But how to download?

[bernardo]

I have the blasted blaster worm on my computer at home. (I am in the library at the moment). But *HOW* am I supposed to go to all the websites where the solutions are, and *HOW* am I supposed to download the solution, when the worm won't allow me to stay online long enough to do so? And how am I supposed to follow the instructions when they do not match up with the options I have on my screen? And can I have some instructions in plain English? e.g. What does 'enable the firewall' mean? And why did I hear a spokesman on the news saying that I will be OK if the Norton on my computer regularly updates its thingies? It does that already but it still hasn't killed the worm [I am getting a bit frustrated here] :-(

[doristwonk]

The only answer seems to be to put your Windows rescue disk into your floppy drive and, after taking off your hard drive onto disc any really important stuff, use fdisk from your rescue disk and wipe your c: drive, reformat it and reload windows. It's a right pain in the a...fternoon. After you have reloaded you can get your patch and also scan the important stuff on you disc for gremlins. On the other hand you could get a man in.

[j2buttonsw]

Install Windows ME which is immune! There is a Microsoft patch which you must install see http://www.microsoft.com/security/incident/blast.a
sp And there is a cleanup program here: http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc
/data/w32.blaster.worm.removal.tool.html Both downloads can be fitted on a floppy disk so download them from an uninfected computer (ie the library). Run the patch first then the fixblast.exe I expect you have Windows XP which comes with its own firewall which you must activate (instructions are on the above microsoft article). It sound as if you have Norton antivirus but it must be kept up to date with the latest virus definitions (at least weekly). If all else fails then you may have to rebuild your home PC but I believe it shouldn't come to that.

[banana]

My friend had the worm on his brand new computer -but thought it was simply faulty - so he took it back to PC World .When he appeared at the door of the shop carrying the boxes one of the assistants stopped him and gave him a ready made floppy with the patch -plus a sheet of instructions -apparently they had been inundated. So - perhaps a trip to one of yur local PC stores might be worth doing?

[mac309]

I've had this worm and cured it as follows, you need to get the a fix program, i used fixblast form symantic (see link in j2b's post) and you also need KB823980-x86-enu. This is the patch from microsoft http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/en/default.a
sp. Ideally from an unaffected computor. Boot-up you're pc and run the fix sofware, after each scan, restart and repeat until you've had 2 or 3 results of no virus found, then you'll need to disable System Restore(this will prevent re-installing the worm if you use a system restore checkpoint). To disable go to the Device Manager by clicking Start/Control Panel/System click on the System Restore tab and at the top insert a tick in the Turn off System restore, click apply and close back to Desktop. Now run the Patch from microsoft, this will now create the Windows fix and the first checkpoint.Once this has been done you can now turn back on the System Restore from the Device Manager. There will also be a Link in the msconfig/startup to remove click on RUN and type MSCONFIG click on the Startup tab and look for MSBLAST, remove the tick and close. To enable the firewall goto you're dail-up, Right click, select Properties click on the Advanced tab and insert tick in the Internet Connection Firewall. Hope this helps