I (XP)have been victimized of a worm bug called “MSblast” and its has been spreading very quickly. Starting last night, I got a “System Shutdown” window that popped up on my screen and it gives you a 50 second window to save and close everything. It shuts down and reboot your machine. It came up every 8 minutes on my machine.
Anyone know how to get this thing fixed?
HELP!!!! 
Thanks JoJo,
I was just reading symantec’s site as we speak. I will try it tonight and see how it goes.
Thanks again.
Mine started two days ago, found this on newsgroups today:
1. Go to http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=823980 and download the security patch. If possible, do this on a clean machine and copy the patch to a 3.5 disk.
2. Boot the infected machine into Safe mode (F8 while starting gives you the menu). Insert the disk with the patch on and run it. Do not reboot.
3. Start – Run – msconfig and go to the ‘startup’ tab. Find the entry for MSBLAST.EXE and clear the checkbox. Do not reboot yet.
4. Start – Search and search all your local drives for MSBLAST.EXE and delete all copies.
5. Shut down and restart normally.
6. Update your virus definitions and run a full scan if possible.
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I just got done with it, and it’s been on long enough to re-type the directions… we’ll hope it’ll work for a while.
Just want to also point out that if you are running Windows 98 or Windows ME this worm will NOT infect your PC. Took me a while to figure that one out lol!!
Jon J.
Thank God for that!
I’m so tired of viruses.
I don’t know if I want to upgrade PCs now.
Here is a message we recieved today from one of our network gurus…..
You’ve all seen the impact of the virus/worm MSBlaster over the last couple days. The Home Office is taking care of our corporate servers and PC’s so you don’t need to worry about doing anything here. However, for those of you with home PC’s that use Windows NT, XP or 2000 and a connection to the Internet, you need to take steps to protect yourself from the virus. If you have Windows 98 or ME, this virus won’t affect you.
The following information was taken from Woody Windows Watch newsletter. There was also a good article about the virus in the 8/13 Pioneer Press. You should first check to see if your Home PC is infected and if it is, remove the virus and then go Microsoft’s site and download a patch for your PC so you don’t get reinfected.
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About Blaster
Blaster is a worm, a program that runs on one computer and then looks for other computers across the network or Internet it can infect. In this case it uses a technique called ‘buffer overrun’ to trick a computer into running a program.
You don’t have to do anything to infect your computer, even if your computer is sitting on and idle it could be infected if the right connections (ports) are incoming to your computer. Just being careful with your email and what web pages you visit isn’t going to help.
Blaster takes advantage of a known problem in Windows NT, NT Terminal Services Edition, 2000 (all flavors), XP (all flavors) and Windows Server 2003 (all flavors).
How to tell if your PC is infected
You can see if your computer is infected with Blaster by running your anti-virus software AFTER you’ve downloaded the latest virus information. Scanning your computer with out-of-date information is virtually useless.
Or you can see if the worm program is running.
1. Press Ctrl + Alt + Del
2. Choose Task Manager
3. Choose the Processes tab
4. Click on the ‘Show processes for all users’ option
5. Click on the heading ‘Images’ to sort the list alphabetically.
6. Look down the list for msblast.exe
7. If you find it, click on that entry then ‘End Process’
That will stop the worm from running, but you still have to remove it from your computer.
How to remove the virus if your PC is infected
An Anti-virus company, Symantec has instructions for removing the virus on their site: http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.blaster.worm.removal.tool.html
How to tell if you need to Patch your PC
To make sure you have the right fix, go to Settings | Control Panel | Add/Remove Software then scroll down to the long list of fixes. Look for one labeled with the number 823980 – that’s the fix you need.
If that patch (823980) is installed already you can rest easy. [on my PC it’s at the bottom of the Programs list as Windows 2000 Hot Fix – KB823980]
Where to get the Patch
To Patch your PC to prevent the virus, you need to download a patch from Microsoft:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.aspx?displaylang=en
[Choose the patch for the Windows version on your PC (XP, 2000 or NT) Be patient – hundreds of people are downloading the patches so the system is running slowly. Choose Open or Run to immediately update your PC or you can choose Save to run it later. ]
Thanks for the info Jon 
So the reason to upgrade from Millenium to 2000 or XP is what again? The pach is easily available from Microsoft. com. Follow thw links.
