Central Command Releases Free Virus Protection To Over 100 Million Instant Messaging Users Worldwide.

Business Editors and High Tech Writers

MEDINA, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 10, 2001

Industry's First Integrated Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Virus Protection Suite

Central Command, a leading provider of PC anti-virus software and computer security services, and its partners today announced the free worldwide availability of AVX for ICQ, AVX for MSN Messenger, AVX for NetMeeting, AVX for mIRC and AVX for Yahoo! Messenger, the anti-virus industry's first dedicated virus protection for instant messaging (IM) software.

"We are pleased to be releasing the industry's first stand alone P2P virus protection products. It once again demonstrates our continuing efforts to protect the world from computer viruses and other malicious applications," said Keith Peer, president and CEO of Central Command, Inc.

Incorporating the powerful AVX Professional virus scanning technology, AVX for ICQ, AVX for MSN Messenger, AVX for NetMeeting, AVX for mIRC and AVX for Yahoo! Messenger integrates directly into the client-to-client file transfer feature within these popular IM software applications. All files being received and saved are first intercepted, then virus scanned.

Technical highlights:

- Detection for over 50,000 viruses, trojans, worms, backdoors and other
hostile applications

- Updated daily

- Virus scans within many archive formats (Zip, Arj, Rar, Lha, Lzh, Ace, Cab,
Gz, Tar)

- No communication interference

- Monitors, intercepts and virus scan's all files received

- Designed around the AVX plug-in technology for quick addition of new features

"We have estimated that over one hundred million people worldwide, in both personal and business, are using instant messaging software. We feel virus protection for these users is critical," stated Peer. A popular feature among IM software is the ability to directly transfer files to other online users. This capability to transfer files allows viruses to bypass the normal virus protection processes and security policies, leaving these people vulnerable to virus infections or other malicious attacks.

"With the increasing popularity of real-time communication in business, our free P2P virus protection tools will close the gapping hole left when these chat programs use TCP/IP ports not normally monitored by regular virus protection or filtering in a corporate environment," concluded Peer.

AVX virus protection applications are built around the flexible AVX plug-in technology that has been designed for integration across various operating systems and architectures. The cross platform technology allows AVX to be integrated into third party applications and multiple operating systems.

AVX for ICQ, AVX for Net Meeting, AVX for MSN Messenger, AVX for mIRC and AVX for Yahoo! Messenger can be downloaded from www.avx.com.

AVX Professional starts at $38.95, and a free 30-day trial version may be downloaded from www.avx.com or obtained by contacting Central Command toll-free at 866-2-GET-AVX (866-243-8289).

About Central Command:

A leader in the anti-virus industry, Central Command, Inc., a privately held company, was founded in 1990 and serves home PC users, industrial, government, financial, education and service firms with virus protection software, services, and information. The company services customers in over 65 countries and is headquartered in Medina, Ohio.

Central Command, EVRT, Emergency Virus Response Team are trademarks of Central Command, Inc. AVX and AntiVirus eXpert are trademarks of Softwin SRL, Romania. All other trademarks, trade names, and products referenced herein are property of their respective owners.