time, and budget by moving to VIPRE. You owe it to yourself to check this out. And when you hear what offers our sales team can give you to move from your old antivirus, you'll be amazed. Fill out the Request Info form and ask for a quote:
http://www.wservernews.com/080728-VIPRE-Enterprise

To start off with, sign up for the coming WEBCAST:

The End of Antivirus as You Know It: A First Look at VIPRE Enterprise

As part of its ongoing efforts to address the rapidly evolving malware landscape facing enterprises, Sunbelt Software introduces VIPRE Enterprise(tm) - a completely new solution that combines antivirus, antispyware, anti-rootkit and other technologies into a seamless, tightly-integrated product.

Join Sunbelt Software on Tuesday, July 29, 2008 at 2:00pm EDT for a first look at VIPRE Enterprise and learn how Sunbelt started with a blank slate to design a new, next-generation antivirus and antispyware technology to deal with today's malware in the most comprehensive, highly efficient manner. The result is a clean, fast, and powerful anti-malware solution developed 'by admins for admins'.

VIPRE Enterprise is designed to optimize overall performance by melding antivirus and antispyware together into one, single, powerful engine. This combination of technologies gives you high-performance software that doesn't slow down users' PCs, is low on system resources, and makes it easy for you to protect your network.

Attend this webcast to learn about the following VIPRE Enterprise features:
  • High-performance threat protection with low impact on system resources
  • All-new technology delivers a unique single antivirus / antispyware engine
  • Rock solid Management Console is your "Malware Command Center"
  • Real-time Active Protection(tm) and advanced anti-rootkit technology
  • Integrated, full email protection with support for Outlook and Windows Mail
When: Tuesday, July 29, 2008 2:00 PM (EDT) Please register here:
http://www.wservernews.com/080728-VIPRE-Enterprise-Webcast


VMware To Cut its Hypervisor Price To Zero

Somewhat surprising but not entirely unexpected with Redmond's new Hyper-V threat to VMware, their new CEO Paul Maritz decided to match Microsoft's price point, and make VMware's ESXi hypervisor free by the end of the month to get more marketshare. At the moment, ESX costs between $495 and $1,090 depending on the support level chosen. Obviously VMware hopes to sell its Infrastructure code after sites install the (soon free) hypervisor, and grab market away from Redmond.

Upcoming Sunbelt/Double-Take Seminars

We'd like to invite you to attend the following seminars:

"Implementing an Effective Email Archiving Strategy for Exchange" - Join Sunbelt and Mike Osterman, president and founder of Osterman Research, Inc., one of the leading analyst firms in the messaging and collaboration space, for an engaging discussion on how an effective email archiving strategy can help you deal with the issues resulting from growth in email storage and new discovery and privacy requirements. Hosted at Microsoft in Chicago, IL on Thursday, August 21st. Register here:
http://www.wservernews.com/080728-Exchange-Archiving-Seminar

"Recovery Made Easy for Exchange, SQL, and other Critical Applications" - Join Sunbelt and Double-Take Software as we discuss strategies for implementing high availability, remote availability and offsite disaster recovery solutions for SQL, Exchange and other mission critical applications using Double-Take. Learn about Double-Take v5.0 and Double-Take's NEW solutions that power your keys to recoverability.

Hosted at Sheraton Suites in Calgary, AB on Tuesday, August 12th. Register here:
http://www.wservernews.com/080728-Double-Take-Calgary

Hosted at Microsoft in Seattle, WA on Wednesday, August 13th. Register here:
http://www.wservernews.com/080728-Double-Take-Seattle

Hosted at Microsoft in Kansas City, KS on Friday, August 15th. Register here:
http://www.wservernews.com/080728-Double-Take-Kansas-City

Hosted at Microsoft in Hartford, CT on Thursday, September 25th. Register here:
http://www.wservernews.com/080728-Double-Take-Hartford


Quote of the Week

"America's greatness has been the greatness of a free people who shared certain moral commitments. Freedom without moral commitment is aimless and promptly selfdestructive." -- John W. Gardner

Thank you for being a WServerNews subscriber. No trees were killed in the sending of this message, but a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced. Please tell your friends about us. They can subscribe here:
http://www.wservernews.com/080728-Subscribe

Hope you enjoy this issue of WServerNews! Warm regards, Stu Sjouwerman  |   Email me: [email protected]

Next-generation AV that IS NOT a resource hog!

