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Campus Services

Virus Protection and Removal

Unfortunately, computer viruses are everywhere. While there are a number of steps you can take to protect your computer, no system is completely immune. If the worst happens and your computer does become infected, the ITS Help Desk can assist you in removing the virus.

    • Protect sensitive data on your computer
    • Maintain your connection to the Internet
    • Avoid operating systems damage
    • Prevent viruses spreading to other computers
    • Speed up your computer
    • All students have access to free virus protection and removal for their personal computers. However, the Help Desk cannot repair operating system damage caused by viruses unless it is one of our recommended laptops.
    • The Help Desk will also ensure any university-owned computer is virus free. We cannot work on personal computers owned by faculty and staff.

  • This service is free to all faculty, staff for their University provided computers and all computers owned by currently enrolled students.

    • Be sure your computer has up-to-date virus software (this is also needed to connect to USC Upstate wireless). All university-owned computers come with anti-virus software installed.
    • If you want to search for viruses and malware yourself, there are a number of free programs you can download. A popular and effective one is Malwarebytes.
    • If you suspect your computer has a virus, contact the Help Desk for advice or bring your laptop to us for virus removal.
    • For a student's personal computer, the Help Desk will attempt to remove the virus. If it is one of our recommended laptops, we can also reinstall the operating system if we are unable to remove the virus by other means. Your data will be backed up first, if possible.
    • With university-owned computers, the ITS policy is to reimage infected computers to prevent the virus spreading to other users on the Upstate system. All data will be backed up before the computer is reimaged, if possible.