MSN messenger worm(s)

Why i chose to write about this worm? Simple. Because i'm tired of it... seriously, when you keep getting 2-4 new conversation windows every minute, and each of them spits out the infamous "Check out my pictures" message, you can either do something about this or uninstall messenger.... permanently.

First to explain that "worm(s)" from the title:

Yes, unfortunately there are multiple mutations of this worm, and infection spreads faster than ever because of naive and inexperienced PS users. Typically infected computer sends messages and/or some file through MSN messenger. You will get a message saying something like "hey check out these pics of mine", which is followed by a link or a file which user can accept and download to his PC. Just decline the file and everything will be fine, if you already downloaded the file DO NOT open it.

This is what happens when you run the .exe contained within this .zip (or .rar) file: A window will pop up and will close instantly, and nothing else will happen... unless you have antivirus software (which you should have) you will not be able to tell are you infected or not, but you will soon hear complaints from your friends, on your MSN contacts list, about "that file" that you keep sending them on and on... bear in mind that you will not see message that worm sends to your friends, so unless they tell you about it you will be completely clueless.

What can you do after you get infected? Simple: let antivirus sweep your hard drive, PLEASE NOTE that your antivirus needs to be updated, and event then some antivirus software just seem to be unable to detect goddamn thing and if this is the case with your antivirus software it is time for a change. Currently tested antivirus which is guaranteed to remove damn thing is Sophos Antivirus which can be downloaded and evaluated for free (which is more than enough to remove the blasted thing) download it here

Now what is the real purpose of this worm you may wonder? Well obviously it's not to annoy users, it would be quite harmless if it would be only about that, but no, it doesn't stop there what it really does is open a back door to your PC so that malicious user can access your files on your hard drive.

Hopefully you will get something useful out of this post, and even few prevented infections due to this post would make it worth vile :)