April 1st: April Fools Day, practical jokes on friends, family and co-workers a few laughs and then we move on.  Well April 1st, 2009 may be the least amusing April Fools Day on record.

If you missed the stories on 60 Minutes, Dateline, The Today Show and Good Morning America then you're in the dark about the Conflicker Virus.  What is the Conflicker Virus. There are three "strains" of the virus, Conflicker A, Conflicker B and Conflicker C., Conflicker C is what all the buzz is about. Conficker.C, which surfaced earlier this month, shuts down security services, blocks computers from connecting to security Web sites, and downloads a Trojan. It also reaches out to other infected computers via peer-to-peer networking and includes a list of 50,000 different domains, of which 500 will be contacted by the infected computer on April 1 to receive updated copies or other malware or instructions. Previous Conficker variants were written to connect to 250 domains a day. (http://news.cnet.com/)  
        
What can you do to protect yourself? Update your anti-virus and malware software. If you don't have anti-virus software (which is just DUM) then get it A.S.A.P. If you're not sure what to get I suggest Microsoft's Windows Live OneCare. You can download the software and try it for free for 90 days.  I like this software because it's user friendly and isn't as intrusive as other anti-virus programs and spy ware (malware) is included.  One 49.95 subscription to Windows Live OneCare covers 3 computers for one year. You will need to create a Windows Live account, login to this account on each computer and install it separately. The 3 computers do not need to be in the same household (great for travelers and households with college students).

When I heard about this I immediately thought about the gloom and doom predictions for Y2k and as we all know nothing happened. There is a strong possibility all the Conflicker hype, is just that, hype.  But no need to take any chances. If you have a high speed connection and use the internet you're at risk. It is believed that the Conflicker Virus originated in Russia. A great number of computer viruses originate in Russia. The Russian hackers goal is to obtain financial information such as passwords and logins from unsuspecting victims. They move your money to other bank accounts and then wire it out of the country.  Luckily as Americans our deposits are insured up to 250,000.00 (at least until December 31st, 2009 then it may revert back to 100,000.00) and if your money is stolen your back will reimburse you (usually within days). 

So check your anti-virus software (or if you're stoopid, get some) and backup your important files, preferably on a external hard drive or a thumb drive with a minimum of 1 GB of storage. 

Good luck and let me know if I can be of any assistance.