Quick Hit: How NOT to be an April fool

Tomorrow, April 1st, is supposed to be D-Day for the Conficker.c virus. According to some people, it's the day it will launch the next phase of its attack, which could be anything from resetting restore points to making everyone's computer into part of a sophisticated botnet.

We at The Times aren't too worried about this for the following reasons:

1. We've been on the net long enough to remember every virus that was supposed to do something on April 1st. April 1st is the original Y2K.
   
2. We have been keeping an eye on this and making sure that our PC at work is nice and healthy.
3. We use a Mac at home (though we expect by this time next year to start seeing exploits in the Mac being targeted).

The media has been carrying this story quite a bit, and of course people have been panicking about it, imagining that their computers are all going to go Skynet tomorrow morning. Of course, most of these people have been worrying and wringing their hands and doing nothing about it other than telling everyone "I heard a big virus is on its way". Seriously, we don't want to be the Marge Simpson of the Internet, but for crying out loud people this stuff isn't hard to look up!

Here is our list of what to do:

1. Relax. The main target of this worm has been business servers. This does not mean that you on your home PC are immunue, but it also does not mean that you are assuredly infected. In fact, the majority of computers that are infected are in Asia. As well, this is a good overview of what the worm is and how it moves from computer to computer.
   
2. Check to see if you might already be protected. The worm uses an exploit in Microsoft software that Microsoft has since patched. If you are using Microsoft Automatic Security Updates, chances are you're safe. To check, go to Start > Control Panel > Add/Remove Progams > show updates > check for update KB958644 (you'll have to read down your list and look for it).
3. Patch yourself. You can get the update from here http://support.microsoft.com/kb/958644. This is a pretty big security update and a lot of other malicious software will be looking to exploit the flaw that it covers.
   
4. Be ever vigilant. Get some virus protection. When we were on a PC AVG Free did the trick every time, and is very easy to use. Be careful of what buttons you click on any website. But most importantly, if you hear a story about a virus or piece of malware via a friend, or an email, or a tweet, or a Facebook posting, take ten minutes and Google it and read a few pages describing what it is, where it comes from, and what to do about it. If someone said "I heard that the sun is going to crash into the Earth tomorrow", you wouldn't just run around telling people that. The same goes for when you see a virus warning: think for a second, Google it, read a few sources, and then decide if it's worth a panic. Trust us, this stuff is not that hard to understand, and within a few minutes you'll know if this is something that affects you or not.

These four simple steps go for any virus warning or scare. The information is all out there to help you prevent your computer from getting infected, and what the consequences are if you do.

Go forth and do likewise, gents.