Anyone concerned about the Conficker "C" super worm?

[Agent X]

Seriously, READ THIS if you don't know about it already. I'm not the most tech savvy guy on Planet Earth, so I'm wondering how it all plays out?  Do you simply not log onto the Internet on April Fool's Day and be safe, or does the entire Internet get infected by this bullshit from that point forward.  I mostly only come here, check my email, post at another forums community, shop at a few online stores and eBAY... but still, I don't like this shit one bit.  I dunno why anyone sits around brewing these viruses?  Outside of being a dick, it's about as stupid as people running around spray painting their name or their gang affiliation everywhere.

Pffft... 

[Blue Protoman]

It won't affect the Wii, right?

[nintendodork]

I'm really doubting this will happen.  It says it's already infected 5-10 million computers, so how come I haven't heard of this earlier?  Plus, I don't think a virus can be spread just by getting on the internet and not even doing anything.


and BP, the Wii can't get viruses from the internet as far as I'm concerned

[Blue Protoman]

I wanna get more opinions on that matter, ND.

[UglyJoe]

Safest course of action is use OSX or Linux.  Can't infect Windows if it ain't there

Failing that...

Make sure you run Windows Update.  This exploit was used by earlier strains of the virus and should be patched:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/MS08-067.mspx

Install and run this:
http://vil.nai.com/vil/conficker_stinger/Stinger_Coficker.exe

Do regularly scan your computer for malware.

Some info:
http://www.avertlabs.com/research/blog/index.php/2009/03/27/additional-conficker-comments/

Lots of detailed info about how the virus works (but nothing about how to thwart it):
http://mtc.sri.com/Conficker/addendumC/index.html

I'm really doubting this will happen.  It says it's already infected 5-10 million computers, so how come I haven't heard of this earlier?  Plus, I don't think a virus can be spread just by getting on the internet and not even doing anything.

The media is blowing it out of proportion, but it is absolutely a real virus and will absolutely change its current actions on April 1st.  The virus "selects its rendezvous points from a pool of over 50,000 randomly generated domain name candidates each day".  Accessing these rendezvous points is what will occur on April 1st.  The reason the impact is unknown is because no one knows what servers it will connect to or what data they are going to send (the possibilities are near infinite).

You absolutely can get a virus by simply being on the Internet.  When you are on the internet, any computer can talk to your computer.  Normally, Windows will progmatically ignore most outside requests.  However, the Windows code is not perfect, and so there are exploits.  A hacker can abuse these exploits and make Windows run arbitrary code.  This arbitrary code is what results in the virus infection.

This is where it gets easy to bash Microsoft (exploits? wtf?), but, realistically, they're pretty good at getting things patched up before they get abused.  The reason why so many computers can be infected and, yet, you haven't heard of it, is because most Windows users are blissfully unaware of computer security concerns and never bother to update Windows.  Also, viruses nowadays tend not to be as obvious as they used to be.  They're not usually concerned with deleting all your files.  They mostly try and make you purchase something or set you up as a zombie PC.

I wanna get more opinions on that matter, ND.

This virus targets Windows specifically, so the Wii will be fine.  The Wii has exploits and these could be abused via a virus, but no one bothers to target it due to a small user base.

[ericj]

My computer got infected with Conflicker B a few months back. It was a total bitch to get rid of, too. I had to erase and reformat my hard drive. It blocked access to all anti-virus sites, like Malwarebyte, McAfee, Norton, HijackThis, etc., and wouldn't let any of the anti-malware programs already on my computer start up. Guess that's what you get for not updating Windows.

[133MHz]

The reason why so many computers can be infected and, yet, you haven't heard of it, is because most Windows users are blissfully unaware of computer security concerns and never bother to update Windows.

Also, most people run pirated copies of Windows, so they deliberately avoid automatic updates.

You can update without getting WGA'd by instructing Windows to ask you before installing automatic updates, and deselecting WGA every time it appears, but Windows tries to make sure that you have fully Automatic Updates on by nagging you, so most people end up turning automatic updates on without noticing, or simply don't care.

[Agent X]

Safest course of action is use OSX or Linux.  Can't infect Windows if it ain't there

Well my ASUS Eee PC notebook is running on Linux
so I'm good in that regard, but the family computer that I'm
on now is a HP Pavilion of course running off of freggin' VISTA
which I loathe.  Seriously, my fave of WINDOWS GUIs was back
when it was WIN 98.

The wife is just freaking out over the news of this virus/worm is
all, so I'm trying to figure out what to do past the Norton Anti-Virus
thingy we bought through the now useless "FireDog" Protection
of Circuit City who was K.I.A. in the economy wars of 2009 recently
and so I'm just miffed.  Thanks for painting it all out for me a bit
better though.  I normally run constant scans (full scans) 3 times
a day, but it's come to my attention that while it's done it's job (so far)
it could still somehow be comprised all WINTERMUTE like from Gibson's
Neuromancer, or what just happened with John Henry in the last episode
of Terminator Sarah Connor Chronicles. I'd just hate to be out of a
somewhat nice but not exactly super cheap investment is all.

[Drakon]

honestly the world could randomly combust into flames and I wouldn't care

[FamicomFreak]

I don't really bother with these virus alerts but I do keep my pcs and laptops up to date so I'm not worried. I can always go on my DOS machine and play dos games all day if it's going to be dangerous. har har.

[Blue Protoman]

I hear government firewalls are strong enough to stop this virus.

[JC]

UglyJoe covered it pretty well, but here's an article that just came out:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29975229/

[manuel]

It's April 1st for nearly 23 hours now and nothing happened to my computers. 

Good to have everything nicely updated.

[UglyJoe]

I updated my neglected XP installs last night.  Turns out one of them wasn't "genuine".  Easily fixed, and everything is in working order.

But, yeah, there hasn't been a huge fallout caused by the virus.  It is doing exactly what the researchers said it would do.  This, of course, is not the same thing as what the media speculated it would do.  Go figure

[TanookiSuitSam]

I havent run any of this crap and I havent gotten hit with it nor have I heard any reports of it hitting someone.

Im calling an april fools joke on this.