Storm Worm~ Virus

[mickeyd]

http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/storm.asp

I don't know if this is legit or not, but I have been advised by an IT friend of mine that it is. IMHO it's worth an alert anyway.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Never, ever open any attachments from senders you dont know, and even if you do know them, never, ever open an executable attachment.

 

[farmerEd]

I've probably recieved 100 variants of this virus in the last few weeks...about a dozen today alone...

Email virus don't concern me if they can only be activated by running an atached file...all attachments sent to me go directly into the trash anyway unless I already know what it is, and who it came from.

On the other hand, for the first time in over 20 years of using PC's, I got infected by a virus...

Not only did I get infected, it happened when I visited a website that I've been to many times that had been hijacked....

The scary thing was I didn't even download anything or do anything...I simply typed the URL into my browser (firefox, but I also use IE sometimes), and the virus immediatelty took over my machine, locked me out of the task manager, and installed a sh*t load of programs that took me days to clear off...still not 100% certain I have all of them.

Scary thing is, I have an anti-virus installed (and it was running)...and even though I didn't do anything "dumb" (i.e.. accidentally open an EXE) the machine was able to completey take over my machine....

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Which AV did you have installed and did you check that its been updated? Windows version and have you been applying updates to that as well?

There are several existing methods of infecting a machine by causing it to run executable code just by visiting a malformed web site. I got into one a few months ago that spit up about a hundred popups and my AV stopped it from doing some naughty stuff to me.

 

[John Tuttle]

On the other hand, for the first time in over 20 years of using PC's, I got infected by a virus...

Not only did I get infected, it happened when I visited a website that I've been to many times that had been hijacked....

The scary thing was I didn't even download anything or do anything...I simply typed the URL into my browser (firefox, but I also use IE sometimes), and the virus immediatelty took over my machine, locked me out of the task manager, and installed a sh*t load of programs that took me days to clear off...still not 100% certain I have all of them.

Scary thing is, I have an anti-virus installed (and it was running)...and even though I didn't do anything "dumb" (i.e.. accidentally open an EXE) the machine was able to completey take over my machine....

In Firefox do you have the box checked that says

Warn me when web sites try to install extensions or themes?