If you are a Windows user, please read this and take action immediately before the worm is activated on April 1, 2009. There is a computer worm called Conficker that could already be on your PC and ready to cause havoc on April 1st.  This is not an April Fools joke!  This is a real threat.

This is such a serious threat that Microsoft is offering a $250,000 bounty for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the author of the worm.  The worm first appeared in late 2008 and has grown more complex since then.  The worm is suspected to already have infected millions of PC users.  There may be no indications that a computer is infected until the worm is activated on April 1, 2009.  There is much speculation about what the worm will do.  None of it is good.  Anything ranging from wiping data from your PC to allowing unauthorized remote access and control of your PC to slowing down the internet by clogging it with useless traffic.  Nonetheless, it is not exactly clear what the program will do come April 1st.

Here are a few ideas you can take to help protect your Windows PC:

• If you are Windows user that has received automatic Windows updates in March, you are probably safe according to an article on CNN.  If you’re not sure if your Windows PC is up-to-date, you can go to http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/default.htm for a safety scan.
• Make sure your anti-virus software and virus definitions are up-to-date.

Please visit the following links for more information.

• Wikipedia article on the Conficker worm
• CNN.com article on the Conficker worm

This entry was posted on Monday, March 30th, 2009 at 9:57 pm and is filed under Software, Windows. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.