A battle between man and machine in Bessey Hall is being fought to keep viruses from infecting computers.

In the past, lab monitors have been able to catch the infections before they get out of hand by using a virus checker program that disables the virus, said Jeff Burgin, Bessy’s chief lab monitor.

But more sophisticated viruses are attacking the computers. Burgin said new programs are needed to stop them.

“The worst trouble is when people bring in viruses and reinfect the computers,” he said.

Every Friday the viruses are cleared from the computers, but, he said, by Monday afternoon the machines are already infected again.

“It is like Typhoid Mary, spreading the disease wherever she goes,” Burgin said.

The viruses are lines of code that give unwanted instructions to the computers.

Computer viruses are often carried through disks which infect the computer once they are inserted and used. Burgin said they are considering installing virus scanners in the computers.

“The big problem showed up late last term and has gotten steadily worse, with things getting really bad recently,” he said.

Chris Dunn, a freshman in genetics, said he used a disk with Microsoft Word and infected his own computer by transferring a file to the desktop. “A moment’s stupidity caused a lot of hassles, ” Dunn said.

Burgin attributes the rise in viruses to the growing number of computer hackers on the Internet. He said there are sites devoted to creating new viruses, and there are many traps to catch unsuspecting browsers.

He said viruses are fun to create for those with a sick sense of humor.

Though there are hundreds of computer viruses, one virus, Microsoft Word macro, is responsible for much of the Bessey headaches.

This virus shows itself in four lines that create a template, or macro, which is normally the base of a file. Macros are typically used in business letters and outlines. However, if a virus is in the computer the macro shows up where the user doesn’t want it.

In one recent case, a 15-page file that took 10 hours to create became infected with the virus.

Burgin said the machine froze up when the infected file was opened. Fortunately, Burgin said, a virus checker program instantly solved the problem and the file was saved.

Others aren’t as lucky.

There are programs that deal with viruses, including Virex and Samantic, which are updated monthly.

Most are “share-ware” available off the Internet, but they are often ineffective for many of the newer viruses.

Most people are unaware of a virus until a problem arises.

There are literally thousands of computer viruses out there. It’s estimated that three new viruses are created every day.