Microsoft's forefront antivirus technology helps protect against Conficker worm family

Microsoft discovered the vulnerability which the Conficker worm exploits before the worm actually surfaced, and addressed it at the end of October 2008 with Microsoft Security Bulletin MS08-067. Users who applied that security update would have been protected against the worm. Moreover, Microsoft's Forefront antivirus has been protecting customers against Conficker since November 21st, 2008.

Symptoms of the Conficker worm include the disabling or failure of some network services on the computer and the possibility of user accounts being locked out.

To protect against the Conficker worm family, Microsoft recommends that users ensure their anti virus protection is up to date with the latest definition and install Microsoft's MS08-067 patch. Microsoft has also added new capabilities to their Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT), which could detect and remove the worm if it was present on a machine. The easiest way to ensure that latest security updates are installed is to enable the Automatic Update feature in Windows.

All information concerning Internet security and how to protect PCs from malware are available on (www.microsoft.com/protect) to all Microsoft users. Additionally, users of Genuine Microsoft Windows are provided with the benefit to call Microsoft's support centers directly if they require additional support.