Anyone Worried?
Im almost hesitant to broach this topic since I remember that not long ago, someone really took issue with someone that posted about their difficulties with Dell because another member didnt think it appropriate to post things not related to nudism in these forums. But this is a peripheral issue I think since it does have a bearing on continued access to this site.
Anyway, my question is: Is anyone worried about the Conflicker worm? It is supposed to activate after midnight (April 1) although it seems a mystery what the virus will actually do. Some think it will turn the millions of infected computers into spam-sending zombie robots. Otherwise speculate that it will start capturing everything people type into their computers: passwords, credit card numbers, etc. and send the information back to its masters.
I wasnt really worried since Im pretty particular about what web sites I visit and I do have virus software installed on my computers. Still there was a tech article featured on Yahoo this morning that had advice on some last minute proactive steps to take to make certain your computer was protected which included updating your virus software with the latest patches. My own software notified me this morning that it was time to update and so I clicked on the update button. It appeared to be downloading updates but Im still getting an advisory that my protection is not complete? One of the things Conflicker apparently does is it prevents virus software from updating so now I am a little worried.
Hopefully this is similar to the Y2K scare and nothing will even happen. On the other hand, if you never hear from me again after today then you will know I fell victim to Conflicker.
Nope, not worried in the least. But, to put your mind at ease, check out some Australian websites, since they would get any virus first. I went to yahoo's aussie site and msn's aussie site and upon a quick review I didn't see any mention of any virus scare there. So, I reckon since they haven't gotten anything yet, then it stands to reason we won't either.
p.s. My fiance is in Australia and I recieved an e-mail from her this afternoon. She never mentioned anything about this virus and the fact that she was even able to e-mail me speaks volumes.
Great idea Swiftie! I hadn't even thought about it already being April 1 down under and that does make me feel better! Since it is supposed to be a worldwide issue it surely would have had an effect in Australia if the worst fears were going to be realized. Thanks!
Hehe...Anytime. To be honest, I didn't even think of Australia (which is sad since for the last 4 yrs I lived there lol) until someone mentioned the y2k scare in this thread. I remember everybody eagerly awaiting to see if Australia would blow up or not during the day on December 31st and the world rejoiced when it didn't. lol
Actually my fears were pretty much put to rest by Swifties brilliant observation yesterday afternoon that it was already April 1 in Australia at that time and nothing had been reported there. But I admit I was still relieved to turn on my computer this morning and find everything working normally. It is funny how when things get hyped in the media it sometimes does cause one to feel ill at ease. Sometimes I wonder if this whole economic mess isnt simply a fabrication by the press. A persons perception is a persons reality to no small degree and sometimes I wonder if having been told that the economy is on the rocks ad nausea simply caused us to adopt that perception. Sometimes I think the world is a bit closer to the tenants of the Matrix films than we might believe.
As a professional in the field of computers, servers and networking for over 25 years, I can count on my one finger how many times a "media announced threat" has actually been warranted. Official threats are at www.cert.org. Most of the time the "damage" to the internet is that thousands of people send billions of email to tell their buddies. So, email backs up, companies cannot get the important emails and then someone puts at the bottom of the email "you must send this to 10 friends or you will die horribly in the next 24 hours"....etc, ad infinitum, ad nauseam. Ninety percent of all "virus'" are just bunk.
Keep your AV up to date. If you don't have AV, go get the free version of AVG.
Good luck all,
Toodles,
J