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Installing Anti-virus Software for your Mac at Home

All faculty, staff, and student computers, both on-campus and personally-owned, are covered under University of Washington's Virex and VirusScan site license. These instructions walk you through installing antivirus software on your personal Macintosh computer. Virex and VirusScan is available on the UW Internet Connectivity Kit (UWICK) CD which is available for $1 at the UW Bookstore and and for free through C&C's UWICK webpage at http://www.washington.edu/computing/software/uwick/

It may be easiest for users to install antivirus software using the purchased UWICK CD.

Print these instructions

This will be easier with a printed version of these instructions, so we recommend you print this page out before continuing.

First check your operating system version

There are different versions of Virex and VirusScan for each version of Mac from OS 8 to 10.4 and above. To check your Mac OS version:

• Make sure that Finder is selected in the Application menu.
• Click on the Apple menu and select "About This Computer..." or "About This Macintosh...", whichever appears on your computer.
• A window will appear with information concerning your computer, including Mac OS version number.

Review the list below to determine which version

• For OS 10.4 and above running an Intel processor, you will need VirusScan 8.0 for Mactel
• For OS 10.4.4 and above running a PowerPC processor, you will need Virex 7.7 and Hotfix 255495
• For OS 10.2.6 to 10.4.3 running a PowerPC processor, you will need Virex 7.7
• For OS OS 8 - OS 9 running a PowerPC processor, you will need Virex 6.2

Installing using the UWICK CD

• First, if you have previously installed a copy of Virex then you will need to uninstall that before installing a new version.
• Find the Virex software by opening the CD
• Click the "CD-ROM Extras" folder
• Click the "Virex" folder
• Click the folder with your operating system
• Click the appropriate version (or update) folder

Installing from the web

1. First, if you have previously installed a copy of Virex then you will need to uninstall that before installing a new version.
2. Click this link to download the anti-virus software that you need from the UW site license page.
3. At the Virex Software Terms and Conditions web page, click on the blue I Agree button, after you have read the page.
4. At the UW NetID login page, enter your UW NetID and Password. (This is the same ID and Password that you use for your MyUW account).
5. At the "Virex and VirusScan for Mac OS X at the U" page, click on the link for the antivirus software appropriate for your particular Mac OS.
6. If asked when downloading, the UW does have a valid support contract.
7. You will need the "administrator" password to install or update Virex.
8. Install by opening the "Virex Folder" and double-clicking the Virex package.
9. Update by opening the "Update (date)" folder and double-clicking the package it contains