Windows ME was a nightmare for me. There were constant lockups and the “blue screen of death”. For me going to XP made my life much easier.
I want to know why people create these worms and viruses. Do they have nothing better to do than try to screw up peoples lives? If you are that bored that all you can think of is to create viruses, then they should take up a hobby that wont make everyone mad at them….like fishing. Then again maybe we don’t want people like that out on the water, cause they’d probabaly just try to ruin it for everyone else. If anyone else has any ideas why people do that, share your thoughts with everyone.
David Schneider
I don’t know that I know anything about why anyone would but I’ve met a handful of people that openly “brag” about their ability to do so. I don’t know if it’s an anit-corporate sentiment and if it makes Microsoft users suffer, they won’t want Microsoft products, and Bill won’t get so much money.
If there’s any weight to that thought, it’s a stupid lost cause. Bill’s already made his billions and if he wanted to, he could dump Microsoft in the blink of an eye and be no worse the wear. He’s got plenty to live off of investments.
Maybe it’s a power trip. Some of the “braggers” I’ve met seem to “get off” on it. They enjoy the idea of having these capabilities……….or seem to at least. Again, I don’t really know. Just sharing a thought or two. The validity of this reponse may be 100% wrong.
It’s a new age, with new problems and challenges. Hopefully it’ll iron out some over time.
Hey Kid, Do you have any names you would like to share ? 
Notice I said “met”………….these are people I choose not to associate with. Most I met in a work environment that had me traveling from business to business installing telephone switch equipment. Communications centers are full of computer techs too and some of them…………..well, as stated, I chose to say, “Good Day” and be done with them.
I’m with you Spinner Dave, lets invite them to a hackers party and then
Man! Two worms in one week! I came home yesterday and my work computer a pc, was sending emails to hundreds of people…that I didn’t know.
The Good O’l Mac just plugs away. I’m so glad that there isn’t enough Mac useres out there for the ding-dongs to spend the time hacking……
Did I just post this publicly? 
Quote:
Do they have nothing better to do than try to screw up peoples lives?
Ask the scumbag punk kids shooting out car windows with pellet guns.
If you ask me these sort of people lived their childhood with grown-ups in their house, but parents they were not. It took me a while to figure it all out, but I never caused mischeif like computer viruses or property damage.
Keep your wife happy and your mamma proud, even when they’re not around, and you can’t go wrong. Of course, it helped to have a whoopin’ every now and again as a reminder. (You taking notes Mavz?)
i work for a big twin cities company and i have spent most of my nights on the phone with people that are remote users that have the virus. it is messing up the machines something bad. I would like to take and do this to the guy that invented this dang thing. I dont know how many man hours that we have spent fighting this virus and we seem to keep on getting people that come back onto our campass network infected and it starts all over again. i have been supporting networks all over the world and tyring to get them all cleaned up. I can tell you this much, if you get anything in your email box that don’t look right, delete it!!!!!!!! you will spend hours fixing your computer and you will spread it to anyone that you email. if you have any questions, you can PM me and i will do my best to help you all out!!!!
thanks,
Shane Hildebrandt
Thebassman85 
Gentlemen!!
I have been doing some research and this Sobig.F email virus that is going around is supposed to let a harsher virus come in on your pc and do more damage. You should be running your virus scan every couple of days here for awhile to be sure that your pc is protected. MAC users really have no threats from these new virus releases. I would also be looking to see if you got piggybacked, or trojan horsed with a virus. look for something called backdoor.slackbot.B trojan or even a IRC trojan. these to viruses lets hackers have complete control of your pc. they can go in and look at any file, get credit card or bank info if you pay bills online. they can also corrupt files. if any of you end up with these kinds of viruses, let me know, pm me or email me at [email protected]. I will help you remove it or even give you some websites that you can go out to and read the steps on what you needed to do to remove it. I am speaking seriously when i say, the longer you have these viruses on your pc, the longer you will keep on infecting others and the slower your pc performance will go. I have already spend close to 80 this week fighting these viruses and let me tell you, i would rather be fishing!!!!
May the fish bit hard, and may you catch some big ones!
shane
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