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MS BLAST A, B, C, and More...A new class of computer viruses/worms are on the loose. Called MSBlast, MSBlaster, or just Blast or Blaster, (A, B, C, and others in the near future.). The A, B, & C variants harm nothing but your nerves. Few viruses are as innocuous as these. Where many viruses destroy data on the target computer, the A, B, & C variants of the Blaster bug just causes your computer to popup a message box informing you that your computer will shutdown in 60-seconds, then a countdown to zero and a normal shutdown of your computer occurs. It also may attempt to enlist your computer in a coordinated attack against some of Microsoft's web servers. The first version of the MSBlaster started infecting computers on August 11th 2003, two days later a new variant of this bug was detected, "B", and within hours of variant B, showing up, "C" started hitting the web. I expect this new class of viruses/worms will be irresistible to many malicious programmers, and there will be a number of variants over the next few days and weeks. The bad news is that each new variant will have a different EXE file associated with it, (See the Variants box to the right), and eventually some coder will release one that will do real damage to the infected computer. But the good news is once you have cleared the virus and applied the patch to your computer, it should be immune from all such attacks, regardless of the variant. We don't normally recommend Microsoft's updates, but this is an exception. Microsoft has released a patch for Windows XP & XP-Pro that prevents infection from this Blast virus, and its variants.
The following steps will allow you to determine if your computer has been infected with the MSBlast bug, and what to do about it:
Step 1. Are you infected?
B. Click the Processes tab at the top of the Task Manager window.
C. Scroll down and look for MSBlast.exe (Variant "A") or PENIS32.EXE (Variant "B"). (If not found, your machine is not yet infected. Close the Task Manager.
We expect this list to grow substantially over the next few days and weeks. Check back here periodically for the latest variants, or is that Varmints?.
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D. If found: Click once on MSBlast.exe (Variant "A") or PENIS32.EXE (Variant "B") and then click the End Process button. Close the Task Manager.
Check the Variant box in the upper right for the latest file names to look for.
(Continue to Step 2)If you have one of our dual removable drive computer systems, like our Mark-III and HAVE been infected by the Blast virus, DO NOT do a Drive-to-Drive backup!
B. Type REGEDIT in the Open: field, and click the OK button.
C. Expand the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE by clicking once on the small plus to it's left.
D. Expand SOFTWARE by clicking once on the small plus to it's left.
E. Scroll down and expand Microsoft by clicking once on the small plus to it's left.
F. Scroll way down and expand Windows by clicking once on the small plus to it's left.
G. Expand CurrentVersion by clicking once on the small plus to it's left.
H. Scroll down and click on the word Run (Don't expand this one.)
I. In the right window, locate and RIGHT-Click on the Windows Auto Update entry, and select Delete.
B.
After the Microsoft page comes up, click the "Download" link on the right.
If you have one of our dual removable drive computer systems, like our Mark-III and HAVE NOT yet been infected by the Blast virus, please do a Drive-to-Drive backup before you download or run the above patch.
C.
D.
When done downloading and running the patch program, do a normal shutdown and restart of your computer. Your computer is now safe from infection from this little bug, and more dangerous ones like it that will most likely be released in the future.
Once you have completed ALL of the above steps and have one of our Dual-Drive Computer systems wait a day or two, to give time for a proper test, then DO A Drive-to-Drive BACKUP!.
Step 2. Edit the Registry.
Step 3. Download and install the patch.
A. Click the Start button, then click Run.
(If you don't find the Auto Update entry, with MSBlast.exe or PENIS32.EXE to the right, simply close the Registry Editor window, and proceed to step 3.)
Check the Variant box in the upper right for the latest file names to look for, in addition to the two listed above.
A.
All machines running Windows XP and XP-Pro should install the Microsoft patch found here.
When the Download dialog box opens, click the "Open" button.
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Thinking about a new computer?
Click the above photo to see the best computer on earth!
And yes, it has the MSBlast patch allready installed.
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