What's a firewall?

With the frequency of computer viruses, spyware, adware, and phishing attacks on the Internet today, there's an ever increasing need for software to protect your computer from these potential threats.  A firewall is a program designed to do just that.  In fact firewalls are so common today, that you may already have a firewall on your computer that you are not aware of.  Generally, firewalls come packaged with antivirus software or if you have Windows XP, it also comes pre-packaged with a firewall to protect your machine.  While they are intended to protect your computer from a variety of potential threats, firewalls often inadvertently causes other legitimate programs on your computer to malfunction as well.  Mostly, this is because a firewall has no way of knowing whether a program poses a threat to your computer without input on your part.  And while we've done everything we can to reduce the likelihood that any of WinTOTAL's vital pieces are blocked by a firewall on your computer, it's likely that your firewall will still misjudge a few significant pieces of WinTOTAL, causing any number of different issues inside your WinTOTAL installation.  

Can I stop my firewall from interfering with WinTOTAL?

Yes.  There are several ways that you can stop your firewall from interfering with WinTOTAL.  A common way to test whether your firewall is causing a problem in WinTOTAL is to simply disable it momentarily and try to work in WinTOTAL again.  If the problems don't occur, it's probably a problem with your firewall.  Of course, while disabling or removing your firewall may be a great short term solution, in the long term it leaves you open to a variety of security threats.  To account for this, we've compiled detailed explanations about how to configure your firewall properly to work with WinTOTAL.  Just visit our firewall configuration Tech Doc at http://help.alamode.com/docs/firewalls/.

What's a virus?

The McAfee.com website defines a virus as a computer program or file capable of attaching to disks or other files and replicating itself repeatedly, typically without user knowledge or permission. Viruses vary widely in the effects they can have on your system. Some wipe out data.  Some steal data.  Some like to send out junk e-mail and cause slow downs on the Internet.  In most cases, the major consequence of a virus is the cost in time and effort to identify the virus source and remove all traces of it from your system.

Can anything I do in WinTOTAL cause me to get a virus?

You cannot receive a virus from downloading maps, IDC data, or Instant Customer Updates through WinTOTAL’s Internet features. Maps and IDC data consist of images and raw data, these do not require scanning. You only need to scan files that your computer runs.  Instant Customer Update files are scanned throughout the update creation process to ensure file safety.

The most common way that viruses appear on your computer is through e-mail.  While most antivirus programs prevent this by scanning inbound e-mail as it arrives on your computer, it's usually best to have your e-mail screened for viruses before it gets to your computer.  This improves the chance that the virus will be caught before it reaches your computer and allows you to relax your antivirus setup enough to prevent it from interfering with other programs you use from day to day. If you have CertMail accounts with your XSite, they come pre-built with antivirus protection.  For more information on XSites, call us at 1-800-ALAMODE.

What kinds of problems occur when running antivirus or firewalls?

While not all users experience difficulties running antivirus or firewall protection, customers have had problems completing the following tasks that were corrected by disabling the antivirus software.

• System is generally slow when opening reports
• Downloading and installing updates may fail
• Sending or receiving reports may fail
• Downloading maps and IDC data
• Data not transferring properly or disappearing when reports are saved
• Cloned reports reverting back to original data

These issues can be somewhat difficult to diagnose, as you would not receive error messages indicating the problem is specifically related to your antivirus or firewall software.  Additionally, running antivirus software continuously, particularly across a network can cause your system to respond slowly since it scans each file as it's accessed and modified. Slowness will vary widely from one user to another, from the insignificant to extremely delayed system response.

What does a la mode recommend when running antivirus software?

While a la mode does not recommend any particular antivirus software over another, we can make general recommendations for the use of such software.
If networked, we do not recommend running your antivirus software continuously on each workstation. Rather, run your antivirus protection on the server and then manually on the workstations when you so choose.
There are settings you can make within your antivirus program that should offer some improved system performance.

• Disable real-time scanning (Auto-Protect)
• Exclude C:\Win2000 or C:\a la mode\WinTOTAL folder from scanning (depending on which you have on your machine)

Configure the following WinTOTAL-related sites as “Trusted Sites” in your firewall and browser settings.

And if you have an XSite

		Note: Be sure to replace <yourdomain> with your actual website address.  For instance, if your website address is www.johnsmithappraiser.com, you would add *.johnsmithappraiser.com to your Trusted Sites.  For some assistance configuring your Trusted Sites in Internet Explorer, see Tech Doc 7018.

If experience difficulties trying to configure your antivirus software, contact your antivirus software manual, a local technician, or refer to your antivirus software's documentation for specific help configuring the software.

Do you have any other documents that might help with these issues?

Yes, we have several documents available that might help.  In addition to the documents listed down the side column of this document, the documents below are also available in WinTOTAL Athena by clicking the Solution Center link in the Appraisal Desktop and then going to the tech doc library. In Aurora, simply click the Help, View Tech Doc Library or follow the Tech Doc Library link from the Help PowerView in the Appraisal Desktop.

• 4000 – Athena Support Frequently Asked Questions
• 4310 – System & Speed Recommendations for WinTOTAL (Athena Only)
• 5032 - WinTOTAL System Requirements (Aurora Only)
  
• 5054 - Configuring Antivirus (Aurora Only)