Protect your computer by installing antivirus software and keeping it up-to-date.

The University of Minnesota offers Symantec Antivirus for Windows and Macintosh. The software may be used on departmental computers and student, faculty and staff personal computers, provided the following conditions are met.

You may install Symantec Client Security or Symantec AntiVirus:

• on any computer paid for with University of Minnesota funds and owned by the U of MN
• on one computer owned by any University of Minnesota student, faculty, or staff for personal use

Retired faculty and alumni are not eligible to download or purchase this software as part of the University's agreement.

Full details and downloads are available from the UTools antivirus web site. We no longer host this software on our own downloads page, as it is updated frequently, and it is important to obtain the latest version.

Within the School, if you are running Windows XP, we recommend that you install Symantec Antivirus in preference to Symantec Client Security, and use the built-in Windows firewall.

Computers running the School's Bigfix client software can also be set up to run the Bigfix antivirus software. Their antivirus software is based on a package from Trend Micro, and we have found it to have generally lower overhead than Symantec (it causes less slowdown of your PC and interferes less with your programs).

To be added: how to enable Bigfix antivirus.

General purpose Windows and Mac computers on the School network must run firewall software. We recommend using the software supplied with your OS, ie the built-in firewalls of Mac OS or Windows, in preference to any aftermarket programs such as Symantec Client Security

If you think you may be the victim of a virus, check these out to find out what's going on… in particular before forwarding any “alerts”!

• Computer Virus Myths home page
• CIAC Internet Hoaxes
• CIAC Chain Letters
• CIAC Virus Database