With the recent highly publicized outbreaks of computer viruses around the world, students may be looking for ways to prevent their computers from becoming infected.

Most viruses get into personal computer systems through e-mail attachments that users open, allowing the virus into the system.

"I got a virus from America Online last semester," said Chris Long, film and video studies sophomore. "It was awful, I had papers and homework due, and I had to go to the library because my computer was all messed up."

Antivirus software, such as Norton Anti-Virus from Symantec and McAfee Virus Scan, can prevent computers from becoming infected.

Software of this type scans systems for malicious files and alerts users to their presence.

"Students should also pay very close attention to any e-mail attachment they receive, even if it is from someone they know, said Pam Jordening, OU information technology specialist.

Jordening said the OU network has been affected by many of thepopular viruses, such as the Lovebug of last year and the more recent Anna Kournikova virus.

He noted that the system has never been down for more than a day or so because of a virus.

Students who need antivirus software can go to the Information Technology site at http://www.ou.edu/helpdesk/ where links to the software are provided.

"This software is free to students because of our site license," Jordening said."If things get really bad for a student, such as a virus taking down their hard drive or something like that, they can bring their computer over to Information Technology's service center for assistance."


For more information about computer security visit www.cert.org/nav/alerts.html.
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