A Case of Conficker

A Case of Conficker – a reader asks…

Hi Chris, I guess I should have worried about computer safety more than I’ve been. My computer started acting up lately, and a friend pointed me to your website. Have you heard of a computer virus called “Conficker”? I seem to have contracted it. Can you tell me how to get rid of it?

Welcome! I hope you’ll take some steps to shore up your computer security. Conficker is a ‘worm’ that’s been around for seven years, but doesn’t seem to be dying out – there remain too many people using computers without considering security despite all the worrisome news. Unlike a computer virus that infects otherwise healthy computer files on your hard drive, a worm does its dirty work by simply replicating itself and spreading itself to other vulnerable computers. So when you say “acting up” you probably mean your computer is slower than it was before, since Conficker is using up resources at your expense.

Fortunately, some quick action on your part should eradicate it from your computer. Just visit www.malwarebytes.org, download and install their Anti-Malware program. Run it to scan your system, restart and run again. Keep doing this until the scan results show nothing bad on your computer system. Although the Conficker worm has evolved over the last seven years to continue to evade detection, current computer security programs should easily identify and remove it for you without otherwise affecting your computer.

I’m guessing that you also need to improve security on your computer. You certainly need to get all the Windows Updates that Microsoft has available, and probably replace whatever computer security program you have with something better. I recommend Bitdefender Internet Security. And lastly, you should take a hard look at how you use your computer – I have a ton of safe computing do’s and don’ts in this article.

Don’t beat yourself up too much about this, Conficker is still infecting hundreds of thousands of computers and other technology devices (like portable X-ray machines in hospitals!). The bad actors (hackers) who created this are still un-caught, and they’ve pretty much abandoned developing its capabilities further – too much attention from security professionals I guess. Of course, I hope you’ll take this experience to heart and charge of your own computer security. You’ll not only protect yourself, but also avoid sending this worm onto other unwary people you know.