Thursday, September 24, 2015

As part of National Cyber Security Awareness Month, EITS will offer free computer security checks and troubleshooting at the Computer Health and Security Fair, Wednesday, October 21 and Thursday, October 22.

The fair will be from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. both days in the second floor rotunda of the Zell B. Miller Learning Center (MLC). The fair is free and open to all UGA students, faculty and staff.

During the event, technical volunteers will conduct security check-ups of personal PC and Mac laptops of UGA students, faculty and staff. The technical volunteers will remove malware, install the latest software and security updates, ensure that firewalls are enabled and update antivirus and operating systems. Volunteers will also examine other software problems, such as slow performance and unknown error messages. Hardware repairs will not be offered.

This fall, the fair will have a separate line for faculty and staff seeking help for their personal computers, to move them through the check-up process faster.

October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month, and students, faculty and staff are encouraged to take steps to keep their computers secure and safe from malware, viruses and phishing attacks throughout the year.

“The Computer Health and Security Fair is not only a great way to clean your computer up and get rid of dangerous malware, it’s also a great opportunity to engage with security experts and learn how to protect your computer from threats in the future,” said Brian Rivers, associate chief information officer for university information security.

There are several steps students, faculty and staff can take to keep their computer and online identities secure before and after visiting the fair, including running regular anti-virus scans; using strong passwords; never sending their MyID and password in an email; and reporting any suspicious emails to the EITS Help Desk, at helpdesk@uga.edu. More tips on staying secure are available on the Office of Information Security’s website, infosec.uga.edu.

At the fair, technical volunteers will handle requests on a first-come, first-serve basis. Comprehensive health and security check-ups can take between 30-60 minutes, and at times, there may be a short wait prior to visiting with a technician. For issues that will take more than an hour to resolve, technical volunteers will give guests instructions for how to fix those issues.

University-issued computers will not be checked at the event.