How do I protect my computer from the Conficker worm?

Conficker (a.k.a Downup, Downadup, Kido) is a computer worm that infects all Window operating systems (Windows 2000 – Windows 7 beta) by exploiting vulnerability in the Windows server service. First appeared in October 2008, this worm spread itself to other computers across a network, through file sharing and also via removable drives. Preventing this worm is usually bit complicated because of its advanced malware techniques.

The article ‘Protect yourself from the Conficker computer worm’ published by Microsoft gives practical information about how this worm enter into a computer? What does the Conficker worm do? And how do we remove this worm?

Security researchers have discovered certain variants of Conficker worms (a, b, c, d) to date and as I said above these are spread through file sharing, removable devices (Conficker B) and via built-in peer-to-peer (P2P) communication (Conficker D). The Conficker worm can also disable important services on your computer such as Windows security updates.

Is my computer infected by Conficker? If you have updated your Windows and security programs, you are at a much lower risk of being infected by the Conficker worm. Most of the antivirus software developers have already developed standalone tools for scanning and removing Conficker worm. Some of them are following: Conficker Remover from ESET, Kaspersky, F-Secure, Microsoft, Bitdefender and McAfee Stinger