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FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions


Tom Beck
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Immunet General

I had previously registered with the Immunet website, it's gone now. What happened?

When Immunet Protect 2.0 was released (June 16, 2010) the Immunet website retired it's Community features and moved them directly into your product. The 2.0 product will now allow you to directly invite friends, manage current connections and add new friends. The password and email address you used on the old website will now work directly in the product.

 

Community

 

The Community component of Immunet Protect is presented in the left-hand tab of the of the Immunet Protect user interface. It contains the features that enable users to build and manage their Protection Network as well as helping them to keep abreast of the latest security and product news from Immunet. These features will be discussed in depth in the sections that follow.

 

My Community

 

The My Community feature can be launched by clicking on the My Community icon, which is the first button in the left-hand column of the main pane (shown below). The My Community feature is designed to allow users to build and manage their Protection Network, which is a group of individuals that the user has invited to join Immunet.

 

Once individuals who have been invited join the Protection Network have accepted, their computers will start to submit suspicious data to Immunet. Immunet will then use this information to secure the computers of the user community against detected threats. This protection will be enacted almost as soon as the suspect files are submitted to Immunet. It will also extend to the communities of other Immunet users.

 

The more people in a user's network, the more the user will be protected against threats that are detected circulating on the Internet. Further, the bigger a user's network, the more it will contribute to the enhanced security of the entire Immunet community.

 

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User Registration, Password Recovery and Change, and Login

 

Upon launching Immunet Protect for the first time, users will be presented with the Welcome to the Immunet Community screen, which is shown below. This pane includes a number of options for the user, which will be discussed in detail below.

 

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Current users who have existing accounts can log in by clicking on the Sign in with an existing account button in the lower right-hand corner of the Welcome to the Immunet Community pane.

 

Existing users who have previously registered but who have forgotten their user name and/or password may reset either by clicking on the Recover your password or the Change your password button, as is appropriate.

 

New users who are logging in for the first time and who have not yet registered will be prompted for the following:

 

1. Your Name - This constitutes the user's Immunet user name. It does not have to be a real name but rather the name that the user wishes present to other members of the Immunet community.

 

2. Your email - This email address will serve as the user's credential for signing back into the Community feature. It is also the email address to which Immunet Protect will send a confirmation email, enabling the user to validate the account. As a result, the email address must be valid.

 

3. New Password - This will be the password that the user will use to log on to Immunet Protect. Users will only be prompted for their username and password if they have used the Sign Out functionality in the Community pane (which is available after registration).

 

Once the user has registered, the above window will open. As it states, the user will need to validate the account by responding to a confirmation email that Immunet will send to the email address entered for registration. This email will contain a link that the user can click on to validate the account. Users can return to this window at anytime by clicking back on My Community from the main pane.

 

User Invite

 

Users who wish to invite contacts to join their Protection Network can do so by clicking on the Add people button in the upper right-hand corner of the My Community pane, as shown below.

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By clicking on the Next button, the user will bring up the Add People screen shown below, which allows the user to invite others into his or her Protection Network.

 

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Users can invite individual users to join the community by entering the invitee's e-mail address in the box labeled Email. On the other hand, users can invite groups of users by importing contacts from Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail. It is important to note that when contacts are to be imported from Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo, the user's password for those services is required. Immunet does not store or retain this password in any way.

 

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Regardless of which method is used to add or invite users to join the Protection Network, each added user will receive an email from Immunet, as shown below. This email will invite the prospective user to download the Immunet Protect product and join the registered user's network. The email will provide basic information about the product and also invite the new user to contact the registered user directly in order to avoid any confusion with spam or phishing related emails. Once the invited user has accepted the invitation and installed Immunet Protect, the registered user will see the invitee's name in the Protection Network pane.

