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St. Cloud State University
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SCSU provides complimentary antivirus
By Erik Anderson
Published:
Thursday, March 24, 2005
This semester, Learning Resources & Technology Services (LR&TS) has offered Symantec AntiVirus for no charge to students and staff at SCSU.
The antivirus program is offered free to current SCSU students as a way to help protect their home computers and the existing SCSU network while they attend school.�
"The on-campus network is already pretty well protected," said Phil Thorson, director of Information Technology Services at LR&TS. "The antivirus program offered is for the home computers of students and staff."
Thorson continued by saying that computers should be protected from many different directions.
�"Viruses are a high risk problem," Thorson said. "You need to protect yourself from multiple angles. This is just another avenue to help prevent viruses."
Thorson said that not all students would find the software beneficial.
"Some students will not use the software," Thorson said. "They may already have an antivirus program. This just offers them the opportunity to get the software at no cost."
Thorson said that offering virus protection software to students was increasing.�
"Virus protection is a growing trend on all campuses," Thorson said. "The U of M and Mankato also have an agreement with Symantec."
�Thorson also said that the server at SCSU had been down before because of a virus, and that LR&TS is trying to prevent that from happening again.
"January of 2003 is when we had an outage," Thorson said. "The server was actually down for about eight hours, most of that during the night, but the virus was Blaster."
The licensing of the Symantec software is paid for through LR&TS, which receives funding from student technology fees.�
"LR&TS pays about $6,500 annually," Thorson said. "This pays for SCSU students and staff to use the software while they are here."
The amount of people using the software surprised Thorson.
"The amount of use has exceeded expectations, it's about twice as high as expected," Thorson said. "About 2,400 students and 300 staff have downloaded the software so far."
LR&TS has tried to make the software easily available with several methods of installing the Symantec software.
"The primary method to get the software is to download it off the Web site," Thorson said.� "However, students can also access the software at the SCSU HelpDesk, or it can be bought on a CD for $5 at the Computer Store."
Some students like the hands free approach of the software and the fact that it is free.
"Downloading the software is definitely cheaper than buying it," said Kim Stangret, a junior at SCSU. "It's good not to have to worry about it. You can set it up to automatically check for viruses and forget about it."
Stangret also likes the ease and availability of the software.
"I downloaded it in about 10 to 15 minutes," Stangret said. "It was easy to do."
Mark Kotcho believes that not having a cost to the software adds to its use.
"If we offer something at no cost, this will invite people to use it," said Mark Kotcho, liaison for InforMedia Services. "Antivirus software usually costs money to update annually. This way, you can get it for free."
Kotcho said that students who would not have bought the software might now download it for free.
"Students who thought about virus protection, but thought it cost too much, might now use the Symantec software," Kotcho said.
Kotcho also sees a future for the AntiVirus software program at SCSU.
"The program is in its infancy," Kotcho said. "I see it continuing in the years to come, helping to educate people about viruses, and helping to protect them."
Free Download
The Web site where students can download the software can be found at http://huskynet. stcloudstate.edu/protectu.
The Web site also contains alerts and information that can help students protect their computers from viruses.
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