Internet is Complicated Place

Over the weekend I helped my daughter connect her computer to a large University network.  I expected a few complications, but nothing that couldn’t easily be handled. She has a new computer running Vista and I anticipated any problems would be related to the new operating system.

It was more complicated than I thought it would be.  Before she could connect to the network, a new security agent had to be installed on her computer.  This software not only handles authentication, it also checks the computer to make sure all the hardware and software settings are properly configured and updated.  The security agent will not permit a computer on the network unless that computer has an anti-virus program installed with updated virus profiles.

I had already installed the free version of AVG.  The security agent rejected the computer because the anti-virus software was not from an “approved” list.  It took a while to figure this out as the security software didn’t give a reason on the rejection pop-up.  We had to dig into a log file to find the problem.

Of course the University supplies an “approved” anti-virus at no charge.  We found this in the student network handbook.  We could go to an internal URL and download the software and all would be well.  We still had one problem; the computer couldn’t get to the URL because the security software would not approve AVG.

Fortunately a roommate bought an “approved” anti-virus before coming to college and had connectivity.  We used her computer to download the new anti-virus program to a USB drive and were in business a few clicks later.

This was actually a hassle I didn’t mind.  I feel better knowing the local network requires everyone to have a higher level of security on personal computers.  The security agent also has an “alert” module.  If there is an emergency on campus, a pop-up will appear on each computer and tell the user what to do.

I’m sure this last piece has some link to Virginia Tech and the shootings there last spring.  Hopefully the only emergencies to come across the computer network are weather related.