Gamerdude Posted January 22, 2009 Report Share Posted January 22, 2009 I'm not sure if this is me being over paranoid or what, however I've been reading up on a worm that's been recently wreaking havoc all over the place. It uses very tricky tactics to get into your system, spread itself to network drives and removable storage devices, and then use your computer to infect others. Granted I don't read up on internet security all the time, however this seemed noteworthy and I figure it could hurt to let you all know about it. If you guys want more technical information, here's a link: http://myitforum.com/cs2/blogs/hwaldron/archive/2009/01/15/ms08-067-worm-dangers-new-conficker-variants-manipulate-autorun-inf.aspx F-Secure has released a tool that will scan your computer for the worm, that can be found here: http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/archives/00001588.html Better be safe than sorry, I suppose. If you're running Windows, I'd recommend getting the latest patches as well as keeping whatever anti-virus software you run up-to-date (figures, I don't use any...haha...never liked it). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyber Rat Posted January 22, 2009 Report Share Posted January 22, 2009 Ever since I use NOD32, my computer never caught a virus! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GSF Posted January 22, 2009 Report Share Posted January 22, 2009 Just in case, you might want to use the command prompt in your removable drives to see if there are any remnants in it... Better safe than sorry indeed, GD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kain Posted January 23, 2009 Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 So does it do anything other than just propagate itself? Oh well, any excuse to run windowsupdate for the first time in nearly a year. Edit: Whoa. There's a service pack 3? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gamerdude Posted January 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 @Kain: It can do a bunch of nasty things. It seems like it's trying to steal passwords (by brute force) and open up backdoors for other possible viruses and trojans. Here's another decent write-up on the bugger: http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=Security&articleId=9126349&taxonomyId=17&pageNumber=1 Haha, and yes, XP has a service pack 3 =P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huepow00 Posted January 24, 2009 Report Share Posted January 24, 2009 Downadup / Conficker Worm Crashes my PC If it wasn't this- than something else went seriously wrong because shortly after logging onto my PC, I'd get a Blue Screen "Bad Pool Error" or something like that. -> Solution? I completely cleaned my Hard Drive and RE-Installed Windows. Because of this, I have lost all of my past work, this includes Essays, Notes, All my Music, and Original Project Files, Midis, Sample Library, Installed Programs, Pictures. ...Everything. If I seem distracted or busy for the next month or so, please do not be alarmed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GSF Posted January 24, 2009 Report Share Posted January 24, 2009 ...what? You don't have any backup? Or a secondary system, linux liveCD or something? You could have recovered that data... I didn't find it on my laptop, but my ol' XP desktop got it. I downloaded MS's removal tool, got rid of it, and also installed the update. So screw Conficker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gamerdude Posted January 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2009 Sorry to hear that you caught it, HuePow00...it seems like a nasty critter. I scanned and I didn't have it, so that was good. As gsoft said, you probably could have recovered your data with a livecd of some sort. I'd also suggest getting an "undeleter" program. I've used Recuva in the past. It can do an okay job. Maybe you're lucky enough to be able to recover some stuff: http://www.recuva.com/. It's a free tool, it can't hurt to try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GSF Posted January 24, 2009 Report Share Posted January 24, 2009 However, with 'Cleaned my hard drive' I'm guessing he reformatted it... Even though, some advanced software claims to recover files even after a reformat. It's possible, really. If there's still a chance... I doubt that 'Bad Pool Error' could have been 'cause of Conficker... although it's said that it automatically downloads extra malware once it executes... this could be the reason. But still, if you have a Windows install CD handy (which I guess you have since you reinstalled Windows), you can use the recovery console to retrieve your stuff or replace any files that malware could have borked, such as the boot.ini or ntldr, for example. A good choice is to get a cheap ~500 MB flash drive and put DamnSmallLinux on it. It's only 50 MB, you can put it some extra software for your basic needs too. It's a great emergency tool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts