Internet has returned to most of campus with widespread problems under control, however hundreds of students have yet to protect their computers from another virus, making a potential threat to the network if another virus or worm spreads across the nation.
Students who do not have their computers serviced by Computing and Network Services by Friday, Sept. 26, may face disciplinary action. There were roughly 700 computers that had not been brought in as of Monday.
If students do not comply by Friday, “The full range of disciplinary actions are available,” said Mark Reed, dean of students, “but, most likely, a loss of computing privileges would be the most common or logical solution.”
With the Internet now available and stable in most parts of campus, it appears the virus which has wreaked havoc across networks all around the world during the last month is finally beginning to die down.
“Even though virus activity has calmed down, there is still a need to bring any remaining computers to be fixed,” said Jay Rozgonyi, Macintosh services and network manager of CNS.
CNS is now taking computers at their Dolan Commons offices, finally moving out of the Barone Campus Center since a majority of computers have been checked for the virus and updated with virus software and patches.
The virus has caused problems on many other college campuses, and Fairfield contends that their solution was as rational and easy-to-implement as it could be.
“Some schools shut off the entire network or even charged students to have their computers fixed before they would allow them to get back on,” Rozgonyi said.
With the main focus of CNS and the administration on eradicating the virus from all computers on the school’s network for the past few weeks, they must now look to the future and begin to decide how to implement changes for transfer students, students abroad, and next year’s incoming freshmen.
Although there is no plan yet, “this is being discussed and the university will have to make a decision in the near future,” said Reed.
Even though CNS has set all computers to automatically check for both Windows and virus software updates, there is always the possibility of further problems. Due to this recent event, however, the university has been able to show students the importance of keeping up to date on the administration’s announcements, and Reed urged students to check Stag Web and voicemail regularly.
“The university makes the information available, but students must be active in retrieving that information,” said Reed.
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