Preserve the health of your computer

This Week in the HSI Forum

My regular work schedule was disrupted this week by a virus. A computer virus, that is. And although I wasn’t sick in bed, at one point I felt a little sick when my computer started malfunctioning, not allowing me access critical files.

Apparently my virus problem wasn’t related to the “Blaster” worm that made headlines when it shut down many systems worldwide earlier this week. My virus was more like a 24-hour bug that was cleared up with my system’s virus scan. The scan found one infected file, the file was deleted, and my computer was back up and feeling like its old self again.

Our office “IT guy” told me that if I had been paying attention to my regular Microsoft updates and following the update directions, I would probably have blocked the virus, and the same is true for those who were disabled by the Blaster worm.

If you got lucky and avoided it earlier this week, you should know that it’s set to launch another assault at Midnight on Saturday morning, 8/16/03. So if the operating system on your computer is Windows 2000 or Windows XP, you may be vulnerable. (Windows 95 and 98 users won’t be affected.)

Since I know a lot of you read the e-Alert from your home computer and probably don’t have an IT department at the ready, I asked my IT guys if there was anything we could do to help you and your families protect your systems. As always, they came through, and it’s pretty easy. Just go to this web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/default.asp

You’ll find the headline “Blaster Worm: Critical Security Patch” prominently displayed at the top of the page. From there, just follow the directions that are appropriate for your system.

I know this is a little outside the norm for information you expect from HSI, but those of you who have had the same experience know that an ounce of computer prevention can cure a ton of stress.