New virus worms its way through computers on campus

With the onslaught of final papers, senior theses and junior papers this time of year, Princeton students are especially dependent on their computers. And most would agree it is practically imperative that the machines are working at an optimal level.

Following in the wake of the "Navidad" e-mail worm last month, however, yet another computer virus is spreading across campus this week.

The virus, called W95.MTX, is "troublesome but doesn't destroy data," said John Burns, a CIT technical staff member. W95.MTX, like Navidad, is classified as a "worm" because of the manner in which it spreads via e-mail.

Once a computer is infected, the virus alters a file called Wsock32.dll — an important file used by some Web browsers, according to the Symantek Website.

Computers infected with the virus are often unable to access the Internet, or in some cases, certain Internet sites. In addition, the virus can prevent computers from running some program files.

Machines running on a Windows operating system can become infected with the virus when students share folders or open up infected e-mails. Burns encouraged students to be wary of sharing any files or opening e-mails from unfamiliar sources.

CIT, he said, wants to alert students about this virus as computers become more crucial at this time of year.

The virus is particularly problematic because a computer can have the W95.MTX virus but the owner may be unaware the machine is infected. CIT officials believe a number of students have already been affected by this virus, and a large portion of them may not know about it.

"Before I heard of it from the University, I encountered it," said Ryan Goldberg '03, a Residential Computing Consultant in Forbes College.

When a student in his hall came to him with a computing problem, Goldberg learned of the virus. "It took two or three hours to clean," he said. "That's the first time I found out about it."

Jane Shen '04 was the student whose computer picked up the worm. "I got it from my friend at the University of Washington at Seattle," she said. This friend had sent her an infected e-mail, which then infected her computer.

Shen sent other e-mails to friends who had anti-virus programs on their computers. When those anti-virus programs detected the e-mail worm, her friends alerted her about the problem. And according to Shen, removing the virus was quite a production. "It took all night," she said.

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Shen is not the only student to notice this virus invading her computer. CIT has received a number of complaints from students, staff and faculty members alike about the W95.MTX virus.

"We've had dozens of people in the past two or three weeks come in [with incidences of this virus] . . . far more so than any of the other viruses," Burns said.