<p>It's automatically installed on your computer, like a horrible virus.</p>
<p>ahh that is ridiculous. i've alwasy been really careful not to get viruses or any of that garbage for the years that ive used computers and i've been fine, oh well. i read that norton internet security works, but does that mean that norton anti virus on its own wont?</p>
<p>sopho gets automatically installed when u plug in the ethernet cable? hmmm</p>
<p>No, but you have to install it when you go through ResNetReg (the internet registration process you do when you first plug your computer in)
I agree its kinda annoying and stupid for us techies who know how to take care of our computers, but as someone who used to work for STC, I can say that the vast majority of other people on campus definitely do not! So it was the safest way to make sure that people had AV software. You'd be surprised how many people did not before the Sophos requirement went into effect. A huge network with massive backbones to the internet like UCLA's is a breeding ground for viruses. I've seen computers get worms from our network DURING Windows installations.</p>
<p>yeah thats a goof point. how can a worm be present during Windows installation? is it a clean + reformat install of windows?</p>
<p>Yep - reformat and clean install. Its because the smart one doing the install left the computer plugged in during the installation. So as soon as the network card was installed during the process, it got the blaster worm. It's happened many times. Just gotta do another quick reformat and do it again.</p>
<p>ouch. note to self: unplug ethernet cable if i reformat.</p>
<p>wait, so my laptop needs to get reformatted before i can use ucla's internet?</p>
<p>Edit:</p>
<p>btw, i was on the resnet website, and it says i need an ethernet card to connect. I checked my local area connection and it says "Connect using: Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC"</p>
<p>Will this work at ucla or do I need to buy an ethernet card from the stc?</p>
<p>and what is a cat5 cable? i have an ethernet cable at home; wont that work? and i dont need a modem at ucla, right?</p>
<p>sorry, but im not very smart when it comes to tech, lol.</p>
<p>no, no, no. Icarus was just talking about how someone got a worm while they were reformatting/reinstalling windows.</p>
<p>although, a reformat could be helpful if you havent done it in a while and your computer feels a bit sluggish. ;)</p>
<p>to passerby: no, you don't need a modem
yes, that network card will work
and it depends on what kind of ethernet cable it is you have at home. Probably best just to buy one from STC when you get here (they have very good prices for cables)</p>
<p>and no, you definitely don't need to reformat - i was just making a point about how easy it is to get a virus without AV software</p>
<p>ayt, thanks guys</p>
<p>So I'm wondering... Is anybody else planning on bringing a wireless router? Granted I'll be wired most of the time (since it's faster), but I do like the ability to go wireless.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that your room is about the size of a pencil case, so you might not find much use for wireless...</p>
<p>I'm in Hitch, so I have a living room I can make wireless. :)</p>
<p>fyi - if you're going to bring an xbox or PS2 to UCLA to use on the network, you have to take the actual console down to STC to register its MAC address (so it can connect to the network). I think you might have to do the same thing for wireless routers, but I can't remember.</p>
<p>Thanks for the heads up!</p>