Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Just like a health screening, a group of technicians at the University of Georgia will conduct free checkups of personal computers and laptops of students, faculty and staff.

The University's Enterprise Information Technology Services (EITS) will hold its bi-annual Computer Health and Security Fair on Wednesday, Oct. 31, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the second floor lobby of the Zell B. Miller Learning Center.

The fair will offer free anti-virus and malware removal, security checks and consultations, and general troubleshooting for personal PC and Mac computers. University department-issued computers will not be checked at the fair.

"The focus is the security aspect to ensure that everyone's computer is protected, but there will also be some troubleshooting,"  said Justin Williams, IT Manager at the EITS Help Desk.

At the fair, technical volunteers will run a security check of personal computers that includes ensuring that firewalls are enabled, and antivirus and operating systems are up to date. Technicians will also look for other problems, such as slow performance, web browser pop-ups and unknown error messages.

Those at the fair can typically expect 30-60 minutes for technicians to do a comprehensive health and security checkup of their personal computers, Williams said. At times, there may also be a wait prior to visiting with a technician. For issues that will take more than an hour to resolve, technicians will give guests instructions on how to fix those issues.

The Computer Health and Security Fair is free and is part of EITS' observation of National Cyber Security Awareness Month in October. A similar fair will be held in April 2013.