Computer Virus Protection

Click here to go to the Windows Update Site to download the latest security patches!!

Click here to download a tool to detect and clean many common viruses.

The recent volume of computer virus and worm attacks on computers all over the world and the impact this has had on the Wesleyan campus have raised everyone's awareness of the degree of disruption these attacks can cause.  ITS is in the process of  re-examining its virus protection strategies and the over-all security of the campus network. We are looking for better ways to keep all campus computers up-to-date with the most recent security patches and virus protection software. Email viruses have posed much less of a threat since the installation of our central email scanning program (Sophos), but we will be working on equally effective ways to prevent infection from new Internet worms that may arise.

The volume of network traffic generated by the most recent wave of virus activity overwhelmed some of our communications equipment and caused some instability in our networks. We were able to devise a way to quickly identify an infected computer and shut down its network connection until the machine was virus-free and patched to prevent re-infection. This has inconvenienced many, but has allowed us to gradually stamp out the spread of infection. We are still experiencing some instability in our dial-in modem pool and are using a similar strategy to deal with the problems there.

For users of computers running Windows NT, 2000, or XP, the link at the top of this page will enable you to clean your computer of any current viruses and install the most recent security patches.

There are certain things that ITS can do to protect your computer, but every computer user must also be educated to the risks of virus infection and the behaviors that invite viruses into your machine.  Click on the links below for further virus-related information.

• Frequently Asked Questions about Computer Viruses
• Campus-Wide Email Virus Protection
• Desktop Virus Protection
• Virus Hoaxes