The original configure-and-forget, run-time virus protection, detection & analysis system.
CONTENTS
ΓÇó Sections
ΓÇó 1 ΓÇô General
ΓÇó 2 ΓÇô Help
ΓÇó 3 ΓÇô ON/OFF
ΓÇó 4 ΓÇô Settings
ΓÇó 5 ΓÇô Log
ΓÇó 6 ΓÇô Privileges
ΓÇó Copyright Notice
ΓÇó Bug Reports, Postcards, Etc.
ΓÇó Finding the Latest Version
• …And Thanks for All the Fish
ΓÇó Disclaimer
SECTIONS
GatekeeperΓÇÖs controls and displays are separated into six sections each of which is briefly described below. The list of available sections always appears at the top of GatekeeperΓÇÖs window, and it may be necessary to use the scroll bar to see all the items in the list.
Clicking once on a line in the list opens the appropriate section of Gatekeeper. If you prefer to use the keyboard, you can hit the tab key to move to the next item in the list and shift + tab to move to the previous item in the list.
1 ΓÇô GENERAL
The General section is always the first section visible when Gatekeeper is opened. It will tell you the version number of Gatekeeper and may, in future versions, bring other information to your attention as necessary.
2 ΓÇô HELP
This is GatekeeperΓÇÖs help section. It provides a quick description of the controls and displays in all of GatekeeperΓÇÖs sections. For an introduction to Gatekeeper refer to the Gatekeeper Introduction file which should have been included with this copy of Gatekeeper.
You can move up and down in the help text using the scroll bar or the page up and page down keys on some keyboards. The home and end keys on those keyboards can be used to move to the top and bottom of the help text, respectively.
Text from the help section may be selected using the mouse and copied to the Clipboard so that it can be pasted into other applications. This would allow you, for instance, to paste the text into a word processor and print it out.
3 ΓÇô ON/OFF
The ON/OFF feature allows you to turn Gatekeeper off for a user-specified length of time. This is useful when youΓÇÖre performing tasks that Gatekeeper would otherwise interfere with. The most common examples of such tasks are running ΓÇ£installerΓÇ¥ programs which load software of some kind onto your system. Common examples of software loaded using these programs include Microsoft Word and Excel, and Aldus PageMaker.
The maximum length of time Gatekeeper can be off is displayed next to the ΓÇ£Time Limit:ΓÇ¥ label in this section. To change the limit, just click on the time limit numbers and edit them the same way you would edit the time setting in the General control panel or the Alarm Clock desk accessory. When youΓÇÖre finished editing the time limit, hit the return key.
When Gatekeeper is off, the value displayed next to the ΓÇ£Time Remaining:ΓÇ¥ label in this section will tell you how much time remains before Gatekeeper automatically turns itself on again. When Gatekeeper is on, the value displayed is always zero.
Remember that Gatekeeper will not provide protection against viruses while it is off.
4 ΓÇô SETTINGS
The Settings section allows you to define some of the basic ways in which Gatekeeper operates.
When a Privilege Violation Occurs
Two radio buttons in this area let you tell Gatekeeper what to do about suspicious operations it encounters. When the ΓÇ£Stop the Operation (Notify & Veto)ΓÇ¥ radio button is selected, Gatekeeper will stop any suspicious activities it observes. On the other hand, if the ΓÇ£Permit the Operation (Notify Only)ΓÇ¥ radio button is selected, Gatekeeper will not interfere at all with suspicious operations; it will merely tell you the operations have occurred. ItΓÇÖs then up to you what you do about them.
When an Important Event Occurs
Two check boxes in this area let you tell Gatekeeper what it should do when it needs to get your attention. Typically, Gatekeeper only needs to get your attention when it observes privilege violations or other similarly unusual events. The ΓÇ£Display an AlertΓÇ¥ check box tells Gatekeeper, when it is used with System 6.0 or later, to display an alert describing the event that occurred. The ΓÇ£Record it in the Log FileΓÇ¥ check box tells Gatekeeper to record a short description of the event in the Gatekeeper Log file for later review. These two options may be used in any combination you find convenient; in practice, however, itΓÇÖs best to keep both options checked.
During Startup
Two check boxes in this area let you tell Gatekeeper how to behave when your Mac starts-up. If the ΓÇ£Show the Gatekeeper IconΓÇ¥ check box is checked, GatekeeperΓÇÖs icon will be displayed somewhere along the bottom of your MacΓÇÖs display during startup. Showing the icon in this fashion is merely a convenient way of indicating that Gatekeeper is installed on your Macintosh. In addition, if Gatekeeper cannot install itself for some reason, the icon will be drawn with a large red X over it to warn you that something went wrong.
