Confiker Virus Update

This just in from the folks at ZoneAlarms, the folks I use for firewall and anti- virus. Looks like they've found out more on how the recently spread Confiker virus works and what it's trying to do. Pretty wild stuff. They say if you get the pop- up window on your computer, don't click on it at all, even to close the pop- up. Wow!

Just posting this because you know there's at least a few visitors to this blog using unprotected systems:

A recent development regarding the Conficker virus has been detected, where it is now directing infected machines to download new, harmful files, thus activating the botnet. Here’s how this new behavior works:

Conficker sends out email spam without the PC owner’s knowledge. In addition, Conficker uses pop-ups to warn of PC infection and offers fake antivirus software, called 'SpywareProtect2009' at a price of $49.95. If purchased, credit card information is stolen and the virus downloads even more malicious software.

You can protect yourself from Conficker with ZoneAlarm Security Suite.
It includes anti-spyware and identity theft protection in addition to your antivirus protection.

If you encounter a pop-up like this, do not click on the pop-up at all - not even to close the box. To remove the pop-up without infection, open your Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Delete), and end the task from your Browser (Explorer, Firefox, etc.). You should take additional precautions to ensure you are not already infected and have adequate protection: