The latest security threat to your Windows operating system is a computer worm called Conficker that has already infected over 9 million PCs worldwide with maximum victims in China, Brazil, Russia, and India.

Conficker first disables system services like Windows Automatic Update, Windows Error Reporting, etc. and then connects to a web server from where it downloads additional malware onto the victim’s computer. The worm also attaches itself to certain Windows processes such as svchost.exe, explorer.exe and services.exe.

Prevent Conficker on your Windows machine

To prevent Conficker virus from infecting your Windows computer, you first need to disable the AutoRun feature. This can be done by downloading and installing certain updates manually for Windows XP or Windows 2000. Windows Vista users can skip this step as this is taken care of via automatic updates.

Now click Start, Run and enter gpedit.msc and click OK.

Under Computer Configuration, expand Administrative Templates. Now for Windows XP, click System and for Windows Vista, click Windows Components then Autoplay Policies. In the Settings pane, right-click Turn off Autoplay, and then click Properties.

Click Enabled, and then select All drives in the Turn off Autoplay box to disable Autorun on all drives. Click OK and restart the computer.