Virus Scanning Software and TAM Series 6

Product: The Agency Manager, Series 6

Virus scan info on TAM Series 7, please see Virus Scanning Software and TAM Series 7

Applied Systems, Inc. encourages agencies to have a virus scanning solution, although we do not recommend or endorse any particular product. It is recommended, when running a virus scanning program concurrently with TAM, that it be set to scan program files (executables) only. This will avoid known issues that may occur when scanning all TAM files both inbound and outbound. 

Although we do encourage the use of a virus scanning program, please keep in mind that virus scanning concurrently with TAM may cause a performance degradation, as program files pulled from a network must first be scanned before they can be executed. Additionally, it is a good practice to check with the vendor of the antivirus software on a regular basis for updated virus definitions to ensure protection against the latest viruses.

The following are provided as a general guideline for antivirus software setup, but by no means does Applied Systems consider this to be the only and best way to run or configure your antivirus software:

Final notes regarding antivirus software, as well as the setting of file and/or folder exclusions in your antivirus software:
  1. It is better to suffer a little performance degradation than to open the gates to damaging viruses.
  2. Search the website of your antivirus software for information and recommendations on setting scan exclusions.
  3. Because some performance-related issues and errors that occur in TAM may be similar to those caused by opportunistic locking, also see the Opportunistic Locking and Byte Locking Errors document.
  4. Applied Systems takes no responsibility for any issues that may result from having received a virus on your system.

Problems Related to Virus Scan Software Conflicts

Listed below are a few of the problems reported by agencies running a virus scan concurrently with TAM.


TAM Runs Slowly - Takes Minutes to Display Home Base or Clients

This problem may be due to a conflict between TAM and the Virus Scan software. Reconfigure the software to scan program files (executables) only and see if this corrects the problem. Excluding C:\WINTAM from antivirus automatic protection such as auto-protect, run-time scanning, just-in-time scanning, or scan upon run may also improve performance.


V6.2.0 "SPOOL32" Errors When Printing in TAM

This problem may be due to a conflict between TAM and the Virus Scan software. Reconfigure the software to scan program files (executables) only and see if this corrects the problem. 


Exit Clients Then Cannot Re-Enter Without Closing and Opening TAM

This problem may be due to a conflict between TAM and the Virus Scan software. Reconfigure the software to scan program files (executables) only and see if this corrects the problem. 

Note: Some agencies have been able to correct this problem without reconfiguring the virus software by setting the virus software option to Scan Files as They Are Created and Downloaded. Checking the option to Scan Files When Run can cause the problem.


Station Locking or Hanging in Several Areas of the Program

Correct Station Configuration, Reconfigure Virus Software When TAM is Running

Check the station's AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS (on Windows NT workstation or Windows 2000 Professional, AUTOEXEC.NT and CONFIG.NT) to verify that it is set to Applied Systems recommendations. For more information, refer to the following:

This problem may be due to a conflict between TAM and the Virus Scan software. Reconfigure the software to scan program files (executables) only and see if this corrects the problem. 

This problem may also occur if TAM has been installed on the local drive as well as on the network. Local files will need to be removed.


V6.0.3 Click TAM Shell Buttons (Files, Mail, etc.) and Nothing Happens or Errors Display

Click the buttons in the main TAM Shell menu (Customers, Files, etc.) and nothing happens. Click Executive Info, and the message "Must be run through TAM for Windows" displays. Click Mail and receive the message "Must Install TAM for Windows." Try to access The Agency Manager for DOS from TAM (DOSTAM) and receive "Security Lock is in Place."

Run CONFSEC, Check for TZ Setting

Follow the instructions below to run the Configure Security (CONFSEC) program and to check for a TZ environment variable set on the station.

This problem may be due to a conflict between TAM and the Virus Scan software. Reconfigure the software to scan program files (executables) only and see if this corrects the problem. 


"BGFILE" Errors Accessing DOSTAM or Station Locks Accessing TAM or No TAM Buttons Work

Delete and Recreate BGFILE, or Correct Accessibility Problems

BGFILE records information regarding all users who sign into The Agency Manager Program. Developed to track licensed users and their movement through the program. It also monitors users not exiting the software properly. It runs in relation to the Unlock utility. The list of stations you see when running Unlock for individual stations (answering N to UNLOCK ALL STATIONS?) pulls from \AS_LOCK\BGFILE.BG.

If some users do not receive the error, or if the problem just started after a network change that involved adding users/changing rights, this may indicate that the file is inaccessible. Check the user's rights and drive mappings to make sure that he or she has proper access to all TAM drives.

If this file becomes corrupted and all stations receive BG errors when trying to access TAM, exit all users and run an Unlock for all stations. If this does not clear the problem, the file may need to be deleted manually. The system will recreate this file when the first station signs into TAM. Refer to the ASUNLOCK / UNLOCK or WUNLOCK document for more information.

If recreating the file does not correct the error (or you are unable to delete the file), check for open connections to this file before trying to delete again. For more information, refer to the Open Files During TAM Night Utilities document.

Common Causes of BGFILE Errors

BGFILE errors may occur when the file becomes corrupted or inaccessible:

Corruption of BGFILE.BG may be caused by virus scanning software on the network. This problem may be due to a conflict between TAM and the Virus Scan software. Reconfigure the software to scan program files (executables) only and see if this corrects the problem. 

BGFILE.BG may be inaccessible if a user does not have network rights to the file, or if drive mappings are incorrect. For example, if TAM is on F: and G: and the user does not have both drives mapped, he or she may receive BGFILE errors.


V6.2.0 and V6.3.0 on NT Workstation and Windows 2000 Pro "System Process - Lost Delayed - Write Data" Running Night Utilities

When running Night Utilities on NT workstation, the following message displays:

"System Process - Lost Delayed-Write Data, The system was attempting to transfer file data from buffers to GLEDGER.DBF. The write operation failed, and only some of the data may have been written to the file."

Pass this error and the following displays:

The user then gets the same error, but for "System Process - Lost Delayed-Write Data, The system was attempting to transfer file data from buffers to READJE.LOK. The write operation failed, and only some of the data may have been written to the file."

Finally, an Internal Error displays: IE20, DBC204, DBF34.

Reconfigure Virus Software

This problem may be due to a conflict between TAM and the Virus Scan software. Reconfigure the software to scan program files (executables) only and see if this corrects the problem. 


Last Revised: March 10, 2008 07:47 AM

SWE8567