No. Microsoft Forefront is available for University-owned computers only. For personal computers, you may choose to install Microsoft’s Security Essentials, AVG, or Malwarebytes, which are all free; or any other antivirus software that you prefer.

No. Due to the way Forefront is configured, it cannot be dispersed to computers from an image. It has to be installed independently. By default, if the computer is put on the UWYO domain, then the installation will happen automatically, unless the computer has been opted out of Automatic Updates. If the computer is not put on the domain, or it has opted-out of Automatic Updates, then Microsoft Forefront will have to be manually installed. The instructions to manually install Forefront can be found at How to Manually Install Microsoft Forefront Client Security.

By default, if a computer is located on the University domain, it will communicate with a server on campus to receive updates. If your computer has been setup to opt out of the campus method of updating Microsoft products, it will communicate with Microsoft directly to receive updates through Microsoft Automatic Updates as soon as your computer has been configured to do so. To ensure your computer has Automatic Updates configured, see How to Configure and Run Windows Automatic Updates (www.uwyo.edu/askit/displaydoc.asp?askitdocid=181).

In order for your computer to receive Forefront and other Microsoft updates from Microsoft instead of using UW’s central software update service, your computer will need to be opted-out of the update service. In order to do this, contact your IT consultant (www.uwyo.edu/infotech/services/helpdesk/uc/) to discuss other items that will need to be addressed by opting out. In addition to opting out, you will also need to configure Automatic Updates to check for updates. To configure Automatic Updates, see How to Configure and Run Windows Automatic Updates (www.uwyo.edu/askit/displaydoc.asp?askitdocid=181). It is also recommended that after opting out and configuring Automatic Updates that you reinstall Microsoft Forefront. This can be done by following the instructions at How to Manually Install Microsoft Forefront Client Security.

By default, any computer that is added to the UWYO domain will automatically have Microsoft Forefront installed. If your University-owned computer is not on the domain, or is opted-out of UW’s central software update service, WSUS, then Forefront will have to be manually installed.

See How to Manually Install Microsoft Forefront Client Security.

Yes. Open the location \\uwapps.uwyo.edu\antivirus. Once you are there, copy the entire Forefront folder locally onto the computer, or onto a portable device. Once installed, these files may be deleted. Before re-using local media, please re-copy it from the UWAPPS share to ensure you have the latest media.

The instructions located at How to Manually Install Microsoft Forefront Client Security can also be used to reinstall Forefront.

Forefront is scheduled to run a scan every Wednesday morning starting at midnight. For security reasons, it is recommended that you exit all programs, then logoff or restart the computer, or simply lock your computer (Ctrl-Alt-Del for most Windows computers, and choose Lock Computer) at the end of the day each Tuesday. Any computer that does not perform the scheduled scan two weeks in a row will begin the scan the next time the Forefront service is started.

Forefront is running if the Forefront icon in the system tray (lower right corner of the desktop, by the clock) is green with a white checkmark in it .

If the icon is orange , then Forefront needs some attention. Click the Forefront icon, and select Open. Forefront will open, and it will display a message regarding what it needs. If you don’t know how to resolve the issue, contact your IT user consultant (www.uwyo.edu/infotech/services/helpdesk/uc/).

If the icon is not there, then Forefront is not running. This could be a symptom of other issues, so contact your IT user consultant (www.uwyo.edu/infotech/services/helpdesk/uc/).

This message sometimes happens on computers that are turned off at the times of scheduled scans. The computer is still getting scanned, but the program is not displaying the proper status. To resolve this, manually run a scan of your computer by clicking the Scan button located in the Microsoft Forefront window. After this scan is complete, Forefront will update the status when it automatically scans your computer.

No, for security reasons, users are unable to change when the computer will be scanned.

To manually start a scan, click on the Forefront icon in the system tray (lower right corner of the desktop, by the clock, and choose Open. By clicking the Scan button, the computer will start a Quick Scan. To run a Full Scan or a Custom Scan, click on the arrow located directly to the left of the scan button, and choose which scan you would like to run.