Antivirus Software Information

Last reviewed: 10/16/2009
Article ID: R10760

The information in this article applies to:

• All Versions of Tabs3 and PracticeMaster Software Products

SUMMARY

There have been reports of virus checking software adversely affecting performance and sometimes even causing errors in our software. It has been established that virus checking software can slow down performance in certain situations. We recommend that virus checking software be configured in such a way as to minimize the effects of virus scanner interference.

MORE INFORMATION

Some virus checking software systems have the ability to continuously virus scan, in the background, any files that are accessed. This type of configuration can slow down the performance of software, particularly in a network environment.

Tabs3 and PracticeMaster software is data processing software that is very disk I/O intensive. The software is constantly opening files, writing to them and closing them. The software also makes frequent use of temporary files. For these reasons, the potential performance decrease caused by continuous virus scanning may be more apparent in our software than in some other types of applications.

RESOLUTION

• Firms who have disabled continuous virus scanning have reported significant improvements in performance and access times.
• If you are using continuous virus scanning software and you have it configured to scan all files, consider changing the configuration so that it excludes the following files in the Tabs3 and PracticeMaster program directory: *.DAT, *.DTA, *.KEY, *.IDX, *.TMP, *.LOG.
  CSV Note:  Users with Client Server Version (CSV) software must also exclude *.FCS files.
• For optimum performance, we recommend excluding the Tabs3 and PracticeMaster directories from continuous virus scanning software (i.e., the program directory, all directories under it, any archive paths and any data paths configured for additional GLS clients). If required, these directories can be virus checked in a full disk scan during non-peak usage times.
  CSV Note: Users with Client Server Version (CSV) software must exclude *.FCS files when performing a scan on demand.
• Note: If virus scanning software is installed on the server, any changes to virus scanning configuration may need to be made at the server as well as at all workstations. Consult the documentation that came with your virus scanning software for more information.
• Note: If virus scanning is occurring at the server, make sure the virus scanning software on workstations is not configured to scan network drives. Otherwise, all data will be scanned twice (once on the server and once by the workstation), which can adversely affect performance.

Excluding the Tabs3 and PracticeMaster Program Directory from Continuous Virus Scanning

Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition

Use the following procedure for configuring Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition Version 10 on a workstation to exclude the Tabs3 and PracticeMaster program directory from continuous virus scanning:

1. Select Start | Programs | Symantec Client Security | Symantec AntiVirus Client.
2. Select Configure | File System Realtime Protection.
3. In the Options section, select the Exclude selected files and folders check box.
4. Click Exclusions.
5. Select the Check file for exclusion before scanning check box.
6. Click Files/Folders.
7. Browse to the Tabs3 and PracticeMaster software program directory (for example, C:\STI) and select the corresponding check box.
8. Click OK three times to save your changes.
9. Click Exit to exit Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition.

For more information on file exclusions in Symantec AntiVirus software, see Symantec's Knowledge Base at http://www.symantec.com.

McAfee VirusScan

Use the following procedure for configuring McAfee VirusScan Enterprise 8.0i to exclude the Tabs3 and PracticeMaster program directory from continuous virus scanning:

1. Open the On-Access Scan Properties dialog box, then select one of the following icons in the left-hand pane:
• Default Processes
• Low-Risk Processes
• High-Risk Processes
2. On the Detection tab, click Exclusions in the What Not to Scan area. This will open the Set Exclusions dialog box.
3. The Set Exclusions dialog box lets you add or edit files, folders, or drives. Windows File Protection is listed by default.
• To add an item to the list of exclusions, open the Add Exclusion Items dialog box by clicking Add.
• To edit an item in the list, you can double-click it or select it and then click Edit.

For more information on file exclusions in McAfee software, see the user's guide provided with the McAfee software, or see McAfee's Web site at http://www.McAfee.com.

Notice regarding e-mail antivirus scanning

After working with several firms, it has come to our attention that some newer antivirus software, including Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition Version 10, have the ability to monitor TCP/IP traffic in order to locate e-mail viruses. However, this scanning can decrease the speed of the workstation upon which that antivirus program is running, because using any MAPI-compliant e-mail system (including Outlook, GroupWise or PracticeMaster) will cause the antivirus program to attempt to intercept viruses by monitoring TCP/IP traffic. Depending on settings for the computer and e-mail program, monitoring the TCP/IP traffic can require a great deal of computer resources and introduce slow downs in other software. There have been reports that performing an install of Symantec AntiVirus without any of its built-in e-mail scanners will resolve the problem.

Often, performing the above steps to disable active scanning will also disable active e-mail scanning, but this is not always the case. One way to test if the antivirus program is causing the speed decrease is to temporarily disable the antivirus program. If response times improve, and the settings above have been corrected to exclude the Tabs3 and PracticeMaster program directory from continuous virus scanning, the e-mail scanning may be causing the issue. While temporarily disabling your e-mail integration may improve the system speed, we recommend you contact your antivirus provider to determine what options are available for e-mail scanning. Some of the more common antivirus distributors are:

Symantec has stipulated that the "Consumer Editions" of Norton AntiVirus are not designed to work in a network environment, and that anyone on a network should use Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition.

Symantec Antivirus 10 can cause significant slow downs while initially loading the Tabs3 and PracticeMaster software.  This only affects the Client Server versions of Tabs3 and PracticeMaster.  The AntiVirus Email Tools feature in Symantec Antivirus is the feature that causes the slow loading times.  We believe this problem only exists with Symantec Antivirus version 10.1 and later.  After Tabs3 or PracticeMaster have loaded, there are no slow downs while actually using the software.  Disabling the Email Protection at the Client or Server level will not resolve the issue.  The feature must be removed for each client.  If you would like to uninstall this feature of your antivirus software, refer to Symantec Knowledge Base article 2004062410173948.

REFERENCES

• "How It Works: Viruses" by Kim Zetter. A general overview of computer viruses published on PCWORLD.COM's Web site.

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