Vol. 19, No. 36

July 20, 2000

Anti-virus software available to campus community

The University has acquired a campuswide license for McAfee's anti-virus software. The license covers all University-owned computers and all computers owned personally by University students, faculty and staff. Departments and individuals can download McAfee VirusScan (Windows) or McAfee Virex (Macintosh) from [http://www.udel.edu/topics/virus/mcafee/]. "It's important that everybody have current anti-virus software to protect their computers and the information stored on those computers," Beth Miller, Information Technologies/User Services, said. "It's exciting to have software on campus that makes it so much easier for everyone's computer to have the most up-to-date protection." Network Associates, maker of the McAfee software, recently bought the rights to both anti-virus packages the University had previously licensed: Dr. Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit (Windows) and Virex (Macintosh). The latest versions of McAfee's VirusScan have incorporated many of the features of Dr. Solomon's software. VirusScan has several additional features to better protect University systems and information. For example, once a month, VirusScan automatically checks your computer for viruses. More significantly, if your computer is connected to the campus network, VirusScan can automatically check to see if your copy needs an update. "On campus, VirusScan checks for an update every time a computer is turned on, and it also does an extra check once per week in case a computer is left on all the time," Miller said. "If you have installed VirusScan on a nonnetworked computer, about once a week you should dial in, visit the University's McAfee web page and follow the directions there to check for updates." The University license covers all of McAfee's anti-virus software, including NetShield and GroupShield, two programs designed to protect Windows systems acting as certain kinds of network servers. For more information, visit [http://www.udel.edu/topics/virus/mcafee/].