PC's pc's take a sick day thanks to virus

As students arrived on campus last week, so did a flood of worms and viruses which left many users stripped of Internet access.

Ed Morin, Manager of User Support in the Computer Services department, said the campus' internal network was infected with five main viruses known as Denial of Service (DOS) attacks. The largest of these attacks is called "Blaster." These viruses attacked "holes" in Microsoft Windows XP, 2000, and ME operating systems, making them more vulnerable.

Morin said the viruses started to infect computers two weeks before the start of classes-about the same time that athletes arrived on campus. As more and more students arrived, bringing potentially infected computers to campus, viruses were spread throughout the network.

"When the general population of students came in, it multiplied," said Morin earlier this week. "The Computer services department expected a rash of virus-related problems from returning students, but nothing of this magnitude."

Providence College is not the only university that has experienced difficulty with computer viruses. A Sept. 5 CNN news article noted that high-speed, powerful college networks make it extremely difficult to control the flow of viruses. The infestation of viruses has become so problematic that some universities are fining students for inadvertently bringing infected computers to campus.

Students at Providence College did not have to worry about paying such fines. Instead, the Computer Services Help Desk staff, and three temporary full-time network specialists, distributed CD's and instructions for eliminating viruses to all hall directors and resident assistants. In an attempt to minimize the effect of viruses on the network, Computer Services staff also made changes to the wiring of the system.

Dave Mooney, manager of academic computing, said the best way to get rid of the viruses is to update Windows. There are frequent Windows software updates that are automatically distributed by Microsoft via the Internet which can help prevent viruses.

Students, he said, should also have an anti-virus software on their computer, such as those marketed by McAfee or Norton.

Laura Johnson '07 said not having the Internet access made her transition to college all the more difficult. "It was inconvenient. I needed to be able to print out my schedule and I couldn't do that. It was very stressful," she said.

Johnson said that last week, she called Computer Services on a daily-basis to inquire about internet troubles. "The people at the Help Desk were very helpful, but they were never sure when it was going to be fixed, so I had to keep calling and asking," she said. "It was very annoying, but I'm happy it's working now because I can talk with my friends at other colleges and other friends at home."

Junior Kristen Lopez had a different take. "I turn the computer on once a day for an hour," said Lopez. "It didn't really affect me as much as I knew it affected my residents and my friends."

However, Lopez, a residence assistant on the eighth floor of McVinney, did say that because of the Internet troubles, she didn't get to know her residents as well as she would have liked. "The only interaction I had with a lot of people was, "What's the deal with the Internet?" That was their main focus," said Lopez.

The three networks in McVinney contained more viruses than other networks on campus. Morin said this increase was likely due to the high concentration of users within the building.

Morin and Mooney said that as of this week, most of the networks are functioning properly and the internet is working. Some of the floors in McVinney are still having occassional difficulty. "I think we're a lot closer to having it under control," said Morin. " I think it gets better every day. " However, they warn that viruses are always lingering and can strike at any given time. "We want to get everyone clean and patched, but it will never be 100% patched; there are always viruses going on," said Morin.

Users who have questions about virus protection software, or scanning and cleaning services, can contact the on-campus computer vendor, Computopia, at ext.1013. Questions about how to setup Windows Update can be directed to the Computer Services Help Desk at ext. 4357.