Woah, that was one big April Fools prank!

Yes, on April 1st, 2009 the infamous virus known as Conficker, was given a new set of instructions by its creator(s) or was told to carry out a new set of tasks. As of today, security advisors from McAfee as well as Norton still have no way to totally block the virus from attacking unprotected systems, but are beginning to discover ways to detect the virus and remove it from computers if successful.

The Conflicker virus infultrates computers by exploiting a flaw in the Windows Service Pack. Once infected with either Conflicker.A or Conflicker B. a computer is vulnerable to the most recent variant known as Conficker.C. So far, this "Super" virus has infected over 10 million personal computers and 350 million computers are expected to be vulnerable. The virus is able to block users from downloading updates from Windows, and from updating security software. So far it has not caused as much problems as was expected, but it is believed that eventually it will be able to hijack computers and steal valuable personal information.

Steps you can take to get protected and signs that you may be infected:

• If you do NOT already have anti-virus software, i recommend downloading it from various sources or buying a program such as McAfee or Norton.

• Try accessing a Security website such as McAfee.com or Norton.com, if you cannot access this sites, there is a very good possibilty that you are infected with the worm.

• Download the most recent Windows Updates to help protect your computer

• Try turning off the AutoRun feature on your computer to prevent getting the virus via USB ports.

For more information and more detail on how to keep your computer safe, please visit  http://www.switched.com/2009/01/28/what-is-the-conflicker-virus-and-should-you-be-worried/ or http://www.mcafee.com/us/threat_center/conficker.html