Last-minute Conficker survival guide

Tomorrow -- April 1 -- is D-Day for Conficker, as whatever nasty payload it's packing is currently set to activate. What happens come midnight is a mystery: Will it turn the millions of infected computers into spam-sending zombie robots? Or will it start capturing everything you type -- passwords, credit card numbers, etc. -- and send that information back to its masters?

No one knows, but we'll probably find out soon.

Or not. As Slate notes, Conficker is scheduled to go "live" on April 1, but whoever's controlling it could choose not to wreak havoc but instead do absolutely nothing, waiting for a time when there's less heat. They can do this because the way Conficker is designed is extremely clever: Rather than containing a list of specific, static instructions, Conficker reaches out to the web to receive updated marching orders via a huge list of websites it creates. Conficker.C -- the latest bad boy -- will start checking 50,000 different semi-randomly-generated sites a day looking for instructions, so there's no way to shut down all of them. If just one of those sites goes live with legitimate instructions, Conficker keeps on trucking.

Conficker's a nasty little worm that takes serious efforts to bypass your security defenses, but you aren't without some tools in your arsenal to protect yourself.

Your first step should be the tools you already have: Windows Update, to make sure your computer is fully patched, and your current antivirus software, to make sure anything that slips through the cracks is caught.

But if Conficker's already on your machine, it may bypass certain subsystems and updating Windows and your antivirus at this point may not work. If you are worried about anything being amiss -- try booting into Safe Mode, which Conficker prevents, to check -- you should run a specialized tool to get rid of Conficker.

Microsoft offers a web-based scanner (note that some users have reported it crashed their machines; I had no trouble with it), so you might try one of these downloadable options instead: Symantec's Conficker (aka Downadup) tool, Trend Micro's Cleanup Engine, or Malwarebytes. Conficker may prevent your machine from accessing any of these websites, so you may have to download these tools from a known non-infected computer if you need them. Follow the instructions given on each site to run them successfully. (Also note: None of these tools should harm your computer if you don't have Conficker.)

As a final safety note, all users -- whether they're worried about an infection or know for sure they're clean -- are also wise to make a full data backup today.

What won't work? Turning your PC off tonight and back on on April 2 will not protect you from the worm (sorry to the dozens of people who wrote me asking if this would do the trick). Temporarily disconnecting your computer from the web won't help if the malware is already on your machine -- it will simply activate once you connect again. Changing the date on your PC will likely have no helpful effect, either. And yes, Macs are immune this time out. Follow the above instructions to detect and remove the worm.

Source: http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/132464

'The Bachelor': We're Just Not That Into You

After 50 roses, weeks of speculation, plenty of spoilers and even a conspiracy theory or two, the most! historic! finale! ever! of ABC's "The Bachelor" ended Monday with 32-year-old Seattle account executive and single dad Jason Mesnick slipping a ring on the finger of 25-year-old Dallas sales rep Melissa Rycroft in New Zealand. Cue the violins and ring up the wedding planners, right? Wrong. You see, that just wouldn't be dramatic (or "historic") enough. So a mere hour later (actually six weeks in real time), during the "After the Final Rose" special, viewers watched as Jason shocked his putative fiancée when he told her that, well, he just wasn't that into her. Instead, he said, he still had feelings for the show's runner-up, Molly Malaney, a 24-year-old department store buyer from Michigan.

"You are such a b*****d," Melissa responded, "you should know better than to do something like that," perhaps referring to the fact that Jason had been humiliated on national television during last season's "The Bachelorette", when DeAnna Pappas rejected him. As for the unsinkable Molly, "This is something I dreamt of, but never expected to hear. I'm blown away right now," she told Jason. And then they proceeded to make out -- while millions of women across America immediately revised their feelings for the supposedly most likable Bachelor in series history.

Here's just a small sampling of what fans had to say in Television Without Pity's forums immediately following the three-hour finale. Jason, pray that your adorable little son Ty doesn't know how to use the Internet, because there's plenty more where this came from:

"Molly, you’re next. I give it a few months before he just has to follow his heart again (a.k.a. dump you)." – goddessrin

"It was all appalling on some level--was it necessary to do all this on the air--but I actually groaned, 'Oh, Molly,' when she started making out with him. Bad enough the way the whole thing played out, but to start with the face-sucking at that point?" – Kmax

"Melissa showed a lot of class." – 007Girl

"That was the biggest vat of Velveeta I've ever seen." – TooMuchFreeTime

"Am I the only one thinking that was totally fake? I had friends arguing with me on how real it is." – Laurie4H

"Jason is such a pig. Changing your heart is one thing, doing it on national television is another. AND hooking up with a girl within an hour of dumping your fiancée . UGH. I wish him much unhappiness." – Wrong Heaven

"I have never thought this before about her, but tonight I realized Molly is an actress. Her confused look when Jason told her he wants her back and everything after that was right out of a soap opera." – Carus

"I thought Melissa handled the whole thing great. She kept her dignity while also expressing what a bastard Jason is." – agockows

"Jason had every right to change his mind, but breaking it off in front of the cameras is a new low. Molly, congrats, honey. You 'won.' I think it'll become really clear really soon just what a 'prize' he isn't." – Mamabisi

"Molly is just a poor example of what unfortunately many girls have become these days. A boy does all the wrong things to someone else but maybe I can change him so I'm going to take him back because hey, I'M MOLLY and no guy walks away from me. Well, he did walk away from you and who's to say in six weeks he won't be backing up to call Jillian?" – nymetsgirl22

"Jason's 15 minutes for me expired about two hours ago. He's a loser. Molly's a fool for agreeing to anything other than a cup of coffee for old time's sake. There's no future in that relationship because, really, the guy can't tell the truth unless it's dragged out of him and that will destroy any relationship he's in." – becca656

"And total ewwwwwww when they started making out at the end. Yeah, Melissa's body wasn't even cold yet and they were pawing each other." – weezer95

"Jason, you have seriously underestimated how people will react to what you did just now but I suspect you'll find out quickly enough. Good luck, Molly! Oh, one other thing - consider this: Melissa will move on and find a decent guy who will treat her right. Meanwhile, every time you and Jason have problems or get into a fight, you'll be left wondering if his silence means he's thinking about how he made a mistake with you and regretting letting Melissa go." – The Closer

"As the single mom of 2 girls, who is getting back into dating after a divorce, it makes me SICK that he would bring Melissa into Ty's life for 6 weeks, including holidays, and then yank her out and bring Molly in. He didn't mention Ty ONCE tonight." – brgrayduck

"Jason needs therapy before he commits to anyone else. He's clearly very needy and confused, and should probably not be getting engaged to anyone at this point. I think he has maturity issues too." – DebbieM

Jason is such a jerk. How could he immediately go from breaking off his engagement with Melissa to kissing Molly mere minutes after? And no tears for Melissa, the woman he was just engaged to, while he had this huge emotional reaction after he rejected Molly?" – Coco79

"I honestly could not believe my eyes, watching that circus. I mean...do people have NO shame? To have these kinds of personal things televised? What have we come to? On the one hand, great drama to watch...on the other, I feel dirty for even participating." – PetuniaP

"I hope Jason's ex-wife is out hiring a lawyer to try to get full custody of Ty." – Whataconcept

"Wow, that was good television. I was genuinely surprised. I had the same freeze frame, deer in headlights look that Molly had." -- TrebledTimes

Source: http://tv.yahoo.com/blog/the-bachelor-were-just-not-that-into-you--159