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April 25, 2009
Conficker Virus Alert
Conficker Activates: read the FOX article.
** BOSTON — A malicious software program known as Conficker that many feared would wreak havoc on April 1 is slowly being activated, weeks after being dismissed as a false alarm, security experts said. *** Conficker, also known as Downadup or Kido, is quietly turning thousands of personal computers into servers of e-mail spam and installing spyware, they said. **
Getting Help: read the FOX article
** Fixing the problem gets a little trickier. The best remedy is to have a friend — whose computer is not infected — download a removal tool from Microsoft or one of the antivirus vendors. Then that person should e-mail the tool to you. *** A list of the free Conficker removal programs is available on the Web site of the Conficker Working Group, an alliance of companies fighting the worm. The removal programs will take care of themselves, for the most part, scanning your system and purging the worm. *** One thing to note: Conficker blocks infected machines from running removal tools with "Conficker" in the name. So users might have to change the name of the file (one you've saved the tool to your desktop, right-click on it and select "rename") before running it. *** The program's instructions will let you know if you need to do this. Many antivirus vendors have already changed the names in their removal tools — in some cases calling the file a misspelled variant of "Conficker" — to trick the worm into letting the program run. **
Posted by Post Scripts at April 25, 2009 11:01 AM