Agax Version History

v1.3.2

• The Defender Log file, which records the actions of Defender and lives in the System Folder, is now limited in size. Whenever it wants to grow over 32KB, it is reduced to 24KB. This means it can always be opened with SimpleText. I hate to think how big some people's log files must be by now.
• Now checks for the presence of Drag and Drop interfaces before using them. This change reinstates Agax as compatible with System 7 on 68000 processors. And yes, people do want to run it on such machines.
• Better file error reporting. Instead of each additive complaining that it can't check a file if the fork it wanted to check couldn't be opened, Agax now checks this itself and emits a general error message for the file when it occurs. This should clear up a lot of false alarms that occurred when a resource fork was corrupted, leading to the SevenDust additive saying that the file 'may be infected with SevenDust, but no diagnosis could be made (probably because an error occurred opening it)'... it was a big mistake on my part to ever give such an alarming error message under those conditions.
• When an examine or repair run finishes, the completion message now indicates the number of files examined.
• Adding a warning in the Preferences dialog box when the 'Examine resource forks when opened' checkbox is toggled on. This feature has always been flaky, because no additive yet requires it and I thus haven't had to fix it. The warning counsels the user to leave it off unless they really know what they're doing.
• Added debugging output throughout the startup process. This can be turned on by holding down shift when Agax launches. An 'Agax Debug Log' file will then be generated on the desktop. It is intended to debug problems where Agax crashes on startup, as it used to on old systems.

v1.3

• A bug that caused Agax to crash when a folder was selected to scan with the 'Other Folder...' menu option has been fixed.
• The volume list in the Repair and Examine menus now updates itself properly when the volume list changes, and some related ordering bugs have been fixed.
• The length of the progress bar on folder scans used to be misleading as the scan often appeared to stop prematurely. It now looks like the familiar spinning barber's pole. Cancelling a folder scan will still report an incorrect proportion of files scanned in the log however.
• Agax now uses the MacOS 8 (i.e. Appearance Manager) progress bar if it exists! It doesn't use any other Appearance Manager tricks however.
• Defender now displays an icon when it loads! If there are problems with this, then I may provide an option in the preferences to not show the icon - especially as it's not very exciting :)
• Agax accepts 'open document' events and examines the files in them. So you can now drag files, folders and volumes onto the Agax icon in the Finder. This even works through AppleScript (although there's no easy way to determine if any files were infected using AppleScript)
• The log window in Agax now accepts files, folders and volumes dropped onto it. So you have a choice of drag targets - you can drop it into the window or onto the Agax icon.
• Scans initiated in one of the above two ways can be queued, so if you drop something onto Agax while it's in the middle of another scan, it'll do them when it's finished. Or you could just drag multiple items at once :)

v1.2

• Folder names text box in progress bar should no longer leave pixels behind
• Agax can now scan folders
• Due to public gramatical outrage (3 complaints :) the word 'virii' has been changed to 'viruses' or equivalent.
• Command-Period cancels a scan
• Progress window now contains a Stop button
• Defender should work under System 7.0
• Agax calls InitCursor so you're not left looking at the watch cursor on older systems (I always forget that)
• Ought to work on B&W Macs under System 7.
• Keeps better track of Additives and can validate them over the net.
• When Agax detects that it's been tampered with, the user is now referred to a longer explanation in the manual.

v1.1

• Fixed a bug with volume examinations (had the 'repair' flag inverted!)
• Additives can decide when to condemn an irreparable file (instead of always when they can't repair it).
• Additives can add a note to the log report - informational or otherwise.
• The user is now advised to expand the program after booting from their System CD-ROM, when internal corruption (usually infection) is discovered.

v1.0

• Gave it an icon (Defender too)
• Set the Name Locked flag on Defender
• Invisible Additives are now ignored
• Added alerts giving the option to delete irreparable files at the end of a 'Repair' run. Additives still can't delete files (stuffs up the scan); and I may turn the alerts into modeless dialogs in the future so you can see and scroll the Log.

v1.0b2

v1.0b1

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Last updated 10/7/1999