Opinion
 

Staff Editorial

                            Bridget Brown    Matthew Dulin 
Ray Hafner                  Geronimo Rodriguez                Lisa Street

And in flew Enza

For computers, there is no flu season. There are no big headlines about a shortage of vaccines, no rushing your kids to the doctor to get their definition files updated. No one has ever died from a computer virus called SoBig.f. 

But like the flu, Internet viruses like MyDoom, which slipped into UH network traffic Monday, pose daily threats and, more often than not, are major annoyances.

So far, UH has been spared the crippling blow SoBig.f delivered when it hit last year. The denial-of-service attack that upset thousands of UH students trying to surf the Web or make schedule changes Friday wasnit virus-related. However, denial-of-service, which in laymanis terms means you canit surf the Net, is a common symptom of viral activity and a good example of how an everyday annoyance like spam can have bigger implications. 

Although experts who spoke to Reuters suggest MyDoom, or Novarg, is designed to attack the software company SCO, UH computers, and your own, could be hit along the way.

Students who either use UH computers or plug into the network, and staff and faculty who have PCs at their desks, have no reason to be unprepared. Information Technology provides enough information, and the right tools, to keep bugs like MyDoom away from your mucous membranes -- err  -- your desktops.

IT workers are the doctors of the digital age, and their prescription sounds like a home remedy: just update your anti-virus software and stay away from cryptic e-mail attachments.

Maybe the saying should be, "A download a day keeps the computer guy away."

UH provides free and fully featured McAfee anti-virus software with unlimited updates. Students, faculty and staff can download the software and get the necessary updates to keep computers healthy.

For more information about fighting the computer flu, visit www.uh.edu/antivirus.

 Send comments to dccampus@mail.uh.edu