How to Protect yourself

THUNDER BAY, ON, ---- March 28, 2009 ----- Media Hypes Up Conficker Virus, It is Y2K all over again. The media is hyping up the newest virus to hit the web, named the Conficker Virus. On April 1st, this virus is supposed to unleash fury on Internet users around the world. You better stock up on canned food and make sure your generator diesel tank is full.

Realistically, you may receive a few more spam messages and perhaps Facebook will take an extra millisecond or two to load.

Here are some simple tips to protect yourself:

1. Don't surf porn sites (or other nasty sites - or if you do use Firefox)
2. Don't open emails with ecards from strangers (or any other attachments from suspicious people)
3. Make sure your anti-virus and firewall are up to date and working
4. Make sure your Windows Updates are working
5. Put a lead tarp over your computer and aluminum foil over your head
.. ok, that was a joke but you get the point.

These worms are nothing new, the Internet is constantly bombarded with viruses and spam bot-nets. The only thing making this one different is that it has a timed release date allowing the media to hype up about it advance to scare everyday computer users. The anticipation of these computer glitches seem to be worse than the actual glitches.

What the media should do is try to get those who have infections on their computers already to get them cleaned up. It is this network of infected computers around the world that is responsible for sending out spam and causing other mayhem unknown to the owners of these computers. These spammers and hackers seldom use their own computers to unleash viruses and spyware.