 

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My Community

 

The My Community pane shows the user's Protection Network in its current state. It will allow the user to view the threat landscape as it pertains to his or her Protection Network by visually displaying threat data about each part of the user's network. The default screen will always show the user (in this case, Beta User) as the center node with that user's Protection Network surrounding him or her. If the user clicks on any of the other user nodes, that user will then become the center node.

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The threat landscape data (shown below) of the node that is currently centered will be displayed the right-hand side of the My Community pane. Users will start with two default people in their network, Immunet staff members Oliver Friedrichs and Alfred Huger, which will give users a head start in building their Protection Network.

 

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Once the beta user has added ten friends, Oliver and Al will disappear from this pane. Once a user's Protected Network comprises 10 people or more, only the most active people, or those people with the largest networks of their own, will show up on the main pane. Users who are not listed in the main pane may be viewed by clicking on the Full Community link. Users may be removed or added by using the add people button.

 

The data sets presented in the right-hand pane of the My Community page describe the threat landscape of the center node user's Protection Network. These data sets will be discussed in greater length in the sections that follow, they are:

 

1. Country

2. Community of Beta User

3. Protection Factor

 

Country

 

This box will list data about threat activities that are being detected in the country in which the center node user is located. The country-specific data monitored in this box includes:

 

1. Total Members: How many members of the Immunet Community at large are situated in this country.

2. Threats Stopped: How many threats have been discovered and stopped by the Immunet Community in this country.

3. Top Threat: The threat that is seen most commonly in this country.

 

The country-specific data is important because it allows users to view activity that is taking place in their own country, as well as the countries of other members of their Protection Network, and to make comparisons. Greater participation from users in a particular country will help to bolster protection for other people in that country, as they are likely to be subject to the same threats. Users situated in a country with low participation can enhance their own protection by encouraging other people in that country to join their Protection Network.

 

User's Community

 

This box shows data about the user's Protection Network or community (if the user has invited users who are participating). The particular data in this box includes:

 

1. People Protected, which indicates how many people the user has added to his or her Protection Network. It should be noted that the invited users must have installed the Immunet Protect software for this to work and the number of people protected will not count Alfred and Oliver.

 

2. Threats Stopped, which details total number of threats the user's Protection Network has stopped and, therefore, contributed to the overall Immunet Community. The user's specific data is not reflected in this number.

 

3. Top Threat, which details the threat that is seen most commonly in the user's Protection Network.

 

The larger the user's Protection Network, the greater will be the user's level of protection and the more the user will be contributing to the protection of others, both in his or her own Protection Network and in the global Immunet Community.

 

Protection Factor

 

This box details the users' Protection Factor, this is a numerical value indicating how much protective value this user and their community contribute back to the Immunet Community overall. A higher score is better in this case. Average users will have a score of between 30 to 100. The score is derived by taking the number of users in a persons community (including themselves) and multiplying that number against the number of threats that Community has stopped. The reason we multiply it against threats is because each time a user stops a threat there is a chance that the threat will be analyzed and protections for it will be instantly made made available for the rest of the Immunet Community (Not all threats will be analyzed, only new threats not previously seen will be sent for analysis). An example would be if a user has stopped 10 threats and has 2 people in their network who have also stopped 10 threats then users Protection Factor would be 30 (3 * 10).

 

Full Community

 

The Full Community link is found on the right-hand side of the My Community page. When this link is clicked, it will expand a user list box to the right of the My Community pane. This list can be used to manage Protected Communities that consist of more than ten users. There is also some extra data available in this pullout that is not seen in the Main Community pane, which will be discussed in the next section.

faq9.jpg

 

Understanding Full Community Data

 

Whenever a user's name is selected in Full Community mode, the pane will expand to show data about that particular user. Any user who has been selected in this mode may also be removed from the network by clicking the Remove User link on the right-hand side of the My Community page, as shown below.

faq10.jpg

The data displayed in the expanded box for each user is slightly different than that shown in the main pane. The data displayed is as follows:

 

1. Community: users: indicates how many users are in this user's community.

2. Community: threats: indicates how many threats this user's community has seen compared to the total number of files. The example for Duck Dodgers (above) shows that his community has stopped 6,488 threats and has seen 907,467 files over all.

