Anti Virus Information Home  UCSC Information Security Anti Virus Information How to Guard Against Computer Virus Infections
As a general rule, always be wary about opening or activating a file or Internet link sent to you attached to email. Files and Internet links attached to email may contain or lead to programs that can damage your system, files and the network.
You should be suspicious if:
- The attached file or Internet link in an email message is not business related
- You don't recognize the sender
- You can't determine why the file or link was sent to you
- The file name of the attachment ends with EXE, HLP, LNK, MDB, MDE, URL or VBE
What you should do:
- Delete email messages that meet the criteria above without opening or activating any attached files and links.
- Do not send, forward or open electronic greeting cards, animations, games, joke programs, chain letters, screen savers, songs, videos or images. In addition, they can needlessly consume system resources.
- Verify that virus definition files are up-to-date and that your anti-virus software is configured properly. Virus definitions should be updated weekly and as needed.
- Ensure that all current system patches are applied for both the operating system and all applications installed. Do not install unapproved software. Even if it is "free", you may get more than you realized (e.g., SpyWare, AdWare, etc).
Anti Virus Resources
ITS has implemented an email filtering system that identifies and cleans viruses and bad attachments out of email messages so as to help prevent infections, break-ins, and theft or damage of data via malicious email messages. Daily, weekly and monthly statistics are available online at Email Scanning Statistics.
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