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This thread contains ongoing discussions about virus protection. A number of previously posted topics were collapsed into this thread by an administrator. Posts appear in chronologic order.

Is there a source for Norton Antivirus for Libraries at discount? I Need a 20 PC licence. Techsoup's Symantec's offerings are NOT for liraries (and schools). We are 501-3C non profit public library. Thanks

Will you consider using Linux in your libraries? Or perhaps Apple?

We usually go through PCConnection (also known as GovConnection) [url http://www.pcconnection.com/ ]http://www.pcconnection.com/[/url] They usually do pretty well for price - haven't tried the source mentioned in another message, so it would be good to compare.

Pam

We have had several infections - so make sure you use those Windoes and virus definition updates!

... and make sure you spell Windows correctly.

ERG - can you tell it has been a long week for me?

A perspective on not using Windows

But first there is that computer pathogen du jour, the pesky MSBlast worm to be dealt with. This was an old story before any of us even read it this week. That darned worm, which exploits the recently discovered RPC DCOM vulnerability in Windows, has been creating a lot of trouble for no good reason. It targets TCP port 135. Why would any company have port 135 open to the Internet? It makes no sense. A competent network manager who is not using port 135 for something darned important ought to have that door locked tight. If your network was affected, you should be asking why.

Microsoft distributed a patch for this bug a month ago. If your network was affected, the patch wasn't installed. What took so long? But don't be too quick to blame your network administrator: In some companies, the data security guy has to approve a patch before the network guys can install anything. There is plenty of blame to pass around.

Microsoft is hardly blameless, either. A very good friend of mine (one of Microsoft's major customers at the time) recommended to Redmond precisely the e-mail safeguards that would have made this week's problem impossible. Since he was a big customer, they said they'd look into it, but did nothing. That was in 1991. Is 12 years too long to wait for vendor responsibility?

Yes.

[url http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20030814.html ]http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20030814.html[/url]

Your points are valid. Re-training users can be a burden but is that burden any bigger than having to worry about the latest worm or virus?

Remember you are paying for the privilege of having "script kiddies" constantly target your networks.

Perhaps a change is needed to an operating system that is not a target.

Chad

I am not much older than you (35) and I did not consider your post as a rant. I enjoy these conversations because I want to understand the problems with moving to Linux or Mac or whatever.

I feel that my role as a librarian and tech geek is to expose our profession to a world where providing technology to our patrons does not have to be expensive.

Said about your staff:

>To ask them to learn Linux, for example, when I myself have VERY LIMITED exposure to it, and my Supervisor, has NO exposure to it (yes a staff of 2 to handle 13 locations) would be impossible.

I know that you and your supervisor have A LOT of work to do and are over-burdened. But my suggestion would be to slowly look into it. Many places offer cheap or even free classes in Linux. Think about the cost savings to your budget and the time saved from fixing Code Red, Nimda, MSBlast.exe, etc......

>We know that Windows is not perfect(nor is Linux for that matter), but for most of us, it?s all we have so we have to make do with it.

It is not all that you have, which is my point. You do have options.

In my job, I train many people on the Windows platform and many have a hard time with it. I do not think Linux's GUI's (KDE or Gnome) are that much different than the standard Windows interface.

I guess what I am saying is that the issue is training our patrons and giving them computer skills not just teaching them programs. Otherwise, patrons/staff will have a same problems we are discussing going from Windows 98 to 2000 to XP to ???

If you are going to have those issues anyway, why pay for it (money and time fixing worms and viruses)?