You seem to know this thing pretty well. I think that my parents may have this thing, but they live in Atlanta and I live in Pittsburgh and they are not computer savvy AT ALL! They called me and told me that whenever they dialup their ISP to logon to the internet, a message box appears saying that the computer will shut down in 60..59..58 seconds authorized by NT Authority Systems or something like this. I thought that they may have gotten this thing - in your opinion, did they?
If so, what do I tell them to do??? They are running Win XP, but really know almost nothing about computers and use a dialup - what is the best course of action???
Thanks in advance!
They absolutely have it. They need to do two things. # 1 go to Symantec's website and download the Blaster removal tool. Its a small program that will scan all files on the computer and remove the Blaster files including the registery references. That will prevent the worm from launching immediately after startup. # 2 Enable the personal firewall (before logging back onto the web again) which will prevent it from infecting the computer again. Several posts above describe this proceedure in good detail.
That will allow the computer to function normally but it is not the final fix. Ultimately it requires MS's patch to fix it, which is available on MS's website. You will also need all service packs up to date, in order to apply the patch. In their case, after doing the temporary fix, if they need SP1a (service pack) they can order it on CD from MS for $10. If you need any more details, feel free to ask. If you want anything sent to you, reply by freepmail.