Precautions

As it is all over the internet and television, I thought I would blog a bit about what I have read regarding the threat of the Conficker worm. It is also known by its original name of Downadup.

Here it all is in a nutshell in non-techy terms. It is my understanding that this worm is sitting dormant on many computers and has affected only Windows computers. The worm has been set to report back to its maker tomorrow, April 1, 2009. Upon report, its maker can choose to either trigger or not trigger various malicious attacks on all computers that contain this worm.

Here is what I am doing personally to protect myself. I am no expert, but am hoping that what I am doing is right and wanted to share with you. I feel that anything I do is better than nothing.

1. Make sure Windows updates have all been installed. You can go to this site to manually update. There was a patch put out last October targeting the worm (read here).

2. Download Internet Explorer 8 as it is supposed to have important security updates to it. I have installed it and it seems to be working much more smoother than IE7.

3. Start my computer in Safe Mode (click F8 key continually as it is starting up) and running CCleaner from within Safe Mode. I have found this cleans my machine better than anything else and makes my machine run so much smoother. There are two scans which should be run which are located on the top two tabs on the left: cleaner and registry.

4. Visit Microsoft.com, Symantec, Trend, and McAfee. It is my understanding that the worm prohibits you from visiting these sites and also stops updates of virus programs.

5. Remember the golden rule: If in doubt, do not click.

6. Do not search the web for information on the worm as you may just come upon a site that actually installs it. Yes, the bad guys think of everything.

7. Back up your hard drive. Even if something happens, you'll be much calmer.

Nothing at all could happen tomorrow. With all the hype, the bad guys could delay things. However, I do remember the last time there was a warning. The warning came true and was rampant. Most personal computers were not effected as the worm general went after the larger networked computers.

However, if you awake in the morning and things are wonky, at least you will know what it is.