Page 10 • Thursday, February 26, 2004
NEWS
The Pendulum
Computer viruses preventable
by student use of common sense
Ashley Feibish
News Editor
AOL Instant
Messenger and e-mail U^^al
allow people to connect
instantly, sharing files
and communicating
witli friends. But tech
nology is not without its
flaws. A negative
impact of this advanced
technology is viruses
that can attach to files
and replicate instantly.
Viruses are software
that attach themselves to
programs. If the pro
gram runs on a comput
er, the virus then runs
and reproduces. It can
even ruin the computer.
E-mail viruses have the
capability to automati
cally mail themselves to addresses
located in the user’s e-mail address
book.
AIM viru.ses pop up frequently
in users’ profiles; some of the morc
common ones read, “Whoa look
what I found, dick here or “I
can’t believe I found
‘yourScreenName’ picture here.” A
morc recent AIM virus automatical
ly sent a message to everyone on the
user’s buddy list, disguised as an
Osama Bin Laden game.
Junior Jay Loden, a student com
puter technician at Elon’s Student
Computer Services, said most of
these viruses are related to ads.
“The viruses turn your computer
into a billboard,” said Loden, who
authors his own
virus removal
tools. He said he
tends to hear
about the viruses
when they first
come out
because he
works so closely
with computers.
“On one
given day,” said
senior Brett
Pladna, also a
student comput
er technician at
Elon’s Student
Computer
Services, “our
peak for repairs
was 56. Overall,
we’ve fixed hun-
PC Viruses cost busi
nesses an estimated
$55 billion in dam
ages in 2003.
source: www.computer
world.com
At its peak infection
rate, about 1 in 12
emails on the Internet
were MyDoom
Viruses
source:
www.me8sagelabs.com
dreds of computers.”
Most of the viruses are preventa
ble with updated vims software.
Also, not clicking on links in AIM
messages or pop-ups can prevent
computer viruses.
“They are not hard-core vimses,
mostly pop-ups that put things in
people’s profiles,” Pladna said.
When it comes to e-mail viruses,
the “Mydoom” worm continues to
cause big problems. According to
the Web site titled “How Stuff
Works,” the virus is estimaed to
infect approximately a quarter-mil
lion computers daily. Worms arc
pieces of software that use computer
networks and security holes to repli
cate themselves. One defense in pre
venting e-mail viruses is to avoid
downloading attachments with
extensions such as .exe, .com or
.vbs.
Fred Melchor, director of PC
Support, said his department works
to prevent and eradicate virases.
“Elon protects against e-mail
vimses. You get a shell of the virus,
not the actual virus. Our server
catches and strips the vimses to pre
vent them from spreading.”
Melchor also suggested students
keep their operating systems up-to-
date by patching their systems and
frequently checking the Microsoft
Web site for updates. He also warns
not to open attachments. Worms take
up memory and network bandwidth
when they replicate.
Basically, Melchor said, “They
choke up the network with traffic.
You want to have a vims program
such as McAfee or Norton.”
It is important to safeguard your
system and be cautious when using
the Internet, especially if unknown
sources arc involved. Most virus
Web sites offer free trial ware and
programs that help detect and erase
viruses.
Viruses are not made to take
down networks today and no longer
do a lot of file destruction, said
Melchor, “Like a parasite, viruses
don’t want to kill their host.”
Contact Ashley Feibish at pendu-
lum@elon.edu or 278-7247.
Lindsay Porter / Photographer
SCA officers smiled following their victories Wednesday night. Top
left: Chris Morse, Shelby Peterson, Bob Koons and Cheryl Borden.
SGA elections yield new
officers, low turnout
Lindsay Porter
Copy Editor
New SGA executive and class offi
cers were announced Wednesday
night following two days of elections.
Only five hundred and six ballots were
cast this year, about half of last year’s
total according to SGA adviser Jana
Lynn Patterson.
Chris Morse and Shelby Ffeterson
were elected executive president exec
utive vice president, respectively. Bob
Koons will serve as treasurer, and
Cheiyl Borden as secretaiy.
For a complete list of winners, visit
The Pendulum Online.
Morse said he’s committed to
strengthening relationships between
members of SGA and their con-
stituaits.
“I don’t want to be that guy who
just speaks at Convocation,” Morse
said. Instead, he said he wants to focus
on SGA inclusion in the Elon commu
nity.
Although admittedly disappoint
ed with voter turnout, current SGA
President Maik Gustafson said he’s
confident in the capabilities of the
new officers. “They’ve got a lot
going for them, most importantly
experience,” he said.
A complete look at elections and
recap of new officers will appear in
next week’s issue of The Pendulum.
Contact Lindsay Porter at pendu-
lum@elon.edu or 278-7247.
Cuban author to speak about dual cultural identity, immigration
)ay Dome
Asst. News Editor
Author Cristina Garcia will
address the Elon community
at 7:30 tonight in McCrary
Theater with a lecture titled
“Cuban-American Identity.”
She will focus on the issues of
dual cultural identity and
immigrant experiences, two
issues she has helped intro
duce to American readers
through her novels.
Garcia was born in Cuba
but came to the United States when she was
Cristina Garcia
2 years old. After growing up in New York
City, she established a reputation as an
important voice in Latin
American literature.
Her debut novel,
“Dreaming in Cuban,”
explored the cultural identity
of the del Pino family in the
context of the Cuban revolu
tion. It was nominated for the
National Book Award in 1996.
Garcia further explored
these issues in her next novel,
“Tlie Aguero Sisters,” pub-
li.shed in 1997. Newsday
described it as, “a deeper, more profound
plunge into the mysteries of loyalty, love
and identity.”
her latest novel, “Monkey Hunting,”
which was published in 2003, explores the
issues of culture and identity of a Chinese-
Cuban family. Garcia also edited
“iCUBANfSlMO!," a collection of works
by Cuban writers.
“Garcia has a unique perspective due to
her journalism and creative writing back
ground,” said Brooke Barnett, associate
professor of communications. Barnett has
been involved with planning Garcia’s visit.
The lecture is being sponsored by the
Liberal Arts Forum, which also sponsored a
visit this month from Peter Singer,
Anna Earles, president of the Liberal
Arts forum, said the forum is pleased to
have Garcia speak about the cultural mes
sages and diversity she addresses in her
books.
Garcia is scheduled to visit university
classrooms throughout the day and host an
hour-long question-and-answer session at
2:10 p.m. in Whitley Auditorium.
The evening lecture is free and open to
the public. Following the speech, Garcia
will be available for book signing.
Contact Jay Dome atpendulum@elon.edu
or 278-7247.