Conflicker Worm is here!

Yes folks, it looks like the worm is very active again.
Please take the time to protect yourself and your data. A few minutes of safety can save hours or days of frustration and money.

The worm started spreading late last year, infecting millions of computers and turning them into "slaves" that respond to commands sent from a remote server that effectively controls an army of computers known as a botnet.

The Worm is quietly turning personal computers into servers of e-mail spam, flooding users with malicious emails that in turn can spread the worm again.
It is loading more malicious software onto computers under their (botnet creators) control.
According to Russian-based security researcher Kaspersky Lab.
"Conficker installs a second virus, known as Waledac, that sends out e-mail spam without knowledge of the PC's owner, along with a fake anti-spyware program.
The Waledac virus recruits the PCs into a second botnet that has existed for several years and specializes in distributing e-mail spam.
Conficker also carries a third virus that warns users their PCs are infected and offers them a fake anti-virus program, Spyware Protect 2009 for $49.95.
If they buy it, their credit card information is stolen and the virus downloads even more malicious software."

Please don't be one of those who get scammed, lose control of their system or lose their data altogether.

Microsoft has some good resources here:
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/viruses/worms/conficker.mspx

And offers a great free scan that I recommend here:
http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/default.htm

For further steps you can take read my two previous posts:
http://mycraniumdrain.blogspot.com/2009/03/conflicker-protection.html

http://mycraniumdrain.blogspot.com/2009/03/more-conflicker-check-for-infection.html

Peace and safe computing