Posted 9:50 p.m. Friday, Oct. 28, 2011
Weird pop-ups appear on your computer screen. Programs won’t open. The fan is running like it could power a small spacecraft. If your computer is acting this odd or sluggish, you could possibly have a virus. And — you probably could have prevented it.
Viruses are often the result of not being pro-active about computer security. That means not doing some simple computer maintenance steps or not being careful of where you browse and click online.
If you are working on a UW-L-owned computer, you can contact the Eagle Help Desk to help remove the virus. If not, hiring a technician to attempt to get rid of it could be expensive — possibly hundreds of dollars, says Jim Treu, UW-L’s information security officer.
Thus, it pays to be proactive about computer system security. Here are some tips.
- Make sure your operating system and programs get regular updates. Many programs such as Adobe Reader or Microsoft Office will notify you when updates are available. Often developers of these programs have found vulnerabilities and an update is designed to fix it.
- Making sure you have Anti-Virus and Anti-Malware software on your computer. Find more information here. Faculty and staff have access to software for their personal and office computer. Also free and paid solutions are available online and in retail stores. It’s a common belief that Macs do not get viruses. However, Macs are becoming more prevalent in the market, and more viruses are being designed for them, says Treu. Anti-Virus and Anti-Malware software exist for both PCs and Macs.
- Be careful about your browsing habits. Browsing some websites could potentially put malicious software on your computer. Many software download sites such as warez and torrent file sharing have a higher propensity to be dangerous as do pornography sites.
- Make sure the firewall on your computer is enabled.
- Use a secure password to log into your computer.