Viruses and malware are being reported to the Technology Support Center (TSC) every day. In many cases, the outbreak is so severe that Network Infrastructure (NI) is forced to remove compromised computers from the network until the virus can be removed. Depending on the severity of and staff familiarity with the virus, you may be without a computer for days, possibly weeks. If your computer is compromised the risk presented to any persons whose personally identifiable information your computer contains must be assessed.

IT Services made the VirusScan Installer package available to all staff and faculty through the employee tab of the portal on Monday, October 26, 2009. Accessible only from campus, this package will remove McAfee versions 8.0, 8,5, 8.7, install the KBOX agent, and install McAfee version 8.7 Patch 1 with new, enhanced McAfee settings. This new version of VirusScan has been configured to prevent remote creation of executable, configuration, and autorun files, to prevent hijacking of executable extensions and to prevent Microsoft Windows process spoofing. Additional enhancements include the prevention of the modification of VirusScan files and settings and additional protection for Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer settings. By including the KBOX agent in this package, IT Services will be able to push critical updates and software to all university owned computers.

Please be advised that this package is intended for installation on University owned PCs only. McAfee VirusScan Enterprise is licensed for corporate use only and is NOT intended for use on personally owned computers. Installing McAfee VirusScan Enterprise on personally owned computers is in direct violation of the software licensing agreement. Since Windows is, by far, the most popular operating system for virus writers and there are relatively few security exploits targeting the Mac OS, this installation package is not intended for the Mac platform.

Every employee is strongly encouraged to assist IT Services with protecting the University's electronic resources by installing this important update. Please visit my.scranton.edu, click on the Employee tab and install the McAfee VirusScan Enterprise 8.7i update at your earliest convenience.

Resident students have already received this critical update through ResNet.

Questions or concerns should be directed to the Technology Support Center (TSC) at x4357.

The Effectiveness of Peer Tutoring 
on Student Achievement at the University Level

Friday, 13 Nov 2009 • 1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. • St. Thomas 590

Vincent G. Munley, Ph.D (Lehigh Univ., Dept. of Economics)

Peer tutoring is a commonly employed strategy at universities in economic education as well as other disciplines where developing problem solving skills is a key element in mastering the subject matter. While there appears to be a general consensus that peer tutoring is a successful learning technique, and its practice is supported by multiple professional organizations, little direct evidence has been gathered about the quantitative magnitude of its effectiveness.

In this presentation, Dr. Munley will examine the evidence at Lehigh University. The results suggest that the peer tutoring program has a positive and significant impact, though in order for the program to improve the expected letter grade, a student need participate in the program on average for about one hour per week over a fourteen-week semester.

Register for this event →