Antivirus software slowing down your PC? Save your family budget and ditch your old Antivirus software for high-performance protection that IS NOT a resource hog. VIPRE Antivirus + Antispyware gives you next-gen security that doesn't slow down your computer like older, traditional antivirus bloatware products. VIPRE combines antivirus, antispyware, anti-rootkit, anti-malware and other security technologies into a seamless, tightly-integrated security solution. VIPRE delivers comprehensive protection against today's highly complex spyware, viruses, and blended malware threats for superior PC and email security. Just $29.95. But the unlimited home site license is only $49.95 per year - a total no-brainer.
http://www.wservernews.com/080728-VIPRE

Admin Toolbox

Admin Tools We Think You Shouldn't Be Without

Sick and Tired of End-users locked out of accounts? Helpdesk driven mad by password reset requests? myPassword is a great self-service AD Reset tool.
http://www.wservernews.com/080728-myPassword

Help Desk application now available for the rest of us. Learn more about Bridge Trak:
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iPrism Web Filter leads the pack in value and performance. See the iPrism in action and get a cool t-shirt free!
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Tech Briefing

Exclusive VIPRE Interview: Sunbelt CEO Alex Eckelberry

WSN: What makes VIPRE different from other security suites?

AE: We started with a blank slate, writing the whole thing from scratch. The result is a product that's high performance and comprehensive in its detection. Realize that, for the most part, what you have in this industry is a lot of companies that have built products years ago and continued to upgrade them. Also, you've got companies that have made acquisitions and just kept putting the new acquisitions into their products. The result is what you see: 10 pounds of stuff crammed into a 5 pound bag. Some security suites are just unreal in terms of their resource usage, and the whole user experience. VIPRE isn't that. It's all new. Completely.

WSN: VIPRE takes a very different approach from other security products. How did you go about conceiving it, i.e., what was the inspiration?

AE: It started quite a while back. We knew we wanted to make a combined antivirus and antispyware product, and had hired Joe Wells, a noted antivirus researcher. However, it was going to take quite some time, so we did what other antispyware companies do -- we went to an antivirus company and licensed their engine. In essence, we cobbled together two engines -- CounterSpy and this third party engine. We never released it, thankfully, because the result was not interesting in the least.

To give you an analogy, it's like trying to build a V8 engine by jumbling together two 4-cylinder engines -- it doesn't work. It's a very good idea financially (because third party engines are cheap to license), but it's also the type of thinking so typical in this industry. Let's face it: The industry has gotten fat and happy by shipping bloated product, to make the bean-counters happy, make the quarter, and continue to get users for subscription revenue. And it's that kind of thinking that's made this industry and its products so hated by end users.

We just felt it was better to do it the right way, and write it the whole product from scratch ourselves. It was a real plunge, and it was a big deal, because companies don't usually make new antivirus products. It's typically the same stuff that gets upgraded and enhanced, but you rarely see anything completely new.

We figured it would take a certain amount of time, and our initial protection were a vast mis-estimation of effort . Writing an antivirus engine these days is a LOT of work. Our original estimates on our completion date were completely off, but we kept chugging away. And we're finally releasing it, which is just a huge relief and a huge win for the whole company. Believe me; this is big, with millions of dollars of investment, thousands of man hours, months of beta testing.

The important thing to realize about VIPRE is that it's all new. Completely. There's no junk old code that was developed years ago, no technology cobbled together from acquisitions, none of that stuff.

WSN: What does VIPRE mean to the average user - how will they benefit?

AE: The first thing a user will notice is that it's very clean and efficient. It's also fast. With VIPRE, users can get rid of their existing antivirus product, as well as their antispyware product. They can just use VIPRE. Of course, nothing is stopping them from having a few extra tools around if they like.

