Dorm
residents suffer from computer viruses
By
Marina Hernandez
Daily Forty-Niner
Since
the beginning of the semester, dorm residents
have had on-and-off Internet connection
primarily due to the congestion caused by
computer worms and the numerous users connected
to an outdated network.
Stan
Olin, director of housing, said they are
doing the best they can to get the problem
fixed. Housing and network staff has been
working around the clock to resolve the
problem. Seven dorm residents are included
in this team. They aid in tracking down
infected computers and are responsible for
ensuring students have access to the network.
More
than 200 infected computers have been identified.
Housing notified students through voicemail
and other means that anti-virus software
is available in the hall offices. Depending
on the hardware the student has, the software
takes less than 30 minutes to remove the
worms.
Elson
Browne, assistant director of housing, is
finding that students are “not taking
advantage of free resources.” On the
contrary, a freshman who requested anonymity
said she tried installing the software but
found it incompatible with Microsoft Windows
XP. She said she now considers the situation
“a lost cause.”
Although
the Welchia and Blaster worms have been
mostly contained on campus, there are still
ailing computers in the dorms because of
the time it takes to track down an infected
computer.
An
identity number, the IP address, is used
to track down the infected computer from
a general area to a specific building, floor
and room. However, the tracking process
is disrupted whenever a computer is turned
off, thus starting the process all over.
On the other hand, if a computer was left
on all day it would take about an hour to
an hour and a half to track down.
Students
who have successfully installed the anti-virus
software are still unable to log onto the
Internet due to the traffic caused by infected
computers and other users. According to
Stan Olin there are 1,962 dorm residents
and approximately 98 percent are using the
Internet. This traffic combined with the
worms’ traffic is too much for the
1996 network to accommodate for.
This
problem may be affecting some students more
so than others. For instance, senior Jamaal
Brown has not had Internet access for the
past three weeks while his roommate’s
access has been fairly consistent.
The inconsistent Internet connection is
causing various inconveniences. Students
are now forced out of the comfort of their
dorms and into the crowded computer labs
located in the Horn Center and University
Library. Faun Moun, lab consultant, said
the number of users in the lab during this
time of the semester is usually high. Depending
on the number of students using the lab,
one can wait anywhere from five to 20 minutes
for a computer.
The
entire campus is in the process of switching
to a new network, however, the dormitories
were not included in the first phase of
the process. The housing department said
it was planning to upgrade sooner or later
but due to the urgency, it is pushing for
a complete upgrade by next semester.
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