LM_NET: Library Media Networking
A week ago, I asked how other schools were dealing with computer viruses and
if anyone had any great solutions to this problem. I received some helpful
advice, and am happy to report that we have many fewer viruses now than a
week ago. I'll explain what we did, and then include the advice I received
from others.
We knew we had a few viruses floating around, but did not realize how many
until last Friday after school when half of the machines in one lab were
infected. Over the weekend, another teacher "cleaned" the lab, and we were
determined to keep it clean. Monday morning, we installed f-prot, a program
that is freeware for non-commercial use, on all the machines in that lab.
At the beginning of every class in that room that day, I instructed the
students in virus basics and taught them how to scan their disks. Of the 85
or so disks we checked, at least 70 had one or more viruses! The kids were
amazed that they had the viruses on their own disks. We talked to them
about how easily the viruses spread, and now every disk must be checked
before it is used. It made for a hectic Monday, but the rest of the week
has gone much smoother. Our media center is now "clean" also, and we'll
tackle the rest of the building in stages so that hopefully we will have
eradicated most of the problem.
Here's what others have done:
From: "Anthony E.Kessel, Jr." <duncanin@gate.net>
Date: Fri, 15 Nov 1996 06:44:56 -0500
Netscape 3.0 (Gold) comes packaged with Norton's anti-virus program. It
checks any program downloaded from the Internet before it is put on your
hard drive. It's all done automatically.
Tony Kessel, Head Librarian
The DUNCAN INSTITUTE has been providing the educational community
with inexpensive, quality software for the Apple II computer for over 15
years.
Visit us at http://www.gate.net/~duncanin/index.html
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Date: Fri, 15 Nov 1996 08:43:38 -0600
From: greens@se-polk.k12.ia.us (Sue Green)
We had the antiexe virus last year in the whole school - computer business
lab, autocad, english and library. We do not allow anyone to download whole
files from Internet and we do not want anyone to put disks from home in the
a drive without having them first checked for a virus. We haven't had any
problems so far this year.
Sue
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Date: Fri, 15 Nov 96 07:58:28 PST
From: Linda Kelso Hicks <lhicks@crown.net>
Make sure when you scan with f-prot that it's set to search all files. If
you only do the
boot/exec files, you will miss some. An all files search takes a lot of
time, but needless
to say, it's worth it. We had the same kind of problem last year, and made
a change in
how we did our search. Only occassionally do we have a virus pop up now and
it can
usually be controlled immediately.
Good luck.
Linda
-------------------------------------
Name: Linda Kelso Hicks
Portage High School, Portage, Indiana
E-mail: lhicks@dodo.crown.net (Linda Kelso Hicks)
-------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 15 Nov 1996 14:25:00 -0400
To: lwolfgram@benton.k12.ia.us
On my computer at home, I download a lot from the Internet, so I run Virex
on my Mac rather often to keep my computer healthy. It doesn't catch all
viruses, but most, and you have to keep buying the upgrades which kill the
new viruses that are created. I think it is worth it, however, to protect
my investment.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Sharon Ann McLarney
sg955bfc@post.drexel.edu
Drexel University, Philadelphia
The Greatest Resource any Country can have is its Children.
---------------
Date: Fri, 15 Nov 1996 15:29:36 -0500
To: "Wolfgram, Linda" <lwolfgram@BENTON.K12.IA.US>
Linda -- We have downloaded "Disinfectant" virus protection and put it on
all school computers (Macs) in our district. There is a similar one for
DOS/Windows -- can't remember the name, and my tech has gone home for the
day. It detects viruses and exterminates them automatically.
Gail Faughn
Media Specialist
Astoria Park Elementary School
2465 Atlas Road
Tallahassee, Florida 32303
faughng@freenet.tlh.fl.us or lm_net@m10.astoria-park.leon.k12.fl.us
------------
Date: Sat, 16 Nov 1996 15:03:50 +0800
From: earl@mnl.sequel.net (Earl Sande)
Linda : viruses! Overseas, we face a huge problem with these, but rather
than coming from the Net, they come from using diskettes. Together with a
publicity campaign, we installed the anti-virus software to automatically
boot whenever someone used the floppy disk drives. We handed out anti-virus
software to any teacher who wanted to install it on their home computers.
And to parents who's children reported viruses when they used home disks at
school. I wont say we have it totally licked (esp. when a few teachers
"disconnected" the virus checker because it took "too long"), but it is
manageable.
If you plan to do this, it can be done in the setup section of your regular
program. Be sure that you get all computers installed, even those who say
they "always" use freshly formatted disks or new ones don't necessarily do
it. I had a computer teacher, who has since left, who promised faithfully
but my checker noted a virus that would have killed our library program.
And, be sure that everyone understands they can lose not only the school's
programs but their own as well. Earl Sande (Brent International School Manila)
Linda Wolfgram, Media Specialist lwolfgram@benton.k12.ia.us
Benton Community Middle/High School
Van Horne, Iowa AASL KidsConnect Volunteer
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