It's worth pointing out that the VIPRE experience comes from a lot of thought about a lot of different things. In my mind, CounterSpy is like a big 60s muscle car -- a lot of power, but internally, not very efficient. We wanted to start the whole thinking over again, taking the lessons we'd learned from CounterSpy to make something much, much better.

Good software development is not a bunch of big things; it's all the little things you do. We spent a lot of time thinking through how people would use the product. We brought in people and observed them using CounterSpy, and saw how they operated. We worked with a leading user interface expert to create the flow of the product, and then created the graphical look. It's very trendy to have these products look like they came from a spaceship, but we felt that we needed to keep it clean and simple, sort of like Scandinavian design thinking -- clean, straightforward, eminently practical.

The internal architecture is also similarly clean. Internally, VIPRE is a very complex product, with over 50 subsystems. There's a lot going on under-the-hood, but because of the architecture, it is very easy to work with for our developers, very easy to maintain and to build upon.

WSN: What do you say to our customers who are already using another antivirus? Will VIPRE be compatible?

AE: Sure, you can keep your existing antivirus around, but you can't run its real-time protection at the same time as VIPRE's. Or, you can disable VIPRE's Active Protection and use your antivirus' programs real-time protection. The simple reason is that you're going to have two programs looking at things in real-time, and it a bit messy.

Today's WSUS Patch Manager Shoots For Big Enterprises

Over the years, Microsoft has packed on the features for Windows Server's free patch manager and adds even more functions through public APIs.
http://www.wservernews.com/080728-WSUS-Patch-Manager


Integrating Existing Applications With SharePoint Server 2007

Once you have SharePoint server, there's the inevitable challenge of integrating existing applications into the portal framework. This article will demonstrate a few ways to integrate applications along with the high-level guidance for deciding which approach might be most appropriate for a given situation. Your options will depend on the integration you want to achieve, your in-house skills and your version of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.
http://www.wservernews.com/080728-SharePoint-Server-2007


Take Control Of Server Clusters With Microsoft's ClusDiag Tool

In this three-part series, learn how this free Microsoft cluster diagnostic utility simplifies the way admins investigate and report on problems with server clusters in Windows environments.
http://www.wservernews.com/080728-ClusDiag-Tool


Virtualizing An Exchange Server Environment

Thinking about virtualizing Exchange in your environment? Read these considerations for virtualizing with VMware's ESX or Microsoft's Hyper-V technology.
http://www.wservernews.com/080728-Exchange-Virtualization


Optimizing Hyper-V Performance: Monitoring Tips

Have your Hyper-V host servers and virtual machines been optimally configured? While the installation and enabling of Hyper-V and creation of VMs may be a fairly straightforward process, evaluating your execution and identifying room for growth and improvement can be more difficult with this new platform. This tip targets system administrators who have deployed Hyper-V and want to ensure they are making the most of host servers and virtual machines. (registration required)
http://www.wservernews.com/080728-Hyper-V-Performance


Windows Server News

The VIPRE Primer

VIPRE is a completely new product combining antivirus, antispyware, anti-rootkit and other technologies into a seamless, tightly-integrated application. Utilizing next-generation technology, the product provides powerful protection against today's highly complex malware threats, without the performance and resource headaches of many traditional antivirus products. Available for Consumer and Enterprise.

Proprietary Antivirus and Antispyware Detection Engine

At VIPRE's core is an antivirus and antispyware engine that merges the detection of all types of malware into a single, efficient, and powerful system. The new technology was developed exclusively by Sunbelt, without relying on older generation antivirus engines. We utilize multiple techniques inspecting the characteristics of all types of potentially threatening files. From simple signature-based detection to dynamic, sophisticated analysis of malware files, VIPRE quickly determines whether a file is good or bad - enabling comprehensive detection of both existing and new unidentified threats.

