McAfee VIRUSSCAN 4.5 -, Administrator'S Manual

Page: 200 / 208

Understanding iDAT Technology
200 McAfee VirusScan Anti-Virus Software
Corrupted data
Q: What happens if one of the iDAT files is corrupted during download?
A: Before the AutoUpdate utility installs any iDAT file, it checks the file
against a verification checksum recorded in the DELTA.INI file. If the
checksums do not match, the utility does not install that iDAT file or any
subsequent files it downloads in that session. Instead, the utility will
display an error message, then will download a full .DAT file set to update
your software.
Incremental vs. full .DAT update
Q: What happens if my existing .DAT files are very old? Will incremental
.DAT file updating still work?
A: The AutoUpdate utility decides which process to use. It downloads iDAT
files only if your existing .DAT file set is no more than 15 weeks out of date.
After that point, it becomes more efficient to download a full .DAT file set.
Network configuration issues
Q: Do all the machines I want to update need to be able to connect to the
Internet?
A: No. You can configure one computer on your network to download the
iDAT files from the Internet, then have other computers on your network
download their files from this computer. To learn more, see
“Three-stage
updating” on page 198 .
Q: How can I prevent network bottlenecks when I update many
workstations?
A: The AutoUpdate Task Properties dialog box has a randomization feature
you can use to spread the network load. To learn how this works, see
“Enabling tasks” on page 208 of the VirusScan User’s Guide .
Scheduling issues
Q: How often should I check for updates?
A: Normally, McAfee posts updated .DAT files on a weekly basis. You may,
however, check more or less often as your network security needs require.
Be aware that your risk of virus infection grows as the period between
updates to the virus data files grows.