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New
software to eliminate SPAM
Computers
that do not have Norton AntiVirus will be disconnected
from the network by Feb. 1.
By
Elizabeth Serio
New
software, called Ironmail, is currently being tested and
will be implemented in the next three months to block
all SPAM e-mail, said Dave Edmondson, assistant provost
for Information Services.
While SPAM accounts for nearly two-thirds of all e-mail
received by TCU network users, only a fraction of it is
actually seen by the recipient. Most of it is blocked
before it even reaches the user’s inbox. Users will
receive weekly summaries of all blocked e-mails, including
date, time and sender information.
Matt Meyer, a junior computer science information major,
had no idea that most of his mail is blocked before he
sees it, but appreciates not having to sift through junk
mail.
“I think the e-mail is a lot better than other servers,”
he said. “I couldn’t be happier.”
Although junk mail may contain viruses, it is not directly
related to the three major viruses
that infected computers and slowed the network last fall,
Edmondson said.
“I couldn’t afford for that to happen in the
spring semester,” he said.
The most practical solution was to have Norton AntiVirus
software downloaded on all on-campus computers, Edmondson
said. Starting Feb. 1 computers without the software will
be disconnected from the network.
Protecting the network costs $400,000 a year excluding
labor, Edmondson said.
“We’re spending more money now just to protect
university computing than we were spending on the computers
themselves when I came here in the 1970’s,”
he said.
But the benefits outweigh the expenses, Edmondson said.
“Our network is performing better than ever before,”
he said. “Many corporations have been shut down by
viruses. Not TCU.”
Some student computers were disconnected from the network
last fall because the students were illegally sharing
music files, said Shelley Story, assistant dean of campus
life. The students were reconnected a few days later after
they deleted the files and followed a few steps, she said.
“Most people really understand, they’re really
putting themselves at risk,” she said. |
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Staff
Photo
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Spam
• Protecting the network costs about $35.88
per person every year.
• Norton AntiVirus software costs $49.95 at
retail prices. |
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