What antivirus software is available to me?

Symantec Endpoint Protection antivirus software for Windows and Mac OS X is available for free for to all UIC faculty, staff, and students through the WebStore. Our licensing agreement allows SEP to be used both on campus and on personal computers.

Symantec antivirus software uses three antivirus technologies and scanning methods to provide comprehensive network file scanning. Scans look for known viruses by comparing files with known virus strings. These strings are contained in a virus definitions file that reside on each computer. To protect yourself from new viruses, you can configure regular virus definitions file updates. Symantec antivirus software contains everything you need to detect viruses, repair files and help prevent virus infection.

Symantec Endpoint Protection for Windows

Minimum system requirements for installing and configuring Symantec Endpoint Protection for Windows:

• Operating system: Windows XP SP2 or later
• Processor: Intel Pentium 4 or greater
• Memory: 512 MB of RAM or greater
• Hard drive: 900 MB of free space

Symantec Endpoint Protection for Mac OS X

Symantec Endpoint Protection for Mac is currently available from the WebStore under the Antivirus category. While the chance of virus or malware infecting computers running Mac OS may be lower than for computers running Windows, there are important reasons to install antivirus software on Macs:

• To be stop the spread of Windows viruses so you don't infect your friends.
• To protect yourself from viruses that infect Word and Excel documents.
• To catch the next Mac virus when it does come.

Minimum system requirements for installing Symantec Enpoint Protection for Mac OS X:

• Operating system: Mac OS X 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) or later
• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo or greater
• Memory: 512 MB of RAM or greater
• Hard drive: 900 MB of free space

Additional Information

• Symantec AntiVirus Center- Symantec is the company that distributes Symantec AntiVirus. It has a lot of good (and somewhat technical) info on latest virus threats, current security advisories (so you'll know whether it's time to update your IE again, for example), and a reference area with links to a lot of other info, including info on virus hoaxes.
• McAfee Security Virus Information Library - McAfee is the other major antivirus company; their antivirus info Web site has info on viruses and hoaxes.
• Symantec Security Response's Virus Hoaxes - You got an email message warning you about a new virus that's going around. Before you panic -- or send the message to all your friends -- check here to see whether it really is a virus.
• Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute CERT Coordination Center - The US government funded research and development center for computer security incidents, publish security alerts, viruses, and general security for networked systems. (Like your personal computer.)
• Virus-L's Virus FAQ and the Computer Virus FAQ for New Users - The Virus FAQ answers some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about computer viruses. Its "using" section recommends that "if you are seeking help after discovering what you suspect is a virus on your computer, read the Preface Section, skim through Sections A and B for the essential jargon, then concentrate on Section C."