What is Conficker (W32.Downadup) Virus? How to avoid being infected?

A computer-science detective story is playing out on the Internet as security experts try to hunt down a worm called Conficker C and prevent it from damaging millions of computers on April Fool's Day. (<a href="http://easemystress.blogspot.com/2009/03/what-is-conficker-c-worm-beware-of.html" target="_blank">read more here</a>)

Our company's IT team issued the following tips to avoid being infected by such virus:

• DO NOT open any attachments from an unrecognized sender
o If the sender is legitimate, please still use caution as certain worms spread via email contact list
• Make sure you have Symantec Endpoint Protection running on your SunPower PC with up to date virus definitions. The Symantec icon will be in the bottom right by the clock and look like the following (little yellow shield with a green dot)
o If you do not have Symantec Endpoint Protection installed please submit a helpdesk ticket to have it installed ASAP. Please note that the green dot will only show up when connected to the corporate network (in office or over VPN). If you do not see the green dot when you are connected to corporate network please submit a helpdesk ticket.
• Use caution with using USB flash drives. Please scan the USB before/after connecting it to a foreign PC (right-click  Scan for Viruses)
• If you experience a slow computing experience and/or slow network access, please contact IT to perform a quick diagnostic of your machine.
• If you experience an infection of any malware, please remove your machine from the network (unplug the network cable and turn off wireless) and contact IT IMMEDIATELY to prevent any further spread.

 

To read more about Conficker virus [click here]

 

So far the news about the Conficker virus: not much impact.

"Conficker's April Fools' Day Update Begins With A Yawn" [Source: w ww.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=216402088&subSection=News]

It's too early to tell however what the virus/worm will do. Let's keep our fingers cross. If nothing happens then good for us. Only thing is we've been fooled. "April Fool's!"

 

This one made a smile in my face ! Why Symantec ? Why not ESET or BitDefender ? Do you have any arguments ( I assume that you don't ) ?

 

I have never used it. I just used it once in my cellphone.

I am using Avast and Kaspersky in my PC.

 

I'm unconcerned. I run Unix.

 

This virus is true and this virus appear on one of our computer at the our office Conficker virus actually detected yesterday...