Computer viruses like Blaster wormed their way through Northwestern machines this summer, but university officials say new precautions will impede the pests’ progress.

Like many schools and businesses, NU’s network contracted the Blaster worm and a related virus in mid-August. Tom Board, director of Technology Support Services, said more than 1,000 computers were affected.

Although few computers actually lost data, the virus cost the university in productivity. Technicians fought around the clock for days to protect the network, and NU dedicated the equivalent of 200 full-time employees to solve the problem.

“A lot of things that would have gotten done before the end of August didn’t get done because people had to work on this instead,” Board said.

Projects delayed by the virus included the installation of new computers and NUTV updates — though Board said new options such as the Disney Channel should be up and running.

For all the trouble the worm caused, Board said Blaster was a relatively benign bug. Although some viruses destroy data or commandeer a machine for malign purposes, all Blaster does is duplicate itself. Even that simple task, though, can cripple a computer.

Worm viruses spread by manipulating procedures computers normally use to communicate with each other. These procedures sometimes allow one machine to impose a piece of code on another, but the operation normally is secure. Blaster uses these procedures to tell other computers to request a copy of the virus code. As a computer spends more of its resources to spread copies of Blaster, it becomes slower or loses some of its functions.

“It was not easy to determine whether a computer was affected just by looking at it,” Board said.

But he also said NU was lucky because its student population is low in August, when the virus was released.

“If what happened in the early part of August had occurred in the early part of October when all the students are here, it would have been an extraordinarily serious problem,” he said.

Now IT is taking precautions to make sure no one brought the worm to school. In addition to e-mail updates over the summer, users will encounter new safeguards when they first log on to the network. After receiving a NetID and password, a program scans the user’s computer for virus risks. If the computer lacks the latest software or virus definitions, the program will tell users where to download them — and prevent them from using the network until they do so.

Board said it is essential to guard NU’s computers down to the last user.

“We’re only as strong as the weakest link,” he said. “We have to protect the network from ourselves.”

But as dorms re-opened their doors Friday, Board said most students logging on to the network had already prepared their computers. About 500 machines received new software patches that day, he said.

Jeff Ries, a Weinberg freshman, said he encountered a message that his computer was vulnerable, but the warning didn’t faze him. He simply installed anti-virus software and moved on.

Melinda Russial, a Music junior and a Macintosh user, said she wasn’t worried about Blaster because Macs are immune. But she advised new students to prepare for virus attacks by backing up essential data.

“Stuff like this is going to happen until we invent a better way to protect against viruses,” she said. “Just don’t be stupid.”