Information Technology Services

Union College, Schenectady, NY 12308

Welcome to the Start of a New Academic Year

We usually don’t think of flu season until winter arrives, but Union got hit with viruses early this year –  computer viruses, that is, which spread like wild fire on unprotected computers.  We weathered the infection better than many other colleges.  Some had to shut down their entire network or disconnect all student residence halls for days.  Some required all students to bring their PC to central points to be tested.  We managed to survive by blanketing the campus with update CDs and shutting off individual student connections when their computers were identified as being infected or vulnerable to infection. 

We have weathered the current infection, but another is surely on its way.  Everyone must work together to protect our network from future attacks. What must you do? 

If you are running the Windows operating system,

1. Apply all Microsoft CRITICAL updates on a regular schedule.

This is NOT a one-time procedure. New updates come out frequently and must be installed. For your convenience, we advocate having the critical updates install automatically. Go to http://its.union.edu/ACAD/Auto_updates.htm for instructions.

2. Keep your virus protection up-to-date

This also is NOT a one-time procedure. As new viruses are created, the definition or DAT files are updated. Make sure VirusScan is installed and check the VirusScan  console  to verify the AutoUpdate has run within the last week.

If you are running the Macintosh operating system - Keep your virus protection up-to-date. This is NOT a one-time procedure. As new viruses are created, the definition or DAT files are updated. Make sure you periodically run eUpdate.

If you need help:

Faculty should contact their ITS Division Contact

Division I - Shawn Shopmyer, x8382
Division II - Kelly Andolina, x6660
Division III - Jim Strohecker, x6750
Division IV - Val Kania, x8033

Students should fill out a request at http://resnet.union.edu/support to have someone contact them or talk with a USTAR student Sunday through Thursday from 6 PM to 10 PM, in the USTAR Office (Olin Learning Center, Room 219).