System and method for handling an event in a computer system

1. A system for handling an event in a computer system which has a kernel-mode and a user-mode, the system comprising:

at least one computing device configured to:

(a) suspend an occurrence of the event in the kernel-mode of an operating system running on said computing device;

(b) cause the event to occur in the user-mode for one or more clients of the operating system; and

(c) prioritize occurrence of the event among the one or more clients by use of a stack-based dispatcher.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the one or more clients are configured to influence an operation of the computer system based on the occurrence of the event in the user-mode.

3. The system as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the one or more clients are configured to influence an operation of the computer system by preventing the event from occurring in the kernel-mode.

4. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the computing device is further configured to:

run a user-mode software application operative to issue a request for the suspension of the occurrence of the event in the kernel-mode; and

run a first kernel-mode software module operable to use the request in order to activate a second kernel-mode software module operable to effect suspension of a class of events that comprises the event.

5. The system as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the second kernel-mode software module is further operable to interact with the operating system of the computer system in order to effect the suspension.

6. The system as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the first kernel-mode software module is further operable to issue an indication that the suspension has been effected, and the user-mode software application is further operable to use the indication in effecting the occurrence of the event in the user-mode.

7. The system as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the first kernel-mode software module is further operable to use an interprocess communication mechanism to transfer the indication to the user-mode software application, the user-mode software application being operable to use the interprocess communication mechanism to transfer the request to the first kernel-mode software module.

8. The system as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the interprocess communication mechanism uses an Internet protocol.

9. The system as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the first kernel-mode software module and the user-mode software application are operable to respectively format the indication and the request according to a predefined format.

10. The system as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the predefined format accords with a common information model defined by a distributed management task force.

11. The system as claimed claim 10 , wherein the first kernel-mode software module operates in the kernel mode, and the user-mode software application operates in the user-mode.

12. The system as claimed claim 11 , wherein the user-mode software application comprises an anti-virus scan engine.

13. A method of handling an event in a computer system which has a kernel-mode and a user-mode, the method comprising the following steps performed by at least one computing device:

suspending an occurrence of the event in the kernel-mode of an operating system running on said computing device;

causing the event to occur in the user-mode for one or more clients of the operating system; and

prioritizing occurrence of the event among the one or more clients by use of a stack- based dispatcher.

14. The method as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the method further comprises-the step of influencing an operation of the computer system based on the occurrence of the event in the user-mode.

15. The method as claimed in claim 14 , wherein the step of influencing the operation of the computer system comprises preventing the event from occurring in the kernel-mode.

16. The method as claimed in claim 15 , further comprising the steps of:

issuing a request for the suspension of the occurrence of the event in the kernel-mode; and

using the request in order to activate a kernel-mode software module that is operable to effect suspension of a class of events that comprises the event.

17. The method as claimed in claim 16 , further comprising the step of using the kernel-mode software module to interact with the operating system of the computer system in order to effect the suspension.

18. The method as claimed in claim 16 , further comprising the steps of:

issuing an indication that the suspension has been effected; and

using the indication in effecting the occurrence of the event in the user-mode.

19. The method as claimed in claim 18 , further comprising the step of effecting a transfer of the indication to a user-mode software application for use thereby.

20. The method as claimed in claim 19 , wherein the step of effecting the transfer of the indication comprises using an interprocess communication mechanism.

21. The method as claimed in claim 20 , wherein the interprocess communication mechanism uses an Internet protocol.

22. The method as claimed in claim 18 , further comprising the step of formatting the indication and the request according to a predefined format.

23. The method as claimed in claim 22 , wherein the predefined format accords with a common information model defined by a distributed management task force.

24. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the event is selected from the group comprising a file system input/output based event, a network input/output based event, a memory management input/output based event, and a process management based event.

25. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the computing device is further configured to deny an ability to write data to or read data from a file stored in a memory device of the computer system.