What's a Conficker?

What is the Conficker Worm?

Conficker (also known as Downup, Downadup, and Kido) is a worm that has been spreading across the Internet since around October of 2008, of course, this is just an approximation, and the actual origin is not known for certain. Conficker specifically targets the Windows operating system (Windows 2000 Pro, XP home, XP Pro, XP Media Center Edition, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008). It spreads via malicious web sites, emails, and sharing infected files via P2P software.

What does Conficker do?

As of now, all that is has done is install itself, break your antivirus software, and modify some system files to make itself very hard to remove. It is also likely that if you got the Conficker Worm, you got other malware as well that causes the common symptoms (pop ups, slowness, etc). In addition, it creates false URLs in order to spread it self, and also downloads more malware to your system.

The big concern with this worm is that is has spread so much. Current estimates indicate that it could be installed on as many as 15 Million computers world wide. Now, if it stay dormant and does nothing, that's not that big of a deal, but experts don't think that it is going to stay dormant. Analysts who have looked into the worm believe that on April 1st, 2009 (tomorrow) the worm is programmed to "phone home" and update it self with new instructions, and that is a major concern.

The potential for a worm like this is massive, and the update could make the worm do anything from delete files, download more malware, turn your computer into a spam bot (a computer that sends out massive amounts of spam) or all the infected computers could be combined to form a massive botnet, which would be leased to the highest bidder.

A bot net, is a network of computers, usually lots of home systems spread across the world, that are controlled as a single unit and used to either send out massive amounts of spam, or to DDoS targets. If used as a botnet and the target is a bank, a utility company, or even a few large organizations the results could be crippling. If they target ISPs, the Internet could come to a crawl, if they target a company, they could lose massive amounts of business.

The problem is, at this point, we don't really know what will happen, and that is scary. But not to worry, we are not helpless.

Symptoms of Conficker:

• Users being locked out of directories
• Access to admin shares denied
• Scheduled tasks being created
• Access to security related web sites is blocked.

How to stop Conficker:

This worm uses a known exploit in Windows that Microsoft has patched a long time ago. The problem is, many people don't update their computers, so the fix is never installed. So the first step is to update your computer.

1. Go to update.microsoft.com and install all of the latest updates for your computer. Once they are installed, reboot your computer, and go back and run the updates again. Keep doing this until no more updates show as needing to be installed.
2. Update your anti virus software. Open up the software and run the automatic update. If your subscription is expired, either renew it right now, or uninstall it, and download and install a free anti virus like AVG
3. After the updates, run a full system scan, and delete any threats that have been found.
4. Restart your computer, and run the full system scan again.
5. You can also use an online scanner like Trend Micro's Housecall,  Symantec's Removal Tool, or
Microsoft's Malicious Software Removal Tool

For more information about the Conficker Worm See the following:

Microsoft Malware Protection Center

Microsoft Help and Support

McAfee Conficker Information Page

Symantec's Conficker Information Page

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A Response To "Why Can't Windows Shutdown Properly"

An article written by Larry Magid and posted on CNET today complains about a problem with the Windows Operating system  taking too long to shutdown and start up. And while I agree that there are times Windows moves too slowly, I also have to point out that the reason is rarely Windows.

The first thing you have to understand is what actually happens when Windows is shutdown. If the only thing installed on a computer is the Windows Operating system, then all that needs to happen for the computer to shutdown is:

1. Anything in RAM that will be needed later is written to the hard drive.
2. All open files are closed
3. All Services required to run the computer are stopped
4. Power to the hardware is stopped and the computer is now shutdown.

This process doesn't change very much even after other software is installed, but what does change is what files need to be closed, what need to be written to the hard drive, and what services need to be stopped. This is where the problem comes in.

Think about what is running on your computer right now, you probably think "oh...just my Internet browser", and chances are, you are probably wrong (at least, you should be wrong)

On a typical computer the following types of software are installed, and at least a portion of them are running in the background (i.e. they aren't being actively used by the user)

1. Antivirus software - this is a good thing by the way.
2. Instant messaging software (I have 2 different IM services running, 1 for work, 1 for personal use)
3. File indexing software (things like Microsoft Desktop Search or Google Desktop)
4. Quicktime/iTunes services
5. Software update services (used to update various pieces of software installed, and there can be several services depending on the software)
6. Viruses (most computers I work on have AT LEAST 1 piece of Malware or a virus)

So when you shutdown a computer, Windows must go through each one of these and stop them from running, when they are told to stop, they all go through their own processes to store data, close files, and end services. If there is a problem with the software, it may hang, and you will see that wonderful "Program not responding" error. This happens frequently when several things are trying to close at once because they are trying to access similar resources. If any of these programs have trouble closing, Widows can't shutdown.

So why can't Windows just force a program closed and move on? Well, it is because if Windows just started forcing applications close, files that are being written to, or things that have not been saved yet can become corrupt or deleted, and that would cause even more problems.

Windows being slow to start is caused by the exact same thing. All of that stuff you have auto starting can cause problems, and many of the hang ups experienced are caused by other programs not starting properly.

