Virus information 

A computer virus is a program that installs itself on a computer, usually without the knowledge of the user, and sometimes for the purpose of damaging or destroying data. Computer viruses have become very common. In the old days, viruses traveled mainly via diskette; but the Internet allows them to be spread much more easily. They can come in on E-mail attachments, or in programs you download from the web.

DACC computers have Symantec AntiVirus installed on them, which will detect most viruses and warn the user before infection takes place. However, this does not provide 100% protection against viruses, partly because new viruses are being written all the time. As a supplement to your antivirus software, please keep the following in mind:

• Avoid downloading software from the web. Not only can installing such software make your computer less stable and more likely to crash, but it also is a significant risk of virus infection.
• If you receive an E-mail that has an attachment, please take care and ask a few questions. Is the message from someone you know? Were you expecting to receive this attachment? Do you need the attachment?
• Avoid booting your computer with diskettes. This is often done accidentally, by leaving a disk in the drive when shutting off the computer, then leaving it there when turning the computer back on. In many cases, viruses on diskette can only infect your computer if you boot from them; so make sure your A: drive is empty before starting or restarting your computer.
• Program files end in .COM or .EXE; if you receive an attachment that ends in .COM or .EXE, it is particularly risky to open and run it. It could infect your computer with a virus; or it could be a Trojan Horse, which is not a virus but which does something undesirable to your computer when you run it (such as format your hard disk). Please take special care with E-mail attachments; if you don't know where the attachment came from or why, the safest course is simply to delete the message without opening the attachment.

Hoaxes

It is common to receive E-mail warnings about viruses. Before passing these warnings along to others, please check Symantec's AntiVirus Research Center Virus Hoaxes page. There are many virus hoaxes around; the goal of such hoaxes is simply to reach as many people as possible. Please do not pass on such messages without first checking their validity. If in doubt, check with anyone in the Computer and Network Services department.