There is a virus circulating on Yahoo today. It will come as a message from someone you know asking...."Is this your photo here?" It will have a link, looks like a Facebook link, it ends as 'exe'...DO NOT OPEN IT. It is a virus that overrides Microsoft Antivirus.

Thanks for the hot tip Lilbug.....

Good lookin out!

Thanks Robin.

thank you!

Thanks, I got one of those, didn't open it because the sender's name was unfamiliar....!!

Thank for the heads up

DON'T EVER OPEN .EXE LINKS UNLESS YOU ARE DOWNLOADING A TRUSTED PROGRAM.

some good anti virus software:

AVG - http://free.avg.com/gb-en/download.prd-afg
Avast! - http://www.avast.com/index
ClamAV - http://www.clamav.net/lang/en/

Free fire walls:

Zone Alarm - http://www.zonealarm.com/security/en-us/home.htm?lid=en-us
Comodo -http://personalfirewall.comodo.com/

Free adware/spyware protection:

Adaware - http://www.lavasoft.com/?domain=lavasoftusa.com
Spybot S&D (NOT Spybot!) - http://www.safer-networking.org/index2.html

There's a lot more, that's just the ones off the top of my head right now.

Keep your computer updated, keep Windows updated.
Never open email from strangers.
Scan ALL attachments even from trusted sources.
Scan ALL downloads before opening.
Keep your security software updated and do regular scans.

That should keep you pretty safe.

I will get with the folks at Yahoo, and see what can be done about it.

To clarify, this "worm" is actually coming through Yahoo instant messenger. If you click the link, it will send the virus to everyone on your contact list.

use Malwarebytes to purge your computer after an infection like that. You can get it for free on Cnet.com. It is the best at what it does. It is not a dedicated Anti Virus in as much as it is a Malware remover. Avast Home Antivirus is the best free Antivirus out there!

You ran afoul of a classic attack for sure. I get spam mail with links of all kinds and I never open them. I send them to the spam grinder!

I had this last night and it did supposedly come from someone I know. I have Norton and it took care of it...

Yep got it four times already, from 2 different messenger friends. Thank God I didn't open first time, cuz it came to my Blackberry. I asked when I signed on to Yahoo.

^^^ Listen to him .. he knows!

Additional info..

The virus is Virtumonde. This is the best, user-friendly, simplest removal tool I've found...It is from Symantec


[url[http://hubpages.com/hub/Virtumonde-Removal-Tools

I don't open files that end in anything but .txt or .jpg unless they are from a trusted corporate site. Even friends emails may be spam from a hacker ...

A friend had her email hijacked to send spam a little while ago.

also ... regularly turn off your wireless hub when not in use so your network can't be hacked.

hackers hate my dialup.

*Update*


This software is actually the most thorough at detecting and removal this virus/trojan. If you already have this, be sure your virus detections are up-to-date before you run a scan...

http://search-destroy-protect.com/index.asp?aff=11231&camp=miva_spybot&se=miv

In addition, i have notified Yahoo and Snopes, with the particulars. This is the same type worm as Netsky, (if you guys remember that) and is likely some variant of it. It is highly infectious and extremely damaging. Do not open any link without asking the sender first. (even your friends) These links are exe files, (though you will not see that in the link)