The Red and Black

Issue date: 8/7/08 Section: News

Media Credit: FILE PHOTO Two students check e-mail and do homework by using computers in the Student Learning Center. EITS offers free spyware and anti-virus protection software for students. Other programs - Adobe Acrobat, Photoshop and Office - are available for a discounted student price. [Click to enlarge]

Although college campuses are known for computer viruses, the Enterprise Information Technology Services (EITS) offers free protection for students and makes some normally expensive programs affordable.

Malicious Software (Malware) such as viruses and spyware damage computers and can put the sensitive information they may contain at risk.

With a UGA MyID several types of free virus and spyware protection is available through the Student Technology Support (STS) Web site, http://sts.uga.edu.

F-Secure, an anti-virus program that can be updated, not only scans and removes viruses but also provides a firewall to keep future infections to a minimum.

"F-Secure Internet Security is a full-featured product with both anti-virus and anti-spyware protection," said Ben Myers, an information security specialist with EITS. "It is comparable to similar packages such as Norton and McAfee."

Other similar programs include Spybot Search and Destroy and Ad-Aware. For additional assistance with a computer infection, there is a virus and spyware removal service located on the east wing of the third floor in the Student Learning Center.

According to IT specialists at EITS, file sharing software provide the most common route for viruses and spyware to end up on student computers. The software itself may be infected, or files shared through it may be encoded with malicious programs.

Besides using protective software, Myer also advises students to back up data routinely to avoid losing it.

In addition to viruses, a growing threat to Internet security is a scam known as phishing.

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