Using the tools Microsoft Windows Live Safety Center, Kaspersky Anti-Virus: Free Online Virus Scanner, Trend Micro HouseCall, Panda Active Scan, Symantec Security Check and F-Secure Online Virus Scanner, you can check via Internet if your computer has been infected.

Apart from the fact that you as a student may have problems with your computer - and the information on it - if it is infected by viruses, worms or spyware, it can cause problems for other students trying to use the student network as well. Therefore it is important that all students continously update operating system and applications, install and activate a firewall, use a current and updated virus protection and, preferably, use a current and updated protection against spyware. It is not enough to only use one of these only take one of these protective measures, you need to use them all.

In the Swedish page there is information on how you can clean the computer from viruses.

SurfaLugnt is a Swedish campaign for safety on the net. The campaign's website contains information about how you can protect yourself and your computer against various threats on the Internet. Behind the campaign is a number of Swedish authorities, organizations and businesses.

For those of you who use Windows, Microsoft has information, "Microsoft Online Safety" to help you protect yourself and your computer.

If you are using Windows XP but have not updated your computer's operation system to Windows XP Service Pack 2, you need to do this as soon as possible. The update is free and is easiest to download via Microsoft Update.

Check your computer

To get a quick snapshot of how well your computer is protected, you should use one or more of the following tools. We recommend using at least one of the tools for virus control but also F-Secure Health Check to see how vulnerable your applications are .

Note! Consider control over the Internet as a complement. It cannot replace the protection installed in your computer.

AVG LinkScanner
AVG LinkScanner has two parts: first, Surf-Shield, which checks if a Web page is infected before you can open it. And second, Search-Shield, which controls the search results in search engines such as Google and Bing and marks if the page may contain threats or not. AVG LincScanner is available for both MacOS X and Windows.

F-Secure Blacklight
F-Secure Blacklight is a tool design to search for hidden files, directories and processes, so-called rootkits, harmful to your computer. Black Light can also reduce the threat of installed rootkits.

F-Secure Health Check
F-Secure Health Check determines if your computer has current protection against viruses, worms and other malicious software but also runs a check to see if the local computer has firewall, if your software is updated and if you have outdated programs that no longer is supported by the supplier. Note that this is not a virus control.

F-Secure Online Virus Scanner
F-Secure Online Virus Scanner checks and cleans your computer from viruses, spyware and other malicious rootkits.

Kaspersky Anti-Virus: Free Online Virus Scanner
Kaspersky Anti-Virus: Free Online Virus Scanner checks and cleans your computer from viruses and spyware.

Microsoft Windows Live OneCare safety scanner for Windows XP
Windows Live OneCare safety scanner is designed to keep your computer running smoothly by virus checking and cleaning of temporary files.

Microsoft Windows Live OneCare safety scanner for Windows Vista and Windows 7
Windows Live OneCare safety scanner is designed to keep your computer running smoothly by virus checking and cleaning of temporary files.

Panda ActiveScan
Panda ActiveScan controls, but does not clean your computer. The program detects viruses, trojans, worms, spyware, joke type malware, dialers, hacking tools, security risks and tracking software.

Symantec Security Check
Symantec Security Check consists of two parts. One checks how your computer is accessible from the Internet and the other one controls, but does not clean, your computer from viruses, spyware and other malware. Symantec also offers a program for download, Norton Security Scan, which automatically checks your computer every week.

Trend Micro HouseCall
Trend Micro HouseCall checks and cleans your computer from viruses, spyware and other malicious rootkits units.

Updates

An important part of the work of keeping your computer free from viruses, worms and spyware is to keep operating system and other software updated. Most software vendors release free smaller updates regularly. These updates are often meant for correcting errors or shortcomings in the software.

For those of you who use Microsoft Windows, the old Windows Update has been replaced by Microsoft Update. The major change with Microsoft Update, is that not only Windows is updated, but also newer versions ocg Microsoft Office. If you are using an older version of Microsoft Office, the latest updates can be found at Office Update.

For Linux and MacOS X the corresponding services can be found at each software supplier.
 

Viruses and worms

It is vital to have a current and updated virus protection installed on your computer. Note that you should not have more than one installed virus protection.

There is a number of free anti-virus programs available for download, for example Microsoft Security Essentials (Windows XP, Windows Vista och Windows 7), AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition (Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Linux and FreeBSD), Avira AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic (Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7), ClamAV (Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Linux) and ClamXav (Mac OS X) and PC Tools iAntiVirus (Mac OS X).

It is important to make sure that the anti-virus software once a day checks and downloads the latest virus definitions. It is equally important to, at least once a week, automatically do a complete virus scan of your computer. How to do that with your specific virus-protection software is described in the included documentation or in the help files.

Spyware

During the last years spyware have grown to become almost as big a threat as viruses. Spyware are small programs that are installed in your computer via viruses, worms and prepared free software. Among other things they monitor what you store in your computer, as well as your surfing habits. Therefore it is vital to have a current and updated anti-spyware software.

Microsoft Windows Defender, Spybot - Search & Destroy and Ad-Aware are a few good anti-spyware softwares.

Firewalls

There are many personal firewalls of different kinds, some more complicated than others. For a basic simple protection in Windows XP, the builtin firewall in Windows XP will do fine. To make NetLogon function properly, a few modifications may be necessary, and the firewall must allow the computer to respond to ICMP Ping.

For those not using Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7 or Mac OS X,  or if you want a better protection, the page "Free-Firewall.org" is recommended for further information.