The information below will provide you with the information regarding virus protection both on the Aquinas network and your personal computer.
General Virus Information
Computer viruses are dangerous because they can damage your data. Viruses can not hurt any computer hardware. They can only damage data. There are three types of computer viruses, and many virus hoaxes. You should be concerned about viruses, but you should also be able to identify a virus hoax.
- "Macro" viruses are spread by sharing document files in a format which supports user macro instructions that can easily be transferred with the document. Macro viruses can be spread easily in files from MS-Word (version 6.0 and above) or MS-Excel (version 5.0 and above). Viruses can be sent with the document and activated when the macro is run. You may not even see any activity to indicate that a virus has infected your computer.
- "Boot Sector" viruses are spread by sharing mobile storage devices between an infected computer and a clean computer. Any mobile storage device can carry a virus. Always check a mobile storage device that you have had in another computer for viruses before you use it.
- "Program" viruses are spread by sharing program files. Programs on mobile storage devices are shared less often than data files on mobile storage devices. Most program mobile storage devices are bought from a vendor and some are "write-protected." Even these mobile storage devices are not to be trusted. We have found viruses on shrink-wrapped, write-protected mobile storage devices direct from the publisher! If you discover that your program mobile storage device is infected, return it to where you bought it, you can’t remove the virus from this type of read-only media.
- "Hoax virus" messages are spread by well meaning people who have heard about a virus, usually contained in an e-mail file, that will do all sorts of damage when a certain e-mail message is opened. They want to inform their friends about it, so they e-mail everyone they can think of to warn them. There are no viruses that are started when you open e-mail. It is possible to get an e-mail that has an infected attachment. The attachment would contain either a program or a macro file that is infected, but you wouldn't get a virus even from opening the attachment. You must run the infected program or macro file for it to be activated.
Aquinas Network
E-mail virus protection is administered automatically through the network. Virus protection for software programs and files is administered through college policies and procedures such as the Aquinas College Software Policy and the use of Symantec Endpoint Protection (the virus protection package used at Aquinas College) to scan files on the local computer and mobile storage devices. Virus protection for programs and data stored on the network is administered automatically.
Under proper conditions, Symantec Endpoint Protection will automatically scan files for known viruses, identify any infected file, and notify you of its status. If you receive this virus message immediately contact the Help Desk by sending an email to techhelp@aquinas.edu with the following information:
- Date
- Time
- Building
- Room Number
- Primary User
- Virus found
- Action Taken (ex. disinfected, verified, reported)
Protecting Your Personal Computer
The best defense against viruses is to check the hard drive, mobile storage devices, downloaded files, etc. with a good virus protection package. If you do not have an antivirus program for your personal computer, there are several free programs available such as AVG, AntiVir, and Avast!.
It is also a good idea to make a boot disk for your own computer and write-protect it. You'll need this if your hard drive ever becomes infected. The user manual for your computer will tell you how to make a boot disk.
Other Sources of Information
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