Mass production of the Internet Tools CD, a staple of campus technology since the 1990s, has been discontinued in favor of electronic access and downloads. The change provides a more current and efficient way to deliver anti-virus and other useful software to students, faculty and staff.

The CD contains free software for campus users, and has been updated every year before the start of fall quarter. But the same software can be downloaded from the campus software Web site. Mass-producing the CD every year is expensive, the material gets dated, and distribution is more cumbersome on disc than online.

So, after consulting with various campus technology advisory groups, Information and Educational Technology will:

--Burn individual CDs with software for clients who report download problems.

--Redouble its communications to incoming students, in this case about the software available to them.

--Provide a limited supply of software on CD to the dormitories during student move-in weekend each fall.

IET believes these steps will more efficiently meet the ongoing need for anti-virus software to help protect individuals and the campus from worms, viruses, and other electronic bugs. The department will track any problems reported to the IT Express Computing Services Help Desk, solicit more input from the campus technical community, and modify this approach as appropriate.

IET welcomes comments or suggestions. Send them to its Software Licensing unit at software@ucdavis.edu.