VIRUS ALERT
On the 25 February one of the "Great Cockup" Computers picked up a virus
called W32.Badtrans.B@mm.
By 6.30pm, after a very fraught day we had removed it. Apparently
( My good friend Colin Fenn has been really helpful about this) this nasty
little beast gets into your mailbox and appears to respond to all the people
that you owe a reply to. Fortunately there were comparatively few names
in that computer's mailbox - 15 at the most.
As soon as the computer was infected it began to send out emails spontaneously whenever Outlook Express was logged on. Each one was scanned as it left our machine, by Norton Anti Virus and found to be virus free. However we had not updated this software for a week or so. When we did update it Norton Anti Virus found the virus, actually a worm, plus an accompanying 'Trojan Horse'. but could not remove either of them. Demon Helpdesk and Dell Computers Helpdesk were both very helpful, if rather technical, and Dell gave us the URL which appears below. This removal tool did the job and we breathed a sigh of relief. Once the W32.Badtrans.B@mm worm goes so does the Trojan Horse.
The Trojan Horse embeds itself into your system folder and allows sad anoraks out there somewhere to spy on you computer keyboard - noticing what passwords you type in etc. Therefore if you have been infected it is recommended that you change any passwords.
Most of the 15 messages that our computer sent out were bounced back as they were detected by software either on your home machines or by your ISPs. One or two appear to have got through.
However if it did get on your machine then anyone in your mailbox that you owe a reply to will have been sent the virus and so on ad nausiam. We received some 'bounced back messages' from E mail addresses not know to us - mostly to do with genealogy and family history societies. This little beast is actually getting very common - we have received it many times on our Apple Mac (Which is immune from infection). It usually comes from someone you have never heard of and the subject is just Re:
When you open it there is usually no message but Microsoft programs recognise an attachment. If you open the attachment out pops the virus. It seems to have no other effect on your computer so you may not know that you have it.
We have solved it here by switching ALL our E mailing back to the Mac. If we are going to send you an attachment then we will send a message without an attachment ahead of it. Otherwise don't open attachments purporting to come from us.
If your computer has become infected with this virus you can download an effective removal tool at the following URL:
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.badtrans.b@mm.removal.tool.html
This service is brought to you by Symantec Security Response.
Once downloaded, save it to your desktop. Click on the little hammer and chisel (screwdriver?) to use it.
This service is free. It only takes a minute to download and a few minutes to use. It wouldn't hurt to check your system anyway, then you would have peace of mind and a warm glow of cyberspace responsibility.
JohnWilson
john@staithes.demon.co.uk