All incoming Wells email is scanned for potential viruses, worms and spam.
If you are having trouble sending mail to the college and you think it might be due to our filtering, consult our Guide to Blacklisting.  Due to freedom of speech issues, we do not do "keyword" filtering and we do not monitor email for content. If more aggressive filtering of email is required, we are available to train people on an individual basis on how to create personal email filters on their computer station.

Wells Internet communication is regulated by a firewall and traffic shaper.
Since the connection to the Internet is finite, Wells Computer Services has taken steps to make sure that mission critical information such as email and Web traffic flows freely while non-mission critical traffic is minimized. It is important to know that some file sharing programs may download illegal content and may also cripple a system with undesirable pop up ads and spyware. We urge students to abstain from installing these programs on their systems. The Wells computer system including the Internet connection is governed by the college's Computer, Internet, and Electronic Communications Policy.

For computers NOT managed by Wells Computer Services, such as student personal computers, Wells Computer Services  encourage the following actions. Note: Many of the downloads mentioned below are also available to Wells users locally at a faster speed.  See our DOWNLOADS page.

• Run an anti-virus/anti-worm program.  Popular commercial packages include McAfee Virus Scan or Norton Anti Virus. When kept up to date with the latest virus information, a machine will be protected against most damage.   Commercial Anti-virus software is available for sale in the Wells College bookshop. Some anti-virus products will not install unless your system is completely free of viruses. To clean your system in an emergency, you can download a free tool called Stinger.  Note, you should NOT try to run more than one anti-virus program at a time!
• Use an alternate browser.   Due to design defects with Internet Explorer that make it vulnerable to spyware takeover, we now recommend that you run an alternative browser.  One alternative we have tested is the free browser called MOZILLA.  There is also a smaller version of their browser from the same organization called FIREFOX.
• Run a personal firewall program.  One popular (and easy to use) program is called ZoneAlarm. It will inform you of all programs trying to get into your system - and programs trying to get out!  Depending on the anti-virus package offered, you may or may not need this type of program.  Some anti-virus vendors now bundle a free firewall program - others do not. (See your anti-virus documentation). 
• If you run windows XP, Microsoft now offers similar firewall functionality for free!  Just download XP service pack2 by going to http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com (note:XP service pack is quite large so you should only attempt to download it if you have a broadband connection)
• IF YOU MUST USE INTERNET EXPLORER protect your browser by doing the following...
• Run an anti-malware remover. If malware (such as spyware) has installed itself into your system, there are products on the market that will automatically scan your machine and uninstall it. A popular program to eliminate this type of software is ADAWARE by Lavasoft.   Another program we like people to run is SPYBOT 1.3.(Those that have SPYBOT 1.2 need to uninstall 1.2 and install 1.3 instead or you will not be able to get fresh anti-spyware updates).

To see the latest information about what other spyware checkers and popup ad blockers are available, check: http://www.spywareinfo.com/downloads.php
• USE A POPUP BLOCKER.  A free utility that does this is the "google" toolbar.  More information can be found at: http://toolbar.google.com/
• USE A PROXY WEB FILTER SUCH AS 'PROXOMITRON'.  This filter is a program that you run all your web traffic through.  It has options to strip bad commands from webpages BEFORE they even get to your browser.  For example, you could specify that all javascript commands are stripped out of webpages you view..  Should you need the full feature set of Internet Explorer, there is a 'bypass' button you can quickly turn on and off depending on the sites visited. Visit http://www.proxomitron.info/
• BLOCK SITES USING A BANNED HOSTS FILE If you cannot use an alternative browser, you can at least use a "hosts" file instead to block your system from downloading content from harmful sites.  Note: Macintosh and Linux users can use this approach too!   More information on this can be found http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm