Was the Conficker Virus a Hoax?
I was wondering that after all the hype generated by the media over the Conficker virus. For many of us, it was the exact same thing as New Years day in January of 2000, lots of media attention with little to show for it. The truth is, Microsoft issued a patch for the Conficker virus back in January before the virus was even activated. The trouble is, many people ignore the updates or simply have no idea how to get them. Reports from Microsoft state that as many as 30% of all windows users have not updated their systems yet.
The Conficker threat is still very real. The virus is estimated to be dormant on over 10 million computers and that is a very conservative estimate according to some sources. The biggest problem with this virus is that it has not activated yet. Some believe it is waiting for stage two commands to be given to allow it to do terrible things such as copying the personal information from your computer or holding your computer hostage and locking it up unless you purchase special software.
The most reported sign that you have been infected with Conficker, or many other virus, is that your computer runs noticeably slower or that you can no longer update your operating system or your anti-virus software. Most of these programs target your antivirus software first to prevent them from being detected. Once they disable your antivirus program, they are free to run amuck on your system and spread throughout your entire computer.
How do you know if you are protected from this virus? The first thing you should do is make sure your operating system is updated. On most Microsoft Windows systems, you can click on the START button in the bottom left side of the screen and then select the ALL PROGRAMS option to display a list of all the applications on your computer. Search through the list and look for the WINDOWS UPDATE or MICROSOFT UPDATE option and select it. You may have to do this several times to make sure you get all the updates. Some updates are dependent on others and will not show up unless the first update is installed.
Once you have your system updates it is time to make sure your anti-virus software is updated. If you do not have anti-virus software on your computer then I recommend you look at my website below for some good FREE anti-virus solutions and answers to your antivirus software questions. After you update your anti-virus program be sure to run a manual scan of your entire system. If you have updated your system from the Microsoft site and your antivirus software is up to date then you should be protected from most of the bad things going around the internet today. The trick is to keep your systems updated and schedule a scan several times per month just to be sure nothing slipped through.
Check out my website for a Free Virus Scan and Removal. It contains links to free antivirus programs as well as reviews of what is available and tons of other FREE help for your issues.
John is currently teaching network infrastructure at a state college in Ohio. Before teaching, he worked as the Director of IT at a good sized medical foundation. John holds the following technical certifications: A+, Net+, Security+, MCP, MCSA, MCSE, MCTS, MCITP, CCNA, CEH. Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/security-articles/was-the-conficker-virus-a-hoax-992136.html
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