Antivirus is protective software designed to defend your computer against malicious software. Malicious software, or "malware" includes: viruses, trojans, key loggers, hijackers, dialers, and other code that vandalizes or steals your computer contents. Yale University has chosen Symantec as vendor to provide a host based endpoint protection solution to our community. Symantec Endpoint automatically scans your computer to detect and remove viruses, spyware, and security risks. It also cleans downloaded files or email attachments and attempts to repair the effects of any viruses that were found. It delivers continuous protection via fast, unobtrusive scanning and automatic virus definition updates.

Computer viruses can damage your data and recovery. There is no guarantee that data can be recovered once hit with a virus. If you install antivirus software and keep it up-to-date, you can minimize the risk of data loss.

Once installed, the antivirus software we provide will check for updates (automatically on a schedule or manually whenever you choose). At the same time, because new viruses may appear before Symantec can provide updates to protect you from these viruses, you should regularly back up your computer data and system.

Yale University Policy requires the use of an approved Antivirus solution on all devices connected to the university network.