3. Country: Users: displays this user's country and indicates how many users are in it.

4. Country: threats: indicates how many threats this user's country has seen compared to the total number of files. The example for Canada shows that Canadian users have stopped 49,579 threats and have been exposed to 4,202,128 files overall.

 

How do I submit a suspicious file to Immunet?

The easiest way to submit files to us is email. You can mail samples to submit@samples.immunet.com. This will feed your samples to an automated system and if we can build protections for it they will available over the cloud within a day of your submission and in some cases as soon as 2 hours.

 

What processes does Immunet Protect consist of?

agent.exe is the main detection engine

iptray.exe is the UI

 

What are the similarities & differences between the FREE & PLUS versions?

There are two major differences between Free and Plus. The Free version works only when online and Plus works both online and offline. The other major difference is that Plus has detection capabilities found in a traditional AV product. More details can be found at: http://www.immunet.com/plus/compare/index.html

 

Immunet FREE

Immunet Protect Free is __Companion Anti-Virus, what other Anti-Virus packages can it run beside?

The following anti-virus packages have been tested to work alongside the Immunet Protect beta version. Users should be able to install Immunet Protect alongside each of these packages and significantly increase their ability to detect viruses. In this case, "supported" means that Immunet will test these products in the QA environment and qualify that they co-install properly and work in tandem during normal operations without any obvious interference or resource drag. Supported products will get priority in the QA test/fix cycles and will get priority attention from Immunet Staff on the Community Forum.

 

Product Platform / SP 32/64
AVG 8.5 Windows XP SP2 / Vista 32/64
AVG 9 Windows XP SP3 / Vista SP1 / Windows 7 32/64
Avira Antivir 9 Windows XP SP3 / Vista SP1 / Windows 7 32/64
Avira Antivir 10 Windows XP SP3 /Vista SP1 / Windows 7 32/64
Norton (AV/360/IS) 2009 Windows XP SP3 /Vista SP1 / Windows 7 32/64
Norton (AV/360/IS) 2010 Windows XP SP3 /Vista SP1 / Windows 7 32/64
Mcafee AntiVirus (TP/SC) 2009 Windows XP SP3 /Vista SP1 / Windows 7 32/64
Microsoft Security Essentials Windows XP SP3 /Vista SP1 / Windows 7 32/64
Trend AntiVirus 2010 Windows XP SP3 /Vista SP1 / Windows 7 32/64
Kaspersky (AV/IS) 2010 Windows XP SP3 /Vista SP1 / Windows 7 32/64
Comodo (AV/IS) 4.0 Windows XP SP3 /Vista SP1 / Windows 7 32/64
Trend AntiVirus + AntiSpyware 2010 (Windows XP SP3 / Vista SP1 / Windows 7 32/64
Trend Virus Buster 2010 Windows XP SP3 / Vista SP1 / Windows 7 32/64
K7 Total Security 2010 Windows XP SP3 / Vista SP1 / Windows 7 32/64

 

Can I run my Immunet Protect FREE install along 'non-supported' Anti-Virus products?

Most likely you can yes. However, if your package is not listed here in this FAQ we would ask that you mail us at support@immunet.com and ask us before you install. We'll let you know if we are aware of any issues with the product in question.

 

What are the Unofficially Supported Anti-Virus Packages for Immunet Protect Free?

Unofficially Supported Products are products that users have indicated work for them but that have not been tested by Immunet. In some cases, Immunet has received mixed reports regarding functionality issues. Generally, Immunet advises users to use Officially Supported Products with Immunet products, in order to avoid experiencing unexpected (and unwanted) results when using products that Immunet has not yet tested and do not currently support.

