Viruses & Worms

What You Need to Know

Viruses and worms are programs that run without your permission on your computer. Viruses use the programs on your computer to live and spread.

Worms, however, spread themselves from machine to machine. They not only cause problems for the computers they infect, but they also take up bandwidth.

Bandwidth is the amount of data that can be sent over the Internet at one time. This may slow down your connection to the Internet as worms are mass mailed in an attempt to spread them to other users.

Signs that you may be infected with a virus or worm

  • Someone tells you they received an e-mail from you that you did not send.
  • You find numerous e-mails in your "Sent Items" folder that you did not send.
  • You are receiving large numbers of undeliverable or returned messages that you did not send.
  • People are sending you e-mails telling you that you sent them a virus.
  • Your computer is connecting to the Internet without your knowledge.

Protecting your computer against viruses

The best method of protecting against viruses is to use Shentel's VirusBloc. Click here for more information.

The most common way for Shentel users to become infected with viruses and worms is through e-mail attachments. We recommend not opening an attachment from a source you do not recognize. At the same time, worms and viruses can be received from people you know, so always be careful.

To prevent attachments from opening upon reading the mail message, you can turn off the option to automatically download attachments. You can also close the preview pane option.

For Outlook Express: click 'View', 'Layout', then remove the checkmark at 'Show Preview Pane', click 'Apply', then 'OK'.

For Outlook: Once you are in Outlook, left click on the view button in the toolbar at the top. Left click on 'Preview Pane', this will remove the preview pane.

For Netscape 7.0: click 'View' in the toolbar, select 'show/hide' then click 'Message Pane' to remove the preview pane.

For Eudora 5.1: click on 'Tools', then click 'Options' in the column on the left, select viewing mail. Uncheck 'Show Message Preview Pane'.

Norton and McAfee

An additional way to protect against viruses and worms is to install a desktop anti-virus program, such as Norton Anti-virus or McAfee Virus Shield. You must also keep the software updated for it to work against the newest viruses and worms. Most programs have a "live update" in the program, or you can go to their website to update. These programs can be purchased online or where computer software is sold. You can find more information about using these products at the manufacturers' websites.

Current Virus Threats

For information on current virus threats and instructions on how to properly remove them, please visit any of the sites below:

To view Symantec's (manufacturer of Norton Anti-virus) security response page: http://securityresponse.symantec.com/

To view McAfee's list of top virus threats: http://vil.mcafee.com/newVirus.asp

To view Micro Trend's virus information: http://www.antivirus.com/vinfo/

Shentel does not endorse nor offer support for any third-party anti-virus software. If you are unable to remove a virus from your system we recommend contacting professional computer consultants.

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