Virus Alert!

By Wil Clark, ACS General Access Lab Manager and Campus Virus Guru

Big news or slow news day?

The last several months have been wrought with virus threat headlines. Since Melissa received so much media attention, news agencies' appetite for major computer virus news stories has caused a certain hysteria amongst computer users. Don't get me wrong, computer viruses do pose a very real threat. But reason and sensibility should prevail. If you adopt a sensible procedure to protect yourself you can grin at the late breaking virus news instead of panic.

First, be suspicious of every file sent to you via electronic means. Simply scan it before you open it. Even if you add up the fraction of a second it takes to scan each and every file you receive from others it will not be greater than the time it will take to recover from a virus infection.

Second, scanning for viruses with a scanner that is over a month old is useless. New viruses are discovered weekly. Update your virus definitions as often as the publisher makes update available. 

Finally, learn and understand your Virus scanning software. The more you know about it the easier it is to use. Understanding how it works also gives you peace of mind that you are doing all you can to protect yourself from infection.

But what about the new virus that has no detection or disinfection solution? Well, to get a bleeding edge infection you must be doing some bleeding edge (and careless) information gathering. Again, reason should prevail. If you receive unsolicited electronic information from an unknown source, do not open it. Good judgement works best here. If you are downloading research or product information from a recognized authority you will likely be okay. If someone you have never chatted with on-line tells you they have a "kewl" new program to look at, think again.

Happy virus scanning.