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Virus Information

Hoaxes

Rumors about viruses have become an almost daily occurrence. While viruses do exist, virus hoaxes, usually passed through email, are much more common. This page is designed to help you separate fact from fiction.

Before notifying others of a potential virus, check one of the following websites to verify whether the virus is real or a hoax. If the supposed virus is in fact a hoax, please ignore and delete the e-mail message; do not pass on any messages about them. Passing on messages about these hoaxes just continues to spread fear and myths about computer viruses, and only serves to waste the time and resources of email systems and staff. Take a minute or two to learn the truth about a particular "virus."

Virus Information Websites

Floppy Disk with Virus

Network Associates (McAfee) Hoaxes
Symantec (Norton Antivirus) Virus Hoaxes
Carnegie-Mellon CERT Coordination Center
US Department of Energy Internet Hoaxes
Computer Virus Myths Homepage

Viruses

Viruses are passed through 'infected' files or scripts (small programs). In the past, viruses were often passed along on floppy disks, but a more common route now is through email (see the Email section below).

If you think you have a virus, run McAfee Virus Scan. In Windows, click on Start, Programs, Network Associates (or McAfee VirusScan on older versions), and VirusScan. This will display the window below. In the Scan in: domain enter the drive, folder, or file you would like to scan for viruses or you can browse to the location. Accept the defaults for scanning unless you want to scan all files. Once you have entered what you want to scan, click on Scan Now. This program will scan and look for any viruses that you may have. Simply relying on McAfee VShield (the small icon in the Tray) is not enough: VShield only detects viruses that are currently in memory and will not detect viruses dormant on your computer.

McAfee ImageClick on the thumbnail image to enlarge.

Please remember that antivirus software is not infallible, and may give false alarms (check out results at the websites above). Also, many people attribute problems with their computers to viruses, when in fact the problems are usually hardware, software, or user error.

In order to keep your antivirus software current, always log on to Windows NT every morning. By logging onto Windows NT, you will receive the latest antivirus updates automatically through SMS. If you are not using SMS, you can download virus updates from the IT Helpdesk download site.

E-mailE-mail Virus

E-mail can contain viruses in an attached file. If you are at all unsure of the file source, do not open the attachment. Instead, save the file to disk and run VirusScan on the file. If the file does not have a virus, you can open the file. If a virus is detected, and the antivirus software cannot clean the file, delete the file and the e-mail message.