High-performance - Low Impact

User surveys show the biggest frustration with existing anti-malware solutions is bloat and high resource usage. VIPRE addresses these concerns: Designed with the latest programming and architectural methodologies, it runs seamlessly without significantly impairing system performance. VIPRE is also designed for an unobtrusive user experience, keeping notification pop-ups and warnings to a minimum.

Advanced Anti-Rootkit Technology

VIPRE's all-new anti-rootkit technology finds and disables malicious hidden processes, threats, modules, services, files, Alternate Data Streams (ADS), or registry keys on a user's system. Removing rootkits is supplemented by VIPRE's FirstScan(tm), which runs at the system's boot time. FirstScan bypasses the Windows operating system, directly scanning certain locations of the hard drive for malware, removing infections where found.

Real-Time Monitoring With Active Protection&trade

VIPRE's Active Protection delivers real-time monitoring and protection against known and unknown malware threats. Active Protection works inside the Windows kernel (the core of the operating system), watching for malware and stopping it before it has a chance to execute on a user's system.

Active Protection incorporates three methods to protect the user: signature matching, comparing a file for an exact match against VIPRE's definition database; heuristic analysis, which looks at the internal characteristics of a file to determine the likelihood that it is malware; and behavioral analysis, observing the actual actions of a program to determine if it is possibly malware. The combination of these three techniques provides an extraordinarily powerful level of real-time protection to the user.

Full Protection Against Email-Borne Threats

VIPRE includes comprehensive protection against viruses, with direct support for Outlook, Outlook Express and Windows Mail; and support for any email program that uses POP3 and SMTP (such as Thunderbird, IncrediMail, and Eudora).

Real-Time Live Threat Data Integration

Uniquely, real-time live threat data information from Sunbelt's research center is integrated directly into VIPRE, using a dedicated window allowing Sunbelt researchers to warn customers immediately of any major security outbreaks. It also provides users with a fast and simple way to provide feedback to Sunbelt without exiting the application.

Pricing & Availability

VIPRE Enterprise is priced aggressively for all corporate environments and includes one year of support, updates, and product upgrades. The upgrade to VIPRE Enterprise is available to all existing customers of CounterSpy Enterprise who are currently under a maintenance plan for a nominal fee. New customers can purchase VIPRE Enterprise on a per machine basis. Pricing includes the first year maintenance and starts at $193.75 for 5 machines with a sliding scale discount based on number of machines. A 30-day trial version of VIPRE Enterprise is available.

System Requirements

VIPRE Antivirus + Antispyware works with Windows 2000 SP4 RU1, Windows XP Service Pack 1,2 and 3 (32 and 64 bit), and Vista (32 and 64 bit) and requires a minimum Internet connection speed of 56 Kbps. Minimum hardware requirements: IBM-compatible 400 MHZ computer with 128MB of RAM and 150MB of free hard disk space. Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher required. Installation of VIPRE Antivirus + Antispyware is not supported on Windows 95, 98, or Me, Macintosh or Linux computers.
http://www.wservernews.com/080728-VIPRE-Primer


VIPRE -- Holy Cow!

Our Prez Alex received this email after the release:

Greetings,

"Just downloaded and installed the trial version of VIPRE. What a slick and appealing hunk of software! Though I have only been using it for an hour or so, it seems to be a real /tour de force/ in a very crowded segment of the market (actually of two markets). Its almost non-existent impact on system speed is truly remarkable... a hearty "well done" goes to you and your team!

"Apart from some possible (not yet confirmed) _very_ minor interface issues on my Vista (32 bit) system, and a couple of nearly as minor feature suggestions (which I will probably offer later, after I am more familiar with the program), it is hard to imagine a better designed and executed package than this. I have tried any number of AV/AM offerings from your competitors in recent months and years, and VIPRE -- even as a first release version -- seems at least as capable as, and certainly more polished than, its competitors. And did I mention that my computer flies along as though nothing is running resident (yes, I guess I did!) -- what a contrast to some AV offerings that make the system feel like it is stuck in quicksand! Barring some show-stopping glitch that is currently hiding from me, I have every intention of purchasing a license in the next few days." -- Regards, Lee Weissert

WServer Third Part News

The Holes Keep On Being Discovered

SNSI uses the latest Mitre Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) list of computer incidents. It also contains the latest SANS/FBI top 20 vulnerability list. SNSI also uses the latest CERT, CIAC Microsoft and FedCIRC (Department of Homeland Security) advisories.

