W32 Blast Worm Virus

[Hereward Hall]

I was first affected by this nasty virus on the night of
the 11th. It made my system shut down. At first, I simply
over-looked it and thought it was an internal problem
with my computer. Thank God I did not resort to
formatting the hard drive.
Eventually, I visited www.symantec.com and downloaded
the virus removal exe file. However, I had to disable the
system restore in Windows XP before undertaking this. I
was then prompted to download the patch. Every time I
went to the Microsoft website I was re-infected with the
virus before I could patch. What an unpleasant virus?
Fortunately, we have a computer running Windows 98 SE
which allowed me to download the file and transfer it
onto my computer running XP. Finally, the problem was
rectified.
All I ask is why large companies were pre-empted about
a month before about this type of virus and were issued
with XP patches while home users and small businesses
were left in the dark!

Hereward

[Andy Williams]

The simple answer is that large companies have Network Administrators whose
job is to maintain their network's security. However, this vulnerability
was well publicized when the Department of Homeland Security issued an
advisory a while back. It was all over the news.

The only thing I would suggest is that you set up automatic updates on your
PC. You can't count on your anti-virus software alone.

"Hereward Hall" > wrote in message
...
> I was first affected by this nasty virus on the night of
> the 11th. It made my system shut down. At first, I simply
> over-looked it and thought it was an internal problem
> with my computer. Thank God I did not resort to
> formatting the hard drive.
> Eventually, I visited www.symantec.com and downloaded
> the virus removal exe file. However, I had to disable the
> system restore in Windows XP before undertaking this. I
> was then prompted to download the patch. Every time I
> went to the Microsoft website I was re-infected with the
> virus before I could patch. What an unpleasant virus?
> Fortunately, we have a computer running Windows 98 SE
> which allowed me to download the file and transfer it
> onto my computer running XP. Finally, the problem was
> rectified.
> All I ask is why large companies were pre-empted about
> a month before about this type of virus and were issued
> with XP patches while home users and small businesses
> were left in the dark!
>
> Hereward

[Andy Williams]

Another suggestion would be to subscribe to the Microsoft Product Security
Response Notification Service at:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/notify.asp

A lot of the notifications do not apply to the home user, but the messages
clearly state the affected software right from the start.

Just a thought...

"Hereward Hall" > wrote in message
...
> I was first affected by this nasty virus on the night of
> the 11th. It made my system shut down. At first, I simply
> over-looked it and thought it was an internal problem
> with my computer. Thank God I did not resort to
> formatting the hard drive.
> Eventually, I visited www.symantec.com and downloaded
> the virus removal exe file. However, I had to disable the
> system restore in Windows XP before undertaking this. I
> was then prompted to download the patch. Every time I
> went to the Microsoft website I was re-infected with the
> virus before I could patch. What an unpleasant virus?
> Fortunately, we have a computer running Windows 98 SE
> which allowed me to download the file and transfer it
> onto my computer running XP. Finally, the problem was
> rectified.
> All I ask is why large companies were pre-empted about
> a month before about this type of virus and were issued
> with XP patches while home users and small businesses
> were left in the dark!
>
> Hereward

[USCG Vet]

I downloaded the patch a couple weeks back. We were warned this situation
could go south quick, which it has, and it will get worse. Guess what, when
it gets worse there will still be a bunch of air-heads who will complain
about not being warned and will not have installed patches or upgraded this,
that, and the other for security. The next time around the virus/worm will
not be a mere petty shutdown/boot problem, it will probably wipe the disk or
corrupt personal files. Whoever put out this worm did everyone a favor by
making it benign and getting at least some of the logger-headed computing
public into action mode.

Chance
USCG Veteran
Semper Paratus


"Hereward Hall" > wrote in message
...
> I was first affected by this nasty virus

[Andy Williams]

Sir, you are my hero...

"USCG Vet" > wrote in message
...
> I downloaded the patch a couple weeks back. We were warned this situation
> could go south quick, which it has, and it will get worse. Guess what,
when
> it gets worse there will still be a bunch of air-heads who will complain
> about not being warned and will not have installed patches or upgraded
this,
> that, and the other for security. The next time around the virus/worm will
> not be a mere petty shutdown/boot problem, it will probably wipe the disk
or
> corrupt personal files. Whoever put out this worm did everyone a favor by
> making it benign and getting at least some of the logger-headed computing
> public into action mode.
>
> Chance
> USCG Veteran
> Semper Paratus
>
>
> "Hereward Hall" > wrote in message
> ...
> > I was first affected by this nasty virus
>
>