Conficker Worm
Have you heard of Conficker? Its the latest virus that's going around. I am working hard to remove it from a computer at home.
In fact, about 20 million computer have been infected with this virus. Most computer users will discover they have the virus when they are unable to visit some websites, such as microsoft.com and mcafee.com.
So, how do you remove the Virus? There's plenty of sites telling you all the things to manually remove the virus, but if you miss a step, the virus could come back. I would highly recommend getting an application to remove the tool. Thankfully Symantec has a tool and it's FREE!
Step 1: Get the Symantec Tool
Using a different computer, go to Symantec's website and download the W32.Downadup - Removal tool. If all your computer is infected and you are unable to visit the site, you do have a couple of options! You can go to a FedEx Office and download the tool, or edit the host file on your infected computer.
Note: If you know anything about editing a host file you could always add an alias for symantec.com. For example: 216.12.145.20 www.example.com (Just don't forget to remove it when your done!)
If you do use another computer, You can transfer the application using a USB Drive, however, I would recommend using a CD since the USB Flash Drive could be infected.
Step 2: Run the tool
Start up the computer in Safe Mode, this is done by holding down F8 on startup. Run the Symantec Application. Then Reboot the computer and re-run the application. Note this could take a couple of hours depending on how many files you have on your computer, so if your using a laptop make sure that it's plugged in.
To run the tool, simply double click on the downloaded application. Some variance of the Conficker may prevent you from running the application, simply rename the download file will fix this problem.
Step 3: Prevention
Once the virus has been removed, you should go to Window's Update and make sure that you have the latest security patches. Hint: If you have the latest updates you shouldn't infect.
Good Luck with removing the Conficker Virus, this is a really bad virus and may be challenging. If you learn anything from this, you should back up your computer often and run a Virus scan or at least do a Windows Update frequently.