What do I love about April Fool’s Day? The practical jokes, of course. What do I hate about April Fool’s Day? Practical jokes in the form of a virus that can infect my computer and launch an attack on other computers world-wide. I’m not someone who really keeps up-to-date on the latest computer viruses, but lately I’ve heard from friends and new sources about the latest virus. It’s called Conficker and it basically gives the creator of the virus complete control over your computer. Recently I’ve heard news reports cautioning people that the Conficker virus can be launched from infected computers and instructed to attack other computers all over the world…on April Fool’s Day, of course.This topic peaked my interest, so I read a few articles about computer viruses and the Conficker virus in particular. It’s apparent that viruses have always been around almost as long as computers, and Conficker or a form of the virus has been in existence for the past several years. The interesting aspect of this virus is that your computer could be infected and you may not even know it. The Conficker virus has gained notoriety because it can sit dormant until it’s instructed to attack the host computer. At that point you’re in trouble.
Reports have estimated that the Conficker virus has infected between 5 and 10 million computers worldwide. Furthermore, the virus was expected to launch an attack from infected computers on April Fool’s Day…which never happened. Yet another unfulfilled computer threat, much like the Y2K bug. The Conficker virus is only a danger for Microsoft operating systems, and is not a threat to Mac or Linex. However, it appears that Microsoft was not amused with the Conficker April Fool’s Day joke. Microsoft has issued a $250,000 reward for information that will lead to the arrest of the virus author.
The articles also provided some common sense tips to avoid having your computer infected by a virus. Most importantly, they suggested keeping your computer current with its operating system (i.e. Windows) updates. Also, don’t surf around unknown sites or open messages or attachments from unknown addresses. Because if you do, you’ll open yourself up to viruses and jeopardize the security of your computer.
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