Antivirus & Antispam
For Windows-based computers, we currently recommend F-Secure Anti-Virus, which is covered under a UCL site licence, is easy to install and is able to keep itself up-to-date without you having to intervene. You can download a copy from the UCL software database (you will need your UCL userID and password).
For Mac users, the antivirus program of choice is currently Sophos, again - covered by UCL site licence and downloadable from the UCL software database.
The licences allow for the software to be used on UCL staff home computers too. For the latest information and advice on anti-virus measures, please refer to the UCL Computer Security Team anti-virus page.
Additional anti-virus and anti-spam measures.
Since April 2003, all mail sent to Institute e-mail addresses has been passing through filters provided by Messagelabs. These scan the message for viruses and spam content. Messages containing viruses have the virus removed and a warning message is delivered to the recipient.
Incoming messages which fail the 'spam test', are deleted before they reach the Institute. At first, we redirected these messages to a bulk email account, but after the first year, several hundred thousand messages and no sign of any genuine messages being inadvertantly deleted, we decided to cut out this resource-hogging process. If you suspect you have missed mail and the spam filters are to blame, get in touch with us. We can see which messages addressed to you have been dropped over the previous 30 days.
For more information about the anti-spam filters, see our FAQ.
Virus warnings received by email from remote sites In addition to genuine virus deletion messages from Message Labs, many users at ION, and elsewhere, receive messages claiming that they have sent a virus, typically to a correspondent they have never heard of. This question is also covered in our FAQ.
