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Computer virus.

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Tom Garrett 11 months, 2 weeks ago

Hi folks.

Here's part of a CBS News article, plus the "click here" button yoou need to check your machine. I click on it. My machine was green (mean okay).

"(CBS News) NEW YORK - The FBI is out with what amounts to a Doomsday warning for Internet users.

On Monday at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time, a malicious virus hiding in hundreds of thousands of home and business computers may make them lose their Web connections.

To find out if your computer has the virus, simply click here before Monday."

Tom Garrett 11 months, 2 weeks ago

Sorry, the click here button did not copy correctly.

Here's a link:

http://www.dns-ok.us/

Tom Garrett 11 months, 2 weeks ago

I went directly to the FBI site to get a better perspective on this thing.

The CBS comment "a malicious virus hiding in hundreds of thousands of home and business computers..." got cut down to, "Approximately 64,000 Americans could lose Internet access on Monday thanks to a criminal organization that infected millions of computers around the world with malware called DNSChanger."

That cuts the odds way down that you could be one of them, but it only takes one click to protect yourself.

Here's the official FBI explanation of what happened.

"DNS (Domain Name System) is an Internet service that converts user-friendly domain names, such as www.fbi.gov, into numerical addresses that allow computers to talk to each other. Without DNS and the DNS servers operated by Internet service providers, computer users would not be able to browse websites, send e-mail, or connect to any Internet services."

"This malware was used to direct unsuspecting users to rogue servers controlled by the cyber thieves, where they manipulated users’ web browsing activity and used it for ad hijacking, allowing them to make millions of dollars in illicit fees."

And the FBI explains why you should do a check.

"After announcing criminal indictments and seizing the rogue servers last November, the FBI obtained a court order and worked with a non-profit to set up temporary clean DNS servers for victims affected by the DNSChanger malware. But, says Supervisory Special Agent Thomas Grasso of our Cyber Division, “On July 9, we’re going to be turning off those servers. We’ve been using the last eight months to go out and clean up the infected computers, but we don’t have everybody.”

"Grasso says he hopes that people 'follow our recommendations to: one, determine if they’re affected by this; and then two, fix the problem.'"

I like the FBI site. I plan to use it more in the future, skipping the media and going directly to the source for some information