As of January 2010 McMaster’s new preferred campus antivirus program is Trend Micro. Since only active employees working on McMaster-owned computers are eligible to download Trend Micro OfficeScan free of charge, retirees are blocked from downloading this software.
Retirees working on or off campus on McMaster-owned computers are eligible to download Trend Micro to those computers. To accomplish the software download, University Technology Services (UTS) suggests:
- that a support person in the retiree’s department do the download on campus, or
- that the retiree contact the UTS Service Desk to arrange for a free download. Proof that the computer is a McMaster asset, such as a letter from the retiree’s department chair, will be requested.
Trend Micro can be downloaded by retirees for personal use for an annual fee of $13.50 from the Campus Store MacMicro Computer Department.
Phone: 1 (905) 525-9140 ext. 24417
Email: macmicro@mcmaster.ca
There is also good free antivirus software available. Three such packages are:
If you choose one of the free packages, please read the information for each package carefully to determine what protection the package offers and does not offer. For terminology related to computer viruses, please see Computer Scamming, Phishing, Adware And Spyware, from the Fall 2008 issue of MURAnews. When downloading a free package also read the instructions very carefully as it is very easy to download the professional (not free) versions. The free packages tend to provide good protection without all the bells and whistles. Some will require you to register.
Whatever you decide, please make sure you first uninstall your previous antivirus program (if any) BEFORE installing your new antivirus program, and please do not use the internet WITHOUT an antivirus program.
