Academic Computing keeps ULV virus free
Campus Times
October 10, 1997
Computer viruses are well considered and taken care of by the University
of La Verne Academic Computing Department around campus more than students
may be aware.
There are up to a couple of hundred computer viruses created every month,
according to Alex Haddox, director of the Symantec AntiVirus Center in Santa
Monica.
A computer virus is a program that sneaks into a computer by means of
floppy disk, through a modem or a network. The program is then capable of
duplicating itself and then imbed in a system. Then the virus can be transferred
by saving a program or file to a untainted floppy disk thus being airborne
again on the newly saved floppy disk to travel and infect other systems.
However, viruses are the least of the problems at ULV according to Peter
Ryan, micro computer specialist for Academic Computing.
Ryan said that students have to be careful when the people at these
major companies (such as Haddox at Symantec) want to promote hysteria with
the idea that viruses are out of control. He says they may be pushing to
create the sales of their products. This is not to say however that their
products do not work because, he said, they do.
Computers at the school are protected by "Live Update," a
Norton Utilities program created by the people at the Symantec AntiVirus
Center. This means that the system the school runs can be continuously updated
via the Internet.
The antivirus program reads everything prior to being released in the
system. This means that every file opened, document downloaded and action
made on the computers is being monitored by the program.
"The problems here [at La Verne] originate from student carelessness,
they just don't save their work as often as they should and they end up
losing their work," said Ryan.
"Every semester we might have two or three virus problems compared
to four or five huge projects lost usually in the Grammar Workbook, and
this is all the result of not making a simple keystroke to save the program,"
said Ryan.
"My best advice to anyone is to just remember to save all their
work and if it is important make a backup file too, because I work and use
these same computers everyday of my life and in the four years I have never
encountered a virus problem."
