Worm ate my homework, Rollins students tell teachers
Ever since classes started for students a month ago at Rollins College, a worm has been eating their homework.
A virus-like worm has infected the small college's computer network, slowing Internet use to a crawl and forcing some students off campus to do research.
The school's computer technology team said Thursday that they have cleaned the system by going door to door on campus until 11 p.m. the last few days, looking for computers infected with the virus, known as W32.Welchia.
For the first time, we're virus-free, said Les Lloyd, associate vice president of the college's Information Technology department.
Welchia is an aggressive infection unleashed last month that exploits a software flaw in recent versions of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows software. Earlier this week, it disrupted computer systems at the U.S. State Department, including the database for checking every visa applicant for terrorist or criminal history.
Other Florida schools saw similar problems this fall, but none apparently this severe. For instance, the University of Central Florida had to turn up monitoring systems to keep away viruses, which slowed e-mail down a few times in recent weeks. In most cases, instead of receiving e-mail from someone in 30 seconds, it took 30 minutes.
