Dr. Solomon's Software Inc. is hoping to make newsgroup participants feel a little safer online with today's rollout of its Internet VirusPatrol.
Internet VirusPatrol scans attached executable files and documents within discussion groups. It uses the company's Advanced Heuristic Analysis technology to check for suspicious code, company officials said.
Since it went into testing earlier this year, the software has detected an average of five to six malicious postings in Usenet newsgroups each week, files that users typically wouldn't recognize as dangerous, said Shane Coursen, senior technology consultant at Dr. Solomon's, in Burlington, Mass.
The software is available as a free download on Dr. Solomon's Web site at www.drsolomons.com/.