Computer Virus?

[travcoman45]

Anybody heard a this computer virus that supposed ta happen on April 1? Spoused ta steal all yer records an data from yer hard drive. Got no idear, feller at work was talkin bout it.

[rtom]

I did see something about it on the MSN home page yesterday, I didn't read much of it, but here it is http://tech.msn.com/security/article...0174&GT1=40000

[Walking Dude]

would'nt be a april FOOLS joke would it?

[SmokinLee]

I haven't heared anything about it yet Tip.

[travcoman45]

Well this feller ain't got no sense a humor, but, don't mean sombody wasn't yankin his chain. If it be the one rtom posted, I follered there instructions an seems I'm safe. Just figured somebody here might know, hope it ain't nothin serious, stuff like that just burns my butt!

[DDave]

The virus they are talking about is a variant of the Conflicker worm.

http://vil.nai.com/vil/content/v_153710.htm

This worm exploits the MS08-067 Microsoft Windows Server Service vulnerability in order to propagate. Here is the page for the bulletin that talks about the vulnerability and the patches for affected operating systems.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sec.../MS08-067.mspx

If you run Windows Update and routinely download and install the Critical and Security Updates, most likely your system is already patched. And if your antivirus software is also up to date, you should be fine.

Dave

[curious aardvark]

Anyway microsoft are an all year round april fools joke.

Look at it this way:
Windows xp has been around for 10 years.
In that time microsoft have released thousands of 'security' patches for the original code.
And yet, windows has at least as many security holes now as on release.
By rights it ought to be the most secure os out there.
BUT.....
The same idiot coders who programmed the original flaws are the ones releasing the patches - sooo, each patch closes one hole and opens several new ones.

Best case scenario - never run updates. Your antivirus and antispyware software will then know about all the old 'holes' in your system and you won't add any of the new ones that todays viruses exploit.

Every time you run a microsoft 'update' it's Happy april fools day from Bill and his merry incompetents :-)

[Vlap]

It was that conflicker virus. It seemed to be a big threat but so far no reports of damage or loss due to it.

Read about it here

[Geek with Fire]

I've got 200 computers in my shop, and haven't had any issues (knock knock). The media kinda hyped this one (suprise suprise). Actually the worm has been around for some time; just connecting to the "mother ship" today for updates.

[DDave]

I've got 200 computers in my shop, and haven't had any issues (knock knock).

We've got 706 (XP/2000/2003) machines here at 5 sites with no calls from users yet or suspicious network activity. (Knock, knock, as well.)

Best case scenario - never run updates. Your antivirus and antispyware software will then know about all the old 'holes' in your system and you won't add any of the new ones that todays viruses exploit.

Umm, good luck with that.

Dave

[Geek with Fire]

We've got 706 (XP/2000/2003) machines here at 5 sites with no calls from users yet or suspicious network activity. (Knock, knock, as well.)



Umm, good luck with that.

Dave

What? No DOS machines (I have 10 left.....can't upgrade)? Showoff.

[DDave]

What? No DOS machines (I have 10 left.....can't upgrade)? Showoff.

Well, we do have 36 Win 98 machines. And also a handful of 95 machines but they can't run the client that reports to our management console (Altiris Deployment Server) so I lose track of exactly how many there are.

Do your DOS machines have specific legacy programs that need to run in DOS? Are you familiar with VMware Workstation? We use it quite a bit here for testing and special situations. Might be an option if you need to still run the DOS program but need to upgrade to a newer box.

Dave

[Geek with Fire]

Well, we do have 36 Win 98 machines. And also a handful of 95 machines but they can't run the client that reports to our management console (Altiris Deployment Server) so I lose track of exactly how many there are.

Do your DOS machines have specific legacy programs that need to run in DOS? Are you familiar with VMware Workstation? We use it quite a bit here for testing and special situations. Might be an option if you need to still run the DOS program but need to upgrade to a newer box.

Dave

Yea, I've migrated some stations using MS's Virtual PC. But the 10 remaining are connected to really old CNC machines that require full blown DOS. Not only DOS, but DOS running on 386/486 boxes. When one goes down, I have to dig through piles of junk and build "franken-puters".

[SixPack]

Yea, I've migrated some stations using MS's Virtual PC. But the 10 remaining are connected to really old CNC machines that require full blown DOS. Not only DOS, but DOS running on 386/486 boxes. When one goes down, I have to dig through piles of junk and build "franken-puters".

LOL... sounds like me trying to keep my old cnc router table chugging along.

[DDave]

"franken-puters"

LOL, I like that term.

It's 12:53 pm and still no calls from users. Not about Conficker anyway. The phone has been ringing off the hook about other issues it seems though. Oh well, all in a days work.

Dave