What is a Virus?

A computer virus is any one of thousands of programs that can invade computer systems and perform a variety of functions ranging from annoying (e.g., popping up messages as a joke) to dangerous (e.g., deleting files, destroying your hard disk, or opening up your system to hackers). Trojan horses or worms are specific types of clandestine programs (called "malicious code" but often loosely categorized as viruses) and can be just as dangerous. For the sake of simplicity, we'll refer to them all as viruses.

Prevention

Prevention starts with ICU which stands for Install, Configure, and Update your anti-virus software. You can think of it this way. If you do not ICU now, your computer will be in ICU (Intensive Care Unit) after a virus hits your computer. Install an anti-virus program.

Student/Employee-Owned Computers

Current, updated anti-virus software is required to gain access to the campus network.

Download AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition.

University-Owned Computers

TW employees are licensed to use Symantec Norton anti-virus software on university-owned machines.

To install the software follow the steps listed below.

• Download Symantec Norton Corporate Edition anti-virus software.
• Enter your University ID and password to gain access to the download site.

• Configure your anti-virus software.
• After you install the software, make sure the software is running in the background.
• You will see a yellow shield in the bottom right corner of your screen or in the programs folder under Norton Anti-virus Corporate Edition. REMEMBER - it cannot protect you if it is not on!
• Update daily. It is very important for you to keep your anti-virus software up to date. Every day there are hundreds of computer viruses released on the Internet. If you do not have the current virus detection files in your anti-virus software, the anti-virus software would be a useless tool because it will not protect you from new viruses. Our systems will automatically update your anti-virus client on a daily basis, when the computer is connected to the network.
• Be careful with all email ATTACHMENTS. Do not open them! Scan the attachments with your anti-virus scanner.
• Download files only from reputable Internet sites, and be wary when exchanging diskettes or other media with friends.
• Scan your hard drive for viruses weekly and monthly (or more frequently if necessary).
• Keep backups of your important data files in case a virus destroys your hard drive.
• Subscribe to a mailing list (see the side bar) to receive up-to-date reports on the latest virus outbreaks.
• To preserve the Texas Wesleyan network, ICT will block computers that exhibit virus like activity such as flooding the network with email or IP packets. This is to minimize the spread of the virus to other computers.