 

Product Platform / SP 32/64
Webroot Internet Security Essentials 2010 Windows XP SP3 32/64
Comodo Internet Security Windows XP SP2/SP3 32/64
PrevX 3.5 Vista SP1 32/64
Spyware Doctor 6.1.0.447 Windows XP SP3 32/64
Bit Defender AntiVirus 2010 Windows XP SP3 32/64
Threatfire 4.5.24 Vista SP1 32/64
Sunbelt VIPRE 3.2.2 Vista SP1 32/64
Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 Vista SP1 32/64
QuickHeal AntiVirus Plus 10.0 Vista SP1 32/64
A-Squared Free Vista SP1 32/64
BluePoint Security 1.0.0.68 Vista SP1 32/64
AhnLab V3 Intern Security 8.0 Vista SP1 32/64
BullGuard 8.7 Vista SP1 32/64
Online Armor Vista SP1 32/64
Symantec Endpoint Protection 11.0 Vista SP1 32/64

 

Users who have questions or feedback about Immunet-supported platforms or anti-virus packages are invited to email Immunet Support.

 

Is the Update Now feature working?

Yes, but there are three possible reasons why you may not have a new version prompted during update now.

1) We are testing only new users to make sure there are no problems before upgrading existing users.

2) A bug prevents upgrading in the product and there is no time to fix it for existing users, but the update will help new users.

3) There is a minor release that fixes the few users that are affected. Right now we are unable to do minor upgrades such as 2.0.14.91 to 2.0.14.99. This is on todo list.

 

Immunet PLUS

I have Immunet Protect PLUS, can I run other Anti-Virus suites with it?

In most cases you can but we suggest that you do not. It may cause support issues which are difficult to resolve.

 

Installation

You include an ASK Toobar with Immunet Protect. Is this optional?

faq11.jpg

 

Yes, it is optional, you may avoid it's installation by simply un-checking the Standard installation box above highlighted in red.

 

Why do you include the ASK Toolbar

Most Anti-Virus products, which are free ship with either toolbars or web browsers, pre-packaged with them as a means of getting some small amount of revenue to offset the development costs for their software.

 

Bundling software like this important to Immunet because it helps us cover the cost of allowing your Immunet Protect Free install to stay connected to our cloud full time. Your system will accrue bandwidth costs and processing costs for Immunet just by being turned on. This means that across hundreds of thousands of free systems running our software there is a constantly growing cost we need to cover to continue in order to continue operating our cloud.

 

 

Uninstall

Updating

How are new versions announced?

A new versions is announced in the Announcements Forum listed with the .. versions. This will include a general list of changes made. Then if a new build is published because some people are seeing bugs, we will list the ... beneath that, but will only notify users who are exhibiting the bug.

 

This will be replaced with a more detailed Changelog system when we have the time and figure out the best method.

 

Scan

What are the differences between Flash Scan, Custom Scan, Full Scan & Rootkit Scan?

Flash Scan - Scans registry and system process that are in memory to determine which files to scan on disk.

Custom Scan - Scans the folder you select

Full Scan - Scans all logical drives

Rootkit Scan - Looks for hidden Rootkits on volumes

 

Settings

What is gaming mode?

Gaming mode is the ability to shut off all notifications from Immunet Protect while watching movies or playing games.

 

 

Errors

Why did I get an error going into My Community that says "An error has occurred atempting to load your community"?

The following could be reasons for this:

1) Java may have pushed out a new version and you may need to go to right-click on the tray icon and select Exit and then use the shortcut on your desktop to re-spawn the UI.

2) There could be a problem writing to %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\immunet\community.json that may be permissions related.

 

Help & Support

I see this message "File Could Not Be Deleted. Check to see if Agent is online. If it is please contact support@immunet.com." How do I tell if my agent is online?

Open the windows Task Manager. Depending on which OS, you will either have to check or click on the "Show Processes from all users" button. Then order by Image name or Process name and look for agent.exe. If you see this in the list your agent is running. If not, you should reboot your machine.

 

 

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