Off-Topic: What are you doing for Conficker C?

[OTE_TheMissile]

http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/12...me-april-1/;_ylt=AnmpKPsdNOhmvSBy1jKgs_sazJV4

Right now I'm making sure everything on my work machine is up-to-date, dropping by Windows Update and checking the status for Spyware Doctor.

If I can get connected sometime this afternoon I'll do the same to my personal laptop, but tomorrow I plan on having the WiFi turned off and the computer shut down all day. Not sure if that'd make any difference but I don't see why not to, certainly couldn't hurt.

 

[MilesH]

I switched off Windows Updates on the day that I bought my computer....

Anyone know which carries the greatest risk - Conficker, or one years worth of updates to Vista....? :mrgreen:

 

[JordanCClark]

I switched off Windows Updates on the day that I bought my computer....

Anyone know which carries the greatest risk - Conficker, or one years worth of updates to Vista....? :mrgreen:

Boy, they're so close together on my list...

 

[NateLiquidGravity]

IDK - Having a zombie computer sounds like a nice excuse to have a day off. :lol:

 

[Ralf]

I have no problems :lol: with my device.

 

[sigseven]

I switched off Windows Updates on the day that I bought my computer....

Anyone know which carries the greatest risk - Conficker, or one years worth of updates to Vista....? :mrgreen:

That's a horrible idea D:

At least get this one http://www.microsoft.com/technet/securi ... 8-067.mspx

 

[MilesH]

All I can say is that I've had no problems since switching off Updates - whereas the Updates were a nightmare......

 

[OTE_TheMissile]

The only problem I've had with automatic updates is they seem to appear whenever I'm in the middle of something rather system-resources intensive. Like, say...during the final lap of a GT Legends race on my personal computer as I'm attempting to make a pass for the lead in the last corner. "We interrupt this FIA 1965 Historics race from Imola to bring you Windows Updates!", and the game crashes :evil:

There was also a period not too long ago where automatic updates would keep downloading and installing the same update over and over and over again until I turned updates off

 

[MilesH]

:mrgreen:

 

[wathavy4]

All I can say is that I've had no problems since switching off Updates - whereas the Updates were a nightmare......

My software stopped working on SP3 so I spend whole one month on reinstalling XP SP2 on a factory PC.
I donn wanna update anymore, yanno.(Mike! :mrgreen: )

 

[OTE_TheMissile]

My software stopped working on SP3 so I spend whole one month on reinstalling XP SP2 on a factory PC.
I donn wanna update anymore, yanno.(Mike! :mrgreen: )

The only thing scarier than a computer worm infecting millions of machines across the globe? The idea that people in foreign countries are trying to emulate me. Gotta love the internet :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Well so far so good on my work machine today, I dunno if there's a specific time of day this thing's supposed to do its update. I read an article on Yahoo! that describes one of the symptoms of being infected as being able to browse the internet normally until you try to visit a website belonging to an anti-malware company and the worm blocks it (I had this happen to me when my laptop caught a trojan shortly after New Year's). I just visited the homepages of Symantec, ESET, and AVG Free with no problems. So yeah, it seems like I'm OK.

I'll check my laptop when I get home this afternoon. I know I said I was going to leave it off all day today, but (not surprisingly) I've read that that idea doesn't work; a machine infected with Conficker that's left off or disconnected today will just update itself tomorrow instead.

 

[cherkey]

We had this 'Downadup' running rampant here couple of weeks ago. And Symantec caught it.. yep, on my machine too. We were able kill it fortunately.
Everyone changing admin passwords, installing fix, installing patch... lots o' excitement!

 

[OTE_TheMissile]

We had this 'Downadup' running rampant here couple of weeks ago.

That's one of Conficker's aliases

So I'm not enough of a computer guy to know; is it just sheer bad luck determining who this worm decides to take a potshot at, or can it get passed on by two machines interacting directly with each other over the internet? i.e., say somebody with an infected computer posts an attachment on a message board, or is even browsing the message board at the same time as a non-infected user, could something like Conficker get transmitted that way?

 

[cherkey]

All great questions, none of which I have an answer for but -
From Symantec:
Q: Am I safe if I don’t go to questionable web sites?
A: No. The Conficker worm seeks out computers on the same network. You can be in a coffee shop, an airport or in the office and the worm will quietly try to attach to your computer and run itself.

 

[Wing-Nut]

Bottom line. If your on the internet your not safe

 

[OTE_TheMissile]

Bottom line. If your on the internet your not safe

Well yeah, but there's people like me that always have up-to-date antivirus/anti-spyware software on their computer, only visit websites that can be trusted, and take steps to make sure that personal information and passwords don't go anywhere but where I originally entered them.

Then you've got people like my crazy Aunt Cathy who'll check out every single pop-up and banner advertisement she sees, forwards everything she finds mildly amusing to my technology-inept Old Man, and then it's a complete mystery to both of them why their computers run like crap and our ISP spikes our account claiming we're sending spam email. :roll:

 

[Wing-Nut]

I have a few friends like that :mrgreen: They always ask me if I can fix their PC. All I do is a total reinstall from the MS Disk.

I run a good AntiVirus, FireWall, SpyWare, and Malware. But how are they staying ahead of the Hackers making this stuff or is it these Companies making the problematic Viruses and such.

I have asked question before and gotten rude answers from the providers of AntiVirus, FireWall, SpyWare, and Malware. LOL, it is just a question :mrgreen:

 

[OTE_TheMissile]

Sometimes its funny: my Old Man got himself a new anti-spyware program for his PC a few years back but didn't uninstall the old one first. Both programs automatically monitored for new spyware, so when the new software found spyware in the old one's quarantine, it moved it to its own quarantine. Then the old software would see the spyware file move outside its quarantine and take it back.

Back and forth the files went, as fast as the PC could move them. It took us 4 hours to turn the old anti-spy program off. :mrgreen:

 

[NateLiquidGravity]

I run a good AntiVirus, FireWall, SpyWare, and Malware. But how are they staying ahead of the Hackers making this stuff or is it these Companies making the problematic Viruses and such.

The Conficker C has been out for a while but it was dormant after it was installed until it tried to update yesterday supposedly. The antivirus guys have been testing with it since October of 2008 I think. Finding its weaknesses. Actually if this had not gotten so much attention it would have probably done massive damage already.

I have asked question before and gotten rude answers from the providers of AntiVirus, FireWall, SpyWare, and Malware. LOL, it is just a question :mrgreen:

You mean that it could be something made up like weapons of mass destruction? :lol: :roll:

 

[Wing-Nut]

I run a good AntiVirus, FireWall, SpyWare, and Malware. But how are they staying ahead of the Hackers making this stuff or is it these Companies making the problematic Viruses and such.

The Conficker C has been out for a while but it was dormant after it was installed until it tried to update yesterday supposedly. The antivirus guys have been testing with it since October of 2008 I think. Finding its weaknesses. Actually if this had not gotten so much attention it would have probably done massive damage already.

I have asked question before and gotten rude answers from the providers of AntiVirus, FireWall, SpyWare, and Malware. LOL, it is just a question :mrgreen:

You mean that it could be something made up like weapons of mass destruction? :lol: :roll:

Not exactly. More like Create a Job for AntiVirus Software Suppliers. :wink: