Viruses A computer virus is a program that functions without your knowledge or consent. You get viruses by using an infected disk or file which already has the virus on it. If you frequently download files from the Internet, you may get a virus from an infected server.
Computer viruses act much like human viruses.
The more contact that you have with other people when the flu is going around campus, the more likely you are to get the flu. The more contact that you have with other computers by sharing disks and exchanging files, the more susceptible you are to a computer virus. You can help to prevent viruses by installing an anti-virus program on your computer that will scan for known viruses. The program that is supported by Academic Computing is Disinfectant. Disinfectant can be freely distributed and is available on the ACS software server, or you may contact any of the ACS staff or consultants to have Disinfectant installed on your system.