The other check box in this area, labeled ΓÇ£Display a Mode Warning AlertΓÇ¥, allows you to tell Gatekeeper whether or not it should display a ΓÇ£warningΓÇ¥ alert after startup to remind you of the mode in which it is operating. Gatekeeper can operate in either Notify Only or Notify & Veto mode. (A quick explanation of these modes can be found at the beginning of the Settings section in this help display.) By default, Gatekeeper displays a warning alert after startup when it is in Notify Only mode (since it doesnΓÇÖt protect against viruses in that mode), but does not display a warning alert when in Notify & Veto mode (since that is the mode in which Gatekeeper normally operates). The ΓÇ£Display a Mode Warning AlertΓÇ¥ check box, however, allows you to change this behavior to suit your own needs.
5 ΓÇô LOG
This section allows you to view the contents of GatekeeperΓÇÖs log file, if the ΓÇ£Record it in the Log FileΓÇ¥ option is checked in the Settings section. The log file is a file in which Gatekeeper records all the important events it observes for your later review.
Selecting a line in the log file display and clicking on the Get Info button will bring up an alert which explains the event recorded on that line of the log file. Double-clicking on a line, or clicking on a line and hitting the return or enter keys has the same effect.
For the convenience of users with appropriately equipped keyboards, the following keyboard shortcuts are available. To select the next line above or below the currently selected line use the up-arrow and down-arrow cursor keys. To move up or down through the log quickly, use the page up and page down keys. To instantly move to the top or bottom of the log, use the home and end keys, respectively.
Normally, the log will contain only ΓÇ£StartupΓÇ¥ and ΓÇ£ShutdownΓÇ¥ messages, which tell you when your Macintosh has been started or shutdown in GatekeeperΓÇÖs presence. These messages are totally routine, and are recorded only to help you determine when your Mac has been used and whether it may have been used without Gatekeeper, thereby leaving it unprotected against possible virus attacks.
The really important entries in the log file are displayed in bold, red type to get your attention. These entries normally describe attempts by programs to exceed the privileges they have been granted. These entries may tell you one of two things: (1) some program needs additional privileges in order to operate correctly, or (2) a virus is attempting to spread on your Macintosh and is being stopped by Gatekeeper. If youΓÇÖre not sure which is which, try running Disinfectant 2.9, or later, to check for the involvement of known viruses. For additional information and helpful advice, you may want to refer to the Log section of the Gatekeeper Introduction document.
However, if you are confident that an entry in the log file merely indicates that a program needs additional privileges in order to operate correctly, you can grant that privilege by selecting that entry and clicking on the Get Info button. This will bring up an alert describing the entry. That alert will include a large button labeled Grant Privilege; clicking on that button will give the guilty program the privilege described in that entry. After using the Grant Privilege button, you can, if you wish, switch to the Privileges section where youΓÇÖll find that the guilty program has been automatically selected in the privilege list, in case you need to make adjustments.
6 ΓÇô PRIVILEGES
The list that appears in this area is the list of applications that have been granted privileges of some kind. To the right of the list are four buttons: ΓÇ£AddΓÇ¥, ΓÇ£NewΓÇ¥, ΓÇ£EditΓÇ¥ and ΓÇ£ClearΓÇ¥. ΓÇ£AddΓÇ¥ permits you to add an item to the list using the normal ΓÇ£OpenΓÇ¥ dialog box. You can compel Gatekeeper to display files regardless of their types by holding down the option key when clicking on the ΓÇ£AddΓÇ¥ button. ΓÇ£NewΓÇ¥ gives you the option of typing in the name of an item to be added to the list; this is a convenient alternative to the ΓÇ£AddΓÇ¥ button, and just about the only way to give privileges to desk accessories. ΓÇ£EditΓÇ¥ lets you change the name of the currently selected item in the list. ΓÇ£ClearΓÇ¥ allows you to delete the currently selected item from the list.
For a sensible discussion of what the privilege check boxes for an item mean, see the ΓÇ£Gatekeeper in PrincipleΓÇ¥ section of the Gatekeeper Introduction document.
For the convenience of users with appropriately equipped keyboards, the following keyboard shortcuts are available. To select the next item above or below the currently selected item use the up-arrow and down-arrow cursor keys. To move up or down through the list quickly, use the page up and page down keys. To instantly move to the top or bottom of the list, use the home and end keys, respectively.
To select an item by name, type in the first several letters of its name; the list will be scrolled to the item that comes closest to matching the letters youΓÇÖve typed.
To delete an item from the list use the backspace, delete or clear keys. To edit the currently selected item, double-click on it, or hit the return or enter keys.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
Gatekeeper ©1988-1992
Gatekeeper Aid ©1990-1992
by Chris Johnson.
All Rights Reserved.
Gatekeeper and Gatekeeper Aid are free for noncommercial public distribution. This means that you canΓÇÖt charge for them or bundle them with a product without my express written permission. Bulletin-board systems are the sole exceptions to this rule.
If youΓÇÖd like to distribute Gatekeeper or Gatekeeper Aid and the above statement appears to prevent you, get in touch with me. IΓÇÖm potentially amenable to other distribution methods, so we should be able to come to some arrangement easily.
BUG REPORTS, POSTCARDS, ETC.
