Malicious Mobile Code: Virus Protection for Windows [Paperback]

As for example, one of my clients, with about 100 workstations, seemed to get infected about every three days no matter what I would tell them (one person in particular). And although I love the consulting dollars, it really became a pain disinfecting their network again and again. I followed the steps in the book, and my clients haven't been infected since. It's only been a month, but they went from dozens of infections per week, to none.

Every chapter in the book covers a particular topic, like Windows viruses, Instant Messaging attacks, Email attacks, etc. Mr. Grimes begins by describing the underlying technology, talks about specific attacks, and then tells how to detect and prevent them. Each chapter has dozens of recommendations and his last chapter (actually second to last) talks about what steps you should take on each PC you supervise. This was nice because trying to remember the dozens of steps to take all at once would have been tough. He even covers how to make an anti-virus plan, but that doesn't really apply to my consulting work; however I'm sure it would help a company system admin type.

I can easily say I learned more about Virus attacks on Windows, Java, VBA, and Internet apps than I knew before. I was really surprised by how many places bad programs can hide to automatically start on a computer. There are over a dozen. And for a technical book it was really easy reading. It was the best book I've ever read, and used, on computer viruses. The book included his email address and I sent a question to him and he answered it the same day.

The book covers Windows, no Linux or Mac, but doesn't cover Novell Groupwise in the email chapter but it is well worth the read. Although most of my clients are Microsoft shops, I've still have some Novell shops. It mentions, but doesn't discuss automated distribution tools, like SMS or ZenWorks. If you've got a very large network, you're going to need a good way to automate all the steps. There are few typos and grammar errors, but certainly not enough to take away from the message. Also, like most other antivirus books, it doesn't say what antivirus product to get. Mr. Grimes mentions a few different products, but I was really looking for his recommendation (or anyone) to tell me the best antivirus product out there. It seems they all miss something. Other than these few issues, great book and I highly recommend it.

This book is an essential reference for any computer manager's toolkit. We can't stop the code writers from producing thier output, but we can work to lessen the impact they can have on us.

What I got most from this book though was a perpective on dealing with virus (etc) problems overall. Identifying what area of a system needs examining, what precautions should be taken, and even classifying symptoms, was very enlightning. That it was also a major source in a paper I received an A on, doesn't hurt either. I am sure it will come in as a handy reference for some time yet.