The number 1 cause of these slowdowns are viruses and malware. Most software like this is not written to be efficient, they don't take standard coding 'rules' into account and are very rarely thoroughly tested. Because of this, they cause all kinds of problems, and the authors don't have to answer to anyone since the software shouldn't be installed in the first place. Pirated software that has been tampered with is also a major cause of these kinds of errors, as well as running software when your computer does not meet the required hardware specifications. Now, this isn't to say that Windows is always perfect, because it is not, but considering how universally used it is and how much different software can run on it, it is almost impossible to make sure it is 100% perfect all the time.

Oh...and if you are thinking about comparing it to a Mac, please think about the total combinations of hardware/software available to work on a computer running Windows, and what's available for your Mac. There is no comparison, and because of that, you cant fairy compare the problems they have.

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Writing an Effective Email

Email communications are a big part of most peoples day to day lives. I use email to keep in touch with friends and family, to get updates on things I am interested in, and of course, as my primary form of communications.

On any given day, I will receive between 100-150 legitimate emails; and by legitimate, I mean I need to at least look at them to see what is going on, of those, I actually read about 40-50 in full because I really don't have the time (or need) to read through every single one in its entirety. I am able to go through a lot of the emails because they are well written and formatted. If an email is properly written, I am able to easily determine if the email is meant for me, if I need to reply to the email, and am able to get the info I need quickly. So lets talk about how an email should be composed, we will start from top to bottom.

Determine who is going to receive the email:

To: - The 'To' field should only be used for people who the email is directed at, and who you may want a response of some type from. If you want others to get the email as an 'FYI' don't put them in the 'To' section.

CC: - CC stands for Carbon Copy, and that is exactly what this field is for. You add people to the CC section because while the email is not directed at them, you do want them to have a copy. Many times I will CC my boss or others who need to be kept in the loop on an issue, but don't actually need to reply to an email. They will get the email and have the information they need if asked about it, but really don't need to read it typically.

BCC: - BCC should be used for 1 thing, and 1 thing only. To hide who you are sending a message to. This is a helpful feature when sending out company or department wide emails because it prevents people from replying to everyone by accident (or on purpose), or can be used to send a copy of emails to superiors, or departments like HR or Legal if they need to be aware of an issue, but you don't want to let the recipient know.

The Subject Line:

Every single email you send should have a subject line, no excuses no exceptions. Subject lines give the person who receives the email an idea of what the message contains,it makes it easier to follow conversations via email that include multiple people, and makes it easier to find the email later when searching for it.

You Subject should be brief, and contain the primary topic of the email. I personally hate subjects like "a question" or "hey..." when I get them at work. Those are fine for emails between friends etc, but if you are emailing a client, or a business, don't use those. I also dislike subjects that are the start of a sentence then continue in the email, like "I was thinking about that car...." and then the body starts "...and it looks like a good deal". The subject is fine, but the body needs to be able to stand on its own.

Email body:

While everything above is very important, it is mostly just used for organizational purposes. The body of the email is where the meat is.

Your email should be well written, clean, and concise. If it is in a work environment, it should be treated as semi-formal (formal if to clients, or is a serious topic) writing. This means punctuation and grammar should be correct, thoughts should be complete, and the tone should be professional. Anything less than this makes it harder to read and hard to understand. An important thing to remember when writing an email is that meaning of things can be misinterpreted if not made clear. When talking to someone, you have things like tone and body language to help get your point across, you don't have that in email. Sarcasm is harder to detect, as are small jokes about things, so be careful, as a few poorly chosen words can turn something funny into something offensive.

Attachments:

Name attachments appropriately. Like any file, there should be a descriptive name to indicate what it is. Scanned documents typically have a generic letter/number combination as their name. Do the recipient a favor and rename it for them so they know what it is. Also, don't attach things that don't need to be attached. I have gotten emails from people that are word documents as attachments, with the only thing in the body saying "See Attachment". While this is ok sometimes, it usually isn't. Attachments should be in addition to the info you are providing.

Also, use common formats for attachments. If a document doesn't need to be edited by the recipient, send it as a PDF so they can open it on any computer they want instead of only opening it on one with your word editor installed. Images should be JPEG of GIF files when possible as they are highly compressed and can be opened in just about all software (this can always be done since sometimes the higher quality of TIFF or RAW images are needed).

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The Ultimate Steal Is Back

A lot of people like to hate on Microsoft, but they do a lot of good, especially when it comes to helping students. Right now, you can get Microsoft Office 2007 Ultimate Edition, which usually sells for over $600.00 for only $59.99 through a program called The Ultimate Steal, which is put on by Microsoft. The only stipulations to the program are that you must be a student, and you much have an email address ending in .edu.Other than that, this is a completely legit deal, so if you need MS office, and you are a student, there is no better choice.

 

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NIN|JA 2009

2 of my favorite bands, Nine Inch Nails and Jane’s Addiction, along with Street Sweepers have released a free for download compilation album as a preview to the up coming NIN|JA 2009 Tour.

 

Stream it to your computer, or download the Album for free at www.ninja2009.com

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