Jillus Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 I just caught the end of an item on Radio 4 about a computer virus that may or may not appear tomorrow worldwide. Can our resident computer expert give us some sensible advise on this one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 I've had a warning from Dell (my laptop is a Dell). Running Vista I am fairly safe but anything earlier is not. Microsoft have a patch on their updates site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoid Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 This worm (called Conficker) has been around for a long time, The reason for the hype and the concern around Conficker is that 1 April is the day the worm is set to change the way it updates itself, moving to a system that is much harder to combat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craftyhunnypie Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 Erm April fool? Remember all the hype about computers & the Millenium? Emma.x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HENthusiastic Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 I heard the radio 4 program this morning. They mentioned the millenium supposed bug. They were saying that if your virus checkers etc are up to date you should be okay. He also said that he expected it would be a display of power, rather than causing serious damage. ie what we could do it we wanted! I think that was the jist of it anyway. Would it just be any safer to not our computers tomorow? Or will it just do its stuff anyway if you've got it? Anybody? Fred? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 My husband sent me this: The Conficker virus thing turns out to be very hard to deal with. There is a tool to tackle it here: http://support.kaspersky.com/faq/?qid=208279973 You can download kkiller.exe and run that on your computer. However, I also read that AVG will deal with it if you do an 'on demand' scan. Presumbaly that means not a scheduled one, so maybe just try that. If it finds it, AVG will let us know. And incidentally, if any of us using the wireless network has been infected, then we all will be. One of the symptoms is that the system restore function is disabled. Another is finding access to some directories on your computer is blocked, and sometimes it even prevents access to anti-virus websites. So if you've seen anything at all odd like that, it's possible there's a problem. It also infects any storage devices connected to the computer through the USB ports - the camera, MP3 recorder, our backup disk, the disk pens we use. And of course if they are subsequently plugged into anyone else's computer, then it gets passed on to them as well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 Some more: Conficker also disables automatic updates. So if those are still functioning, then you're probably fine. I think there's a Microsoft website you can visit to find your latest status - a quick check there that you are up to date will be comforting. (Is it at updates.microsoft.com? There's a page where it scans your computer and tells you what you are missing.) The worry about tomorrow is that on the 10-15 million computers that it has infected so far, Conficker has quietly been looking at long lists of URLs which it can connect to, to receive or send data (which may well include personal data, though no-one seems to know if it is actually sending anything anywhere). Up to today, it's been looking at maybe 250 domains per day. From tomorrow, it starts looking much more broadly at more like 50,000 per day - from each computer that's infected. So the concern is a huge increase in network traffic and that this change in behaviour might be accompanied by other changes - like actually sending your personal data somewhere. It seems that it is not like the old-style Melissa-type virus, which just made a lot of show. This one is about making big money, which is why it has quietly been infecting computers since last October - it was released AFTER Microsoft released the patch that prevents it working. But, as you found, for Vista that patch seems to have been incorporated into the Service Pack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoid Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 It only affects Windows users, so if we all change to Mac, we will be fine! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Speckled Hen Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 I have had a mac since 1998. Aren't they just wonderful Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hilda-and-evadne Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 I think that I might not switch the computer on tomorrow, to be on the safe side. Microsoft has been known to issue unsafe patches as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkshire Pudding Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 Our work network has been down all day while the IT team try to deal with this virus. It has come in on staff memory sticks apparently. Sounds like tomorrow should be fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
