What is the Conficker C Virus?

^^^wow well that answer sure helped

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Tomorrow – April 1 – is D-Day for Conficker, as whatever nasty payload it’s packing is currently set to activate. What happens come midnight is a mystery: Will it turn the millions of infected computers into spam-sending zombie robots? Or will it start capturing everything you type – passwords, credit card numbers, etc. – and send that information back to its masters?

No one knows, but we’ll probably find out soon.

Or not. As Slate notes, Conficker is scheduled to go “live” on April 1, but whoever’s controlling it could choose not to wreak havoc but instead do absolutely nothing, waiting for a time when there’s less heat. They can do this because the way Conficker is designed is extremely clever: Rather than containing a list of specific, static instructions, Conficker reaches out to the web to receive updated marching orders via a huge list of websites it creates. Conficker.C – the latest bad boy – will start checking 50,000 different semi-randomly-generated sites a day looking for instructions, so there’s no way to shut down all of them. If just one of those sites goes live with legitimate instructions, Conficker keeps on trucking.

Conficker’s a nasty little worm that takes serious efforts to bypass your security defenses, but you aren’t without some tools in your arsenal to protect yourself.

Your first step should be the tools you already have: Windows Update, to make sure your computer is fully patched, and your current antivirus software, to make sure anything that slips through the cracks is caught.

But if Conficker’s already on your machine, it may bypass certain subsystems and updating Windows and your antivirus at this point may not work. If you are worried about anything being amiss – try booting into Safe Mode, which Conficker prevents, to check – you should run a specialized tool to get rid of Conficker.

Microsoft offers a web-based scanner (note that some users have reported it crashed their machines; I had no trouble with it), so you might try one of these downloadable options instead: Symantec’s Conficker (aka Downadup) tool, Trend Micro’s Cleanup Engine, or Malwarebytes. Conficker may prevent your machine from accessing any of these websites, so you may have to download these tools from a known non-infected computer if you need them. Follow the instructions given on each site to run them successfully. (Also note: None of these tools should harm your computer if you don’t have Conficker.)

As a final safety note, all users – whether they’re worried about an infection or know for sure they’re clean – are also wise to make a full data backup today.

What won’t work? Turning your PC off tonight and back on on April 2 will not protect you from the worm (sorry to the dozens of people who wrote me asking if this would do the trick). Temporarily disconnecting your computer from the web won’t help if the malware is already on your machine – it will simply activate once you connect again. Changing the date on your PC will likely have no helpful effect, either. And yes, Macs are immune this time out. Follow the above instructions to detect and remove the worm. HOPE THIS HELPS

I’ve heard this was just an April Fool’s Day joke. I haven’t heard of anyone’s computer being infected with this virus yet and mine seems to be working exactly how it should. But of course I have virus protection too Norton Antivirus With Antispyware and it’s the 2008 version the most recent version. I update it each year when the new one comes out. It works great and always alerts you if something isn’t right and gives you options on how to fix it. Anytime a red X is over the icon instead of a green check, you’ve got an issue and you need to click on it and see what’s up and see how you can solve the problem. So my advice to you, and everyone else concerned about this for that matter, is to be sure you have a good, up to date and working virus control thing on your computer and keep an eye on how things are running. If something seems different than usual or wrong, you may want to call up a computer fixing place and have them check things out.

Hope this helps, need anything else, let me know.

The “Conficker” worm / virus also known as “Downadup” infection, is actually a virus code programmed in such a way that it can infect your computer and spread itself to other computers across a network automatically, without human

Most anti virus software could detect and block the Conficker worm, so if you have updated anti virus software on your computer, you are at a much lower risk of being infected by the Conficker worm.

One of its common version (Win32/Conficker.B) might spread through file sharing and via removable drives, such as USB drives (also known as thumb drives). The worm adds a file to the removable drive so that when the drive is used, the AutoPlay dialog will show one additional option.

The Conficker worm can also disable important services on your computer.

for further assistance you can approach at this source at

http://www.iyogi.co.uk

It has potential to hijack your system, and it even has the potential to hijack the intire world wide web, you can get it sooo easyly apparently, just be very, very very, carefull of what you click on.

Okay, I will spell it out for you since you don’t understand how to read between the lines.

G e t a n I m a c a and d why o u w o and t h a v e t o w o are r y a b o you t a and y v I are u s e s.

That is the advice. And it should help since you seem to be so worried about your computer.

I thought it was an april fools prank since april fools day is today but every body is making it seem like its serious but nothings wrong with my computer so I dont knoe

No problem! Glad to hear I was able to help you out.

This is why its better to have a mac.

haha thanks guys! but yeah, nothing is wrong with my computer right now, [[knock on wood]], but im kind of worried, because a couple of the myths im hearing, and I call them myths because I have been told from friends so I dont want to assum they are true, are the following:

-The virus is targeting mostly Windows systems. -The CIA is behind the virus, and they are using it to detect any illegal things on people’s computer such as Limewire, Child Porn, etc -The virus is operating through “Norton” -Its just a worm that passes through

ahh I don’t know thats just what I hear, and if they are true then im screwdd! haha well I have nothing illegal, but I have Windows Vista, AND Norton, so I don’t know. Does anyone know anyone who has been hit with this yet?

thanks xx_the_a7x_parade_xx , that really does help. I updated mine and have been running checks and maybe it was a joke? I hope so lol. but thanks