deuces wild Posted February 1, 2006 Report Share Posted February 1, 2006 The clock is ticking on a dangerous computer virus programmed to delete millions of Word files stored on PCs when it reaches the end of its countdown on Friday. Experts have warned that the Blackworm virus, which has also been named Blackmal, Nyxem, MyWife and Tearec, could destroy vast amounts of information when it is triggered, and could send unprotected businesses into chaos. The malicious software strikes against machines powered by Microsoft's near-ubiquitous Windows software. According to SANS, the US-based internet security organisation, by January 26 around 300,000 computer systems, made up of potentially millions of individual PCs, had already been infected by the virus. The organisation said: "This worm is different and more serious than other worms for a number of reasons. In particular, it will overwrite a user's files on February 3." The list of file-types that the virus will hit and delete includes the most commonly-used formats, including Word, Powerpoint and Excel documents. More at http://tinyurl.com/at299 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted February 1, 2006 Report Share Posted February 1, 2006 Here is what Microsoft has to say about it http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/...ory/904420.mspx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted February 1, 2006 Report Share Posted February 1, 2006 Thanks for the tip. I have downloaded and am at present running a scan from Pats link Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted February 1, 2006 Report Share Posted February 1, 2006 Great tool from Pats link. Computer clean, and it found billions of temp files and deleted them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted February 1, 2006 Report Share Posted February 1, 2006 Great tool from Pats link. Computer clean, and it found billions of temp files and deleted them.Refuses to work for me - even if I use IE. Error message comes up and IE closes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted February 1, 2006 Report Share Posted February 1, 2006 Great tool from Pats link. Computer clean, and it found billions of temp files and deleted them.Refuses to work for me - even if I use IE. Error message comes up and IE closes.Are you using IE7 beta? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted February 1, 2006 Report Share Posted February 1, 2006 Great tool from Pats link. Computer clean, and it found billions of temp files and deleted them.Refuses to work for me - even if I use IE. Error message comes up and IE closes.Are you using IE7 beta?No, just the IE6 as supplied with XP SP2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thos Posted February 1, 2006 Report Share Posted February 1, 2006 Thanks Pat. I am at pesent working on my son's computer and am running a scan. It looks like there are a few nasties here.I'll have a go at my own when I get there this evening.Thos. :flowers: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted February 1, 2006 Report Share Posted February 1, 2006 Great tool from Pats link. Computer clean, and it found billions of temp files and deleted them.Refuses to work for me - even if I use IE. Error message comes up and IE closes.You have to enable popups on that site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted February 1, 2006 Report Share Posted February 1, 2006 Even with the popup blocker disabled, this thing still refuses to install. It's the same on all three machines. As these are fed through the same wireless link, I think it may be to do with that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deuces wild Posted February 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2006 It took me several attempts but the program finally installed and is now scanning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D4\/!d Posted February 1, 2006 Report Share Posted February 1, 2006 ... and it found billions of temp files... Why..??andsome, I thought you used CCleaner. And CC clears out all the ~ and tmp stuff - doesn't it?? :unsure: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted February 1, 2006 Report Share Posted February 1, 2006 That's what I thought, but it was a five figure number. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D4\/!d Posted February 1, 2006 Report Share Posted February 1, 2006 ... it was a five figure number I don't understand why - I had a mere handful of temp files when I ran the scan this morning :unsure: And I'm pleased to say, everything else was clean. That's prolly due to all the help I get here at WF. Thanks folks :flowers: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lester1 Posted February 1, 2006 Report Share Posted February 1, 2006 Refuses to work for me - even if I use IE. Error message comes up and IE closes.Same here IE crashes and after sending the report to MS they say upgrade to Parser3. That doesn't work either :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gandalph Posted February 1, 2006 Report Share Posted February 1, 2006 I'm just about to download it and give it a run. Will let you know how I get on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gandalph Posted February 1, 2006 Report Share Posted February 1, 2006 Refuses to work for me - even if I use IE. Error message comes up and IE closes.Same here IE crashes and after sending the report to MS they say upgrade to Parser3. That doesn't work either :(Same here. This machine go's back to the blue Desktop screen when I click on install. That's life. :blink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted February 2, 2006 Report Share Posted February 2, 2006 More info on that Windows Live Safety Center scan. First, the direct link to the scanner page (as the link is a bit hidden in the Microsoft article): http://safety.live.com/be aware that the scanner is still betawareit needs to be opened in Internet Explorer (I couldn't run it on FF+IEtab)all pop-up blockers, including IE's own and Google bar, must be disabledthe download of the scanner can take several minutesbefore starting the scan, I recommend closing all other appsI also recommend running Ccleaner & defrag before the scandisable anti-virus software, as it will run along the scan and do its own checking of each accessed file - making the scan longer than neededif you have large amounts of data on your computer, the scan may take a very long timeOn that last point, I am running the scan now; it has been running for more than 15 minutes, and so far it is 2% complete. This means (15 * 50 / 60) it will run for 12½ hours! Checking the task manager I see that IE is using an average of 95% CPU while scanning. Still, I think it's worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted February 2, 2006 Report Share Posted February 2, 2006 I'm glad I'm not the only one who can't get this thing to work, or even load up.Not one of MS better efforts, I feel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted February 2, 2006 Report Share Posted February 2, 2006 I couldn't get it to install either, yesterday. But today, following my instructions, it installed and is scanning like a charm. Of course it was the other way around; I first got it to run, then wrote the "instructions" :) There is a forum regarding this scanner: http://boards.live.com/safetyboards/board.aspx?BoardID=225 . (Also needs to run on IE). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted February 2, 2006 Report Share Posted February 2, 2006 My scan was completed in about thirty minutes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gandalph Posted February 2, 2006 Report Share Posted February 2, 2006 I finally got the thing up and running in IE6 and pleased to report, as John Inman would say, I'm free. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thos Posted February 3, 2006 Report Share Posted February 3, 2006 I followed Pat's guide to the letter. It installed without difficulty, scanned in about 10 minutes and came up clean, thahks, I am sure to all the guidance given by you good folks previously.Thos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artist Posted February 3, 2006 Report Share Posted February 3, 2006 No probs with getting the scan started - but it took almost an hour. I also had 2000-odd temp files yet I only ran cccleaner yesterday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted February 3, 2006 Report Share Posted February 3, 2006 No probs with getting the scan started - but it took almost an hour. I also had 2000-odd temp files yet I only ran cccleaner yesterday.As I said, I had loads, and I too run CC on a regular basis. I must run this scan more often. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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