I can be reached with questions, suggestions, bug reports (be sure to note the version number of Gatekeeper and/or Gatekeeper Aid that you were using), etc. at…
US Mail:
Chris Johnson
3311 Red River #305
Austin, TX 78705
Internet:
chrisj@emx.cc.utexas.edu
UUCP:
{husc6|uunet}!cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!chrisj
BITNET:
chrisj@utxvm.bitnet
AppleLink:
chrisj@emx.cc.utexas.edu@internet#
CompuServe:
>INTERNET:chrisj@emx.cc.utexas.edu
MCI Mail:
Command: Create
To: Chris Johnson (EMS)
EMS: Internet
MBX: chrisj@emx.cc.utexas.edu
Turnaround time on email messages is usually under 48 hours. Turnaround time on US Mail is approaching three years in many cases. So, if you have the choice, please send email. If you must use US Mail, including a self addressed stamped envelope does help to speed up the process.
If you like this product, send me a picture postcard from your home town (or from wherever you happen to be at the time).
(Of course, if you like this product and happen to work for Apple Computer, feel free to convince Apple to contribute a Macintosh II series system of some sort as a way of finally showing some support for this development effort.)
See the Gatekeeper Introduction document for additional details on all this stuff.
FINDING THE LATEST VERSION
There are several good ways to find the latest version of Gatekeeper:
1. People with FTP access to the Internet can find the latest version on the microlib.cc.utexas.edu machine in its microlib/mac/virus directory. Of course, there are many other good archive sites which should also have current versions at any given time, but I upload new releases directly into microlib as soon as theyΓÇÖre ready, so I can guarantee that itΓÇÖs up to date.
2. If you can send me email, I can usually email the latest version back to you. Be sure to let me know what version you are currently using. There can be problems, however. Some services like AppleLink and CompuServe limit the length of messages their users can receive to something in the neighborhood of 32K. This means that IΓÇÖd have to split Gatekeeper into more than 12 parts in order to send it via email (and the recipient would subsequently have to reassemble all those parts). This is very time consuming, so unless your mail system will accept messages close to 100K in length, itΓÇÖs probably not a good idea to try to get Gatekeeper via email. Remember to tell me the maximum message length your system will accept.
3. U.S. Mail is also an option. Send a diskette along with a self-addressed, stamped envelope to my address as listed in the ΓÇ£Bug Reports, Postcards, Etc.ΓÇ¥ section. Clearly label the outside envelope ΓÇ£Gatekeeper Update RequestedΓÇ¥, so that IΓÇÖll know what the mail is about without having to open it (otherwise it may end up waiting in the wrong pile of mail). Be sure to tell me what version you are currently using so I wonΓÇÖt make the mistake of sending you a version that you already have.
…AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH
Many thanks to all the Gatekeeper testers. Without their help and patience Gatekeeper couldnΓÇÖt have been made even remotely as reliable and trouble-free as it is.
Scott R. Anderson
Dale M. Arends
J. D. Sterling Babcock
Steve Baumgarten
David A. Belsley
Joseph S. Bermudez Jr.
Sunil Bhatla
Thomas R. Blake
James Blieden
Jonathan Brecher
Daniel Buchan
Richard C. Cardona
Ian Chai
Philippe Chatalic
Andrew Dater
Brian L. Donnell
Jonathan Duke
Jim Elliott
Bill Engels
Zbigniew Fiedorowicz
Peter Galko
David A. Grayson
Ben Goren
Marcus Harvey
Jay Hirsh
Steve Holden
Kirk Holub
Rick Home
Dan Hugo
Fred Iannelli II
John Im
David Inman
William G. Innanen
Andrew E. Johnson
Chris Jones
Vahe Kassardjian
Kendrick Killian
Edgar Knapp
Dick Kriss
Dave Lee
Andrew J. Mason
Masato Ogawa
Doc OΓÇÖLeary
Dave Platt
Fabian Ramirez
Peter John Roberts
Nick Rothwell
Robert Rubinoff
Howard Shubs
Robert Stewart
Michael Stovsky
Mike Weasner
Thomas Willett
Ed Wright
David Zatz
David R. Zinkin
Sam Zschokke
I would also like to thank all the people around the world who have sent me problem reports at one time or another. Unfortunately, thereΓÇÖs just no testing ground quite like the real world. There are too many people to list (and, in fact, too many to keep track of), but they know who they are. Thanks to all.
Special thanks go to Zbigniew Fiedorowicz for all his suggestions, criticisms and proddings.
Thanks to Ken McLeod for his translation of the original ShowINIT code into THINK C. ThereΓÇÖs only a few lines of his code left in GatekeeperΓÇÖs ShowINIT implementation, but IΓÇÖm glad I had that code from which to work. Patrick C. BeardΓÇÖs code was also helpful, but none of it survives into this implementation.
Gatekeeper and Gatekeeper Aid were built with version 5.0.2 of THINK C.
DISCLAIMER
My employer is in no way responsible for ΓÇô or even remotely involved with ΓÇô the Gatekeeper project.
