I feel a virus coming on...
Or, rather a worm.
Guess what I've got!
I picked it up at school, since I use a USB stick to transfer files around between school and home. On Friday, I synched my netbook with my USB stick. On Sunday I synched it with my laptop, and then went to get something off my desktop. Avast! freaked out when I plugged in the USB key, and I got an error from the stick saying that it couldn't find a file. I did a rescan, but Avast didn't say anything, so I continued on my way.
Well, all is not well. I got another error from the school computer today when I plugged in the stick, so I went hunting for info. I guess the good news is that I'm not alone. What I'm confused about is that I keep my machines up to date. I'm hoping that my desktop isn't infected, and that the error was just from the worm trying to execute off the USB stick. I know for a fact that the school computer here is infected, because I had to go through Google caches to get any info about the malicious file. (The worm blocks access to popular anti-virus sites, as well as the Microsoft site so you can't download updates.)
Anyway, after we get home, I'll double check where I'm at with Windows updates. Then, I'll make sure I have the latest malicious software removal tool from Microsoft. Desktop first, since I consider that to be highest priority. Then laptop, then netbook. Each computer will be turned off while the others are being checked. I will also double-check that Autorun is disabled for USB devices, since that's a main method of infection. plonq should probably scan his desktop as well, but the USB key was never plugged into his machine.
Now, how do I solve the problem of transferring files from here to home? I can't NOT use the computers here, and I HAVE to use a USB key. Even if I go tell them about it now, I know it'll take them forever to do something about it.
I'm hoping that once everything is up to date and patched and all, even if the worm puts itself on my USB stick, my computers will still be safe.
*edit: Here's an article on it from the CBC from this morning.
Guess what I've got!
I picked it up at school, since I use a USB stick to transfer files around between school and home. On Friday, I synched my netbook with my USB stick. On Sunday I synched it with my laptop, and then went to get something off my desktop. Avast! freaked out when I plugged in the USB key, and I got an error from the stick saying that it couldn't find a file. I did a rescan, but Avast didn't say anything, so I continued on my way.
Well, all is not well. I got another error from the school computer today when I plugged in the stick, so I went hunting for info. I guess the good news is that I'm not alone. What I'm confused about is that I keep my machines up to date. I'm hoping that my desktop isn't infected, and that the error was just from the worm trying to execute off the USB stick. I know for a fact that the school computer here is infected, because I had to go through Google caches to get any info about the malicious file. (The worm blocks access to popular anti-virus sites, as well as the Microsoft site so you can't download updates.)
Anyway, after we get home, I'll double check where I'm at with Windows updates. Then, I'll make sure I have the latest malicious software removal tool from Microsoft. Desktop first, since I consider that to be highest priority. Then laptop, then netbook. Each computer will be turned off while the others are being checked. I will also double-check that Autorun is disabled for USB devices, since that's a main method of infection. plonq should probably scan his desktop as well, but the USB key was never plugged into his machine.
Now, how do I solve the problem of transferring files from here to home? I can't NOT use the computers here, and I HAVE to use a USB key. Even if I go tell them about it now, I know it'll take them forever to do something about it.
I'm hoping that once everything is up to date and patched and all, even if the worm puts itself on my USB stick, my computers will still be safe.
*edit: Here's an article on it from the CBC from this morning.