New Checks
L875 ISC BIND DNS server insufficient randomness flaw - RHE
L876 OpenLDAP iblber/io.c datagram assertion error - RHE
L877 Pidgin msn_slplink_process malformed message flaw - RHE
L878 LinuxDC++ partial file list & empty private message errors - FC
L879 Perl Regex Lib pcre_compile.c flaw - FC
L880 Jetty quote sequence^ CRLF & Dump Servlet flaws - FC
L881 WebKit Safari JavaScript array handling error - FC
L882 Moodle bad_protocol_once error - FC
L883 SIPp get_remote_ip_media vulnerabilities - FC
L885 ISC BIND DNS server insufficient randomness flaw - FC
L886 Java IcedTea multiple security flaws - FC
L893 Linux Kernel multiple vulnerabilities - SuSE
L895 Courier-authlib remote SQL injection vulnerability - SuSE
L897 ClamAV petite.c out-of-bounds read error - SuSE
L898 PHP5 printf GENERATE SEED and other flaws- SuSE
L900 MTR stack overflow in split_redraw - SuSE
L901 Pcre pcre_compile crafted expressions error - SuSE
L902 Tomcat55 and Tomcat6 name parameter HTML flaw - SuSE
L904 Freetype2 16-bit & Printer Font Binary flaws - SuSE
L905 ISC BIND DNS server insufficient randomness flaw - SuSE
L913 Mozilla Applications critical vulnerabilities - RHE
N90 Cisco IPS Jumbo Ethernet frame vulnerability
N91 DNS recursive resolver cache poisoning - IOS
S376 Java JRE 1.4 and 1.3.1 latest not installed - Solaris
S441 Java JRE 5 (1.5) latest not installed - Solaris
S545 Java JRE 6 (1.6) latest not installed - Solaris
S553 Thunderbird 2 Multiple Vulnerabilities - Solaris 8 -10
W2514 RoboHelp Server Cross Site Scripting Vulnerability
W2991 Java Runtime Environment 1.4 latest not installed
W2992 Java Runtime Environment 1.5 latest not installed
W3110 Java Runtime Envrionment 1.6 latest not installed
W3388 Word XP/2002 Memory Corruption Vulnerability


Updated Checks
L906 Mozilla Firefox multiple vulnerabilities - SuSE
L1473 Wireshark multiple vulnerabilities - FC
L1513 Mozilla SeaMonkey multiple vulnerabilities - FC
L1679 BLAM Mozilla flaws - FC
W1142 Anti-virus Signature Outdated - McAfee
W1986 Anti-virus Signature Outdated - Symantec
W1999 Anti-virus Signature Outdated - Trend Micro
W2067 Anti-virus Signature Outdated - F-Secure
W2070 Anti-virus Signature Outdated - CA eTrust
Sunbelt Network Security Inspector version 1.6.109.0 was released July 21, 2008. Sunbelt Software recommends you download the new SNSI version 1.6.109.0, scan, and patch your machines today. To get the latest SNSI version, visit:
http://www.wservernews.com/080728-SNSI


WServerNews FAVE Links

This Week's Links We Like. Tips, Hints And Fun Stuff.



WServerNews - Product of the Week

Want to get a raise in the next 30 days? Download Desktop Authority

Justify your raise with next month's energy bill! Save energy costs by centrally establishing power schemes and shutting down inactive machines. Take 2 minutes to download ScriptLogic's Desktop Authority and save on company energy bills. Managing your desktops with Desktop Authority will also help justify your next salary increase by reducing help desk and administrative costs while increasing user productivity. Try Desktop Authority free for 30 days and receive the new eBrief entitled "Windows Desktop Administration" Download Desktop Authority Today:
http://www.wservernews.com/080728-Download-Desktop-Authority