I don't know where the virus comes from in the first place, but make sure you have the following patch installed for protection (select your operating system from the list): http://www.microsoft.com/technet/securi ... 8-067.mspx
A computer virus attacking Microsoft Windows has infected almost nine million machines and is spreading faster than ever before.
Windows users are being urged to step up security to beat the worm
Experts say the worm has "skyrocketed" in recent days.
It is sweeping through thousands of offices in the UK and has affected computers at the Ministry of Defence.
The virus - known variously as Conficker, Kido or Downadup - burrows deep into the operating system and tricks the machine into running the infected program.
Once the worm is running on the computer it automatically starts to download more malicious programs from hackers' websites, with devastating effects.
The majority of computers infected by the worm, which was first identified in October, are in Russia, China, Brazil and India. But the virus is now taking hold in the UK.
The worm has password cracking capabilities, often successful because company passwords sometimes match a predefined password list that it carries.
Eddy Willems, a security analyst with anti-virus firm Kaspersky Labs, said that a new strain of the worm was now causing additional problems.
Computer users are advised to ensure their anti-virus software, operating system and firewall is up to date, and that they have installed a Microsoft patch designed to combat the problem.
Experts have also warned the virus could spread by copying itself to USB memory sticks shared between computers, and urged users to use caution.
Sounds like Kaspersky Labs are a bit short on their sales figures.
I am very sorry if you find my posts long and boring, I like to type and often go off on a tangent.
If this is the case, you may click here to solve the problem, or alternatively here too.
Kaspersky launched a managed service last year that has fallen way short of their expectations. However they have excellent AV software, one of the best in the industry, and their people are some of the brightest and most influential. Their software is used by a number of other service providers in complement to the artificial intelligence engines these providers use. All these press releases from AV companies are purely just "my cock is bigger than yours" statement, as each seems to claim they caught a particular virus before the other. The truth however, is somewhat different.
Thanks for the heads up Paul..... just a question I have re SP3....
I have never actually installed the SP3 'upgrade' following two friends with the same OS (XP Pro, version 2002, SP2) who installed the SP3 update (some months ago) and their computers were basically unable to connect to internet plus other probs immediately after. I cant recall the exact error message but recall they were internet/network related. Both computers are as mine just Home Office use PC's. A sort of 'It aint broke so dont fix it' attitude I have.
The only way they were able to get internet connectivity was to 'system restore' back to pre the SP3 installation. As soon as they did that their computers were fine again.
I heard a lot of people moaning of SP3 issues so never bothered to install it despite regular reminders from Auto updates. I had just recovered from an issue which left me without a computer for a month and so was loathe to jump into more problems.
Should I install SP3? Have all the issues been resolved? Im not the most computer savvy bloke in the world, especially with networks etc., so be nice.
Re this update I went to the link, tried to install the XP SP2 patch, and that link comes up as a totally blank page, no error message just blank. (Tried it with IE and Firefox, same story.)
* I started life with nothing, and still have most of it left
“Good drivers have dead flies on the side windows!” (Walter Röhrl)
* I married Miss Right. Just didn't know her first name was Always
new schmew...wth...i lived with that virus on my pc for like half an year..i was just smart enough to thwart it's efforts to accesst the net.
jk. so what does devastating effects mean? i saw the virus on a work pc today and i thought it was just another one... norton/symantec caught it!
"that link comes up as a totally blank page, no error message just blank. (Tried it with I" welcome to the madness lol! idk if its the same virus but i had it on my pc since november... u need to do a clean format, as it replaces svchost.exe and such other files. it might NOT be ProRAT. winlogon.exe tries to connect to irc.prolahblahgalaxy.nl or some place. if u let it connect (if u have a firewall it'll ask u), then ur going to be sharing ur pc with tons of malware!
