EVERYONE should Have a virus protection program and KEEP IT UPDATED.

Colby faculty and staff:for your Colby-owned machines, those with the silver and blue CCID sticker, refer to the information about Sophos on the main Virus Info page. For your home machines (not owned by Colby), read the advice below.

Students, and faculty/staff with home computers:your computer might have come with a virus protection program. Look through your documentation and/or contact the vendor.

If you have no virus protection installed, you'll need to purchase it. You can do this at local retailers like Walmart or Staples, or at any online software vendor.

Popular and effective commercial programs are made by Sophos, McAfee, and Norton. Some even have evaluation demos you can download - but we do NOT recommend you rely on these demos for long term protection!

also see-
About.com's Antivirus Software Reviews:
Mac software
Windows software

Even if there is a program installed on your computer, your software must be updated regularly to keep up with the new viruses that are always popping up.

It's your responsibility to keep the application updated via the Web or by having CDs sent to you. Prices for these services will vary by manufacturer.

A note to Mac users:
The vast majority of current virus threats are written for Windows. Mac users can still receive these viruses, though they do NOT have the ability to harm the Mac system.

Most Mac virus detection programs usually do NOT alert you to the presence of a WINDOWS virus on your system unless you run a manual check. (They WILL autodetect MAC viruses as long as they're kept up to date!)This is by design- these viruses CANNOT harm your system. BUT- they can harm Windows users if you forward the virus infected attachment to them.

The advice is: DON'T panic! If you run a sweep and find out there's a Windows virus on your system, just delete the file.

Hoaxes cause mischief by clogging networks and wasting time. If you receive an urgent virus warning, please check these sites BEFORE forwarding it!

Symantec hoax page(SARC)
Hoaxbusters(CIAC)

 

• Don't open attachments unless you're expecting them and know what they are!!!!This is the easiest way to protect yourself from email worms. Send an email to the person who sent it asking for clarification. If it is a virus, you'll be doing them a favor because they won't even know their email program was used to send it. (Many viruses act by raiding the Outlook address book and sending messages to everyone in it, unbeknownst to the computer's owner.)

• Ignore 'Microsoft updates' via e-mail. Don't click any e-mail with an attachment that purportedly contains an update to a Microsoft product. Microsoft never sends out updates via e-mail, but in several cases viruses have been found masquerading as Microsoft updates.

•DON'T SHARE FILES WITHOUT PASSWORD PROTECTION! Some people publish their Shared folders with Guest access allowed- don't do it!Viruses can use this security gap. In fact, don't even activate file sharing unless you have a specific need for it- then, regulate by requiring authorized users to have a password.

• DON'T USE OUTLOOK/OUTLOOK EXPRESS!!! See why.

• A FOOLPROOF WAY TO AVOID ALL EMAIL-BASED VIRUSES: use PINE.

More about attachments:

**Windows Users-this is IMPORTANT** viruses can often be identified by their attachments' 3-character file extensions. However, by default, most Windows systems do NOT display these extensions- for extra protection, you should turn them on. Here's how:

Windows 95/98/NT:
1.Right-click on My Computer; choose Explore.
2.From the View menu choose "folder options."
3.Click the View tab.
4.UNcheck the box next to "hide file extensions for known file types." Click OK.

Windows 2000:
1.Click Start/Settings/Control Panel.
2.Double-click Folder Options.
3.Click the View tab.
4.UNcheck the box next to "hide file extensions for known file types." Click OK.

Never open a file that has a ".vbs" extension! VBS stands for "Visual Basic Script" and it is a favorite vehicle for writers of Windows email viruses. Mac Users: you can't be infected by such files but you should NEVER forward them!

Never open a file with a double extension- for example "document.pif.txt": this usually indicates a virus.

Save Word documents in RTF(rich text format) instead of .DOC(regular Word format). To set RTF as your Save default, go to Tools | Options | Save and choose Rich text Format from the drop down menu.