ust like a health screening, a group of technicians at the University of Georgia will conduct free checkups of personal computers and laptops of students, faculty and staff. The university’s Enterprise Information Technology Services will hold its bi-annual Computer Health and Security Fair Oct. 31 from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. on the second floor lobby of the Zell B. Miller Learning Center.
The fair will offer free virus and malware removal, security checks and consultations, and general troubleshooting for personal PC and Mac computers. University department-issued computers will not be checked at the fair.
“The focus is the security aspect to ensure that everyone’s computer is protected, but there also will be some troubleshooting offered,” said Justin Williams, IT manager for the EITS Help Desk.
At the fair, technical volunteers will run a security check of personal computers that includes ensuring firewalls are enabled and anti-virus and operating systems are up-to-date. Technicians also will look for other problems, such as slow performance, web browser pop-ups and unknown error messages.
Those attending the fair typically can expect 30-60 minutes for technicians to do a comprehensive health and security checkup of their personal computers, Williams said. There also may be a wait prior to visiting with a technician. For issues that will take more than an hour to resolve, technicians will provide guests with instructions on how to fix the problems.
The Computer Health and Security Fair is free and a part of EITS’ observance of National Cyber Security Awareness Month in October. A similar fair will be held in April.
For more information, see http://www.eits.uga.edu.
