The DU network is back online after a successful campaign by University Technology Services to protect computers from system-crashing viruses.

The Internet was shut off on campus from Labor Day weekend through Sept. 5 to allow students a chance to obtain the UTS version of a virus patch designed to protect computers from the Blaster and Welchia worms that ravaged the Internet this summer.

To ensure that these viruses were not set loose in the network, the UTS implemented a precautionary quota for the campus.

According to Anna Zapata, the head of virus control at UTS, DU students met the challenge.

“I think we probably did meet our 85 percent quota for the students,” Zapata said. “For the most part, the virus problem has been neutralized.”

Students were taken through guided sessions in the residence halls on how to use the patch in time slots on Thursday and Friday of freshman orientation week. If students missed these slots, the UTS Help Desk was open until 2 a.m. in the morning with a few representatives to guide students through the setup and installation. If students could not get help at the library, they were referred to the Technology Services building at 2150 E. Evans Avenue.

When asked about the efficiency of the UTS setup, Zapata replied, “We really all worked as a team to get the job done. I don’t think we could have solved the problem without being as efficient as possible.”

Some students were less than thrilled with the virus patching sessions.

“I waited down there in the [library] for 2 hours without being help,” sophomore Stephen Gobel said. I guess it wasn’t really the fault of the UTS employees, but I was very frustrated.”

Gogel was not alone in his frustration. Long waits, tedious scans and disappointing results fueled tempers around campus. Zapata, however, was surprised to hear that students were disappointed with the way the sessions were carried out.

“Both on Labor Day and during SOAR we found for the most part that students were very responsive to the sessions,” she said. “Yes, it was time-consuming but without the patch we would have no network.”

Hot tempers or not, Zapata and UTS believe that the sessions, the patch and the Norton Antivirus updates addressed in the sessions were all necessary precautions.

“If students, staff, and faculty are not protected, they could be susceptible to another virus,” Zapata said.

The patch included and eight-step process to scan for the viruses on a computer system, eliminate them if they existed, terminate all shareware programs vulnerable to them and then protect the computer system from them. A patch similar to the DU patch is available for download on a number of websites on the Internet.