One of the PCs popped up an anti-virus warning
that something was trying to enter the system.
Within a matter of seconds, every PC in the building
(about eight) was doing the same. Such is the pervasiveness of the Klez virus ...
and such was the beginning of a good lesson learned for me.
Don't plug a customer PC into the internal
network before testing it for virii. The one I was working on this afternoon
was polluted with Klez ... found in 102 files and a registry entry.
My standard procedure for starting problem
diagnosis had been: plug in the power, plug in the mouse, plug in the
keyboard, attach the display monitor cable, and ... plug in the cat5 cable
if the computer has a network adapter.
From now on, I'll hold off on that last step until
later.
Fortunately, all the company computers are
protected from the nasty vermin by anti-virus software ... thus the popup warnings
... so they did not become infected. That would have been really embarrassing. Less
than two weeks on the job and the new guy infects the company. Oy!
I've never had the opportunity to see a computer
virus in action because I've managed to keep my own computer free of them ...
knock on wood. Working in a repair shop, I'm getting a quick education.
In the past two days I've seen two computers with
Klez and one with Bugbear. Klez isn't destructive, just persistent. Its primary
goal is to propagate and it's difficult to remove.
On the other hand, Bugbear is easy to recognize,
but is a very destructive little bugger. Ended up having to reinstall Windows to
relieve the infected machine of its presence.
I'm sure over the coming days and weeks I will
encounter many more. People just aren't very careful ... including my own little
boo-boo today.
The message to take home? Please be sure your
computer is protected by anti-virus software.
