Virus Protection
Millions of viruses are currently circulating the Internet via e-mails, malicious websites and instant messaging. New ones are being released every day and infecting unsuspecting users who open e-mails that they thought were from a friend or visiting a website that required them to install something that said it would protect them.
To protect our students, staff and faculty, the University of Florida offers McAfee VirusScan and Virex FREE on their work and home computers. VirusScan for Windows and Virex for Macintosh can be downloaded from the following URL: http://www.software.ufl.edu/mcafee/
Although the majority of viruses currently plague Microsoft operating systems, Macintosh and Linux users should be aware that there are viruses that do target their systems. Macintosh and Linux systems can also contain Windows viruses that may not directly affect but can be transmitted to unsuspecting Windows hosts through file transfers over FTP, HTTP, instant messaging and file shares. We recommend that antivirus be installed on all operating systems. For Linux users, a free antivirus software, ClamAV, can be downloaded from http://www.clamav.net/.
The first step in protecting yourself from viruses is to make sure your antivirus software is configured properly. Below are recommended settings for Virusscan and Virex. Click on the images for larger, detailed versions.
VirusScan for Windows
Click on the Start Menu, click Programs, click Network Associates and then click VirusScan Console. Right-click on On-Access Scanner and click Properties. Click the Advanced tab and make sure all four checkboxes are checked.
Virex for Macintosh
In the Applications folder, double-click Virex and click on the Preferences button. For the best protection against viruses, check the boxes as shown in the graphic below. Click the More Options button to get to the advanced settings for the On Demand Scanner, Mounted Volumes Scanner, Background Scanner and Active Scanner. Configure each with the same settings as those in the graphic (click for full view of all settings).
When viruses are found, Virex will notify you and let you delete, clean or ignore the file at your discretion.
