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Conficker or Downadup wormSome of you may have heard or read about the Conficker or Downadup worm. It is a computer infection that has installed itself on millions of PCs and will start increasing its efforts today to exploit those machines. Fortunately, there are some easy ways to figure out whether your computer has the Conficker worm, and free tools available for getting rid of it. Conficker is able to spread without human involvement, moving from PC to PC by exploiting a security hole in Microsoft Windows. This security hole was fixed in October by installing a patch released as an automatic update from Microsoft, but if your computer does not receive automatic updates, you could be vulnerable. If a PC is infected with Conficker, it will not be able to access most antivirus vendors' and Microsoft's Web sites, so victims will not get automatic updates and cannot download the Conficker removal tools that those companies have developed. One way to test the computer to see if it is infected is to determine what Web sites you can visit. If you can navigate the Internet freely except for sites owned by Microsoft or antivirus vendors such as Symantec Corp., McAfee Inc., or F-Secure Corp., your PC might have Conficker or a similar bug. The best way to remove the virus is to have a friend whose computer is not infected download a removal tool from Microsoft or one of the antivirus vendors. Then that person should e-mail the tool to you. A list of the free Conficker removal programs is available on the Web site of the Conficker Working Group, an alliance of companies fighting the worm. The removal programs will take care of themselves, for the most part, scanning your system and purging the worm. In an attempt to make itself more difficult to remove, Conficker blocks infected machines from running removal tools with "Conficker" in the name. So you might have to change the name of the file (one you have saved the tool to your desktop, right-click on it and select "rename") before running it. The program's instructions will let you know if you need to do this. Many antivirus vendors have already taken care of this and changed the names in their removal tools to trick the worm into letting the program run. If you do not already have an up-to-date virus protection program installed on your computer, you should seriously consider installing one to protect your machine from these kinds of threats. It could potentially save you a lot of time and money in the future. There are a few programs that you can download that will provide basic virus protection at no cost. Several helpful links have been included at the end of this article. The first ones are for tools that can remove the Conficker worm from your computer. The last three links will take you to websites where you can download and install the aforementioned virus protection software. You do not need to install more than one of them and any of them will provide the same basic level of protection. Which one you choose is up to you! If you have any questions or require assistance please send an email to support@dnet.net or give us a call toll-free at 877-601-3638. Our customer support agents are waiting to help you in any way that they can. They are available every weekday from 8:00am until 10:00pm and on Saturday from 9:00am until 5:00pm. As always, thank you for allowing Dnet the opportunity to provide you with Family Friendly Internet Service. Sincerely, Dnet Internet Services Staff Conficker Removal Tools (Remember, these will most likely have to be downloaded with a computer that is not infected): This Microsoft Knowledge Base Article includes information on how to manually remove the virus. These instructions are somewhat complex and are only recommended for experienced computer users: Here are some free programs that provide basic protection from viruses and malware. Keep in mind that if your computer is already infected with Conficker, you most likely will not be able to download and/or install these programs until you have removed the worm from your computer: |