The Latest Worm/Virus: MyDoom

It's worm time... and because in my family I'm "the computer guy" I am being asked by many people how to deal with it. First, if you are getting lots of "Message Undeliverable" or "TEST" e-mails from people you don't know, they are probably the worm. Here's some good rules of thumb:

• NEVER OPEN ATTACHMENTS FROM PEOPLE YOU DON'T KNOW
  
• BE WARY OF OPENING ATTACHMENTS FROM PEOPLE YOU DO KNOW
  

Attachments are how these worms/viruses spread. But let's say you are infected, how do you recover? Three steps:

1. Get some virus software. There are a number of virus protection applications available. Norton AntiVirus from Symantec is one. McAfee's VirusScan is another. Both are fine, personally I use McAfee. VirusScan On-line is reasonably priced at $29.95 and since it's "on-line" it's very easy to keep up-to-date. Get it, install it, run it... and keep it running.

2. Get rid of the Trojans/Spyware. Yes, surfing the web can infect your machine. Ever visit a site and get a pop-up offering to install cool cursors for you? Spyware. Visit a site offering to change your homepage to a great new search engine? Spyware. Okay, so you've got it, now get rid of it. Visit LavaSoft and get Ad-Aware. It will scan your system for Trojans/Spyware and it will also keep itself up-to-date. Get it, install it, run it... and run it again periodically.

3. Keep your operating system up-to-date. These viruses and worms propigate by exploiting security holes. So if you use a Mac, be sure to periodically run the Software Update. For Windows users you should take advantage of the Microsoft Windows Update. Visit the site regularly and keep your machine up-to-date.

There is never any perfect way to ensure you will never get a virus, but if you follow the steps I've outlined above, you'll be a lot safer than most people. And if everyone kept their machines up-to-date, worms and viruses like this new stupid MyDoom would have a lot harder time wreaking havoc on us all.