Several viruses scheduled to hit on Christmas Day!

Christmas Season Virus Alert!!!

This question was answered on December 22, 2000. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.

---

Several viruses that were discovered last year are set to strike on Christams day (December 25th), some of which are very destructive.

The most formidable of the group is the W32/Kriz virus which can destroy data and the CMOS chip of an infected computer In addition, this virus is polymorphic, which means it can change the way it looks with each infection This strain can only attack Windows based systems.

If your anti-virus program is up-to-date, you should be safe, but if you have not updated for a long period of time, you may be at risk Because this virus has a payload date, it will not do its damage until the 25th of December, which means you could have infected your system 8 months ago but not seen any results as of yet.

If you have not updated your anti-virus program in the last 30 days, we strongly suggest you do so ASAP.

If you would like to manually check your system for this strain of virus, you can search for a file by the name of "KRIZED.TT6" In Windows, click on Start/Find/Files or Folders to open the Find utility In the Named: section, type KRIZED.TT6, make sure that the C: is selected in the Look in: box then click on the Find Now button If you find that you have this file on your system, your are most likely infected with the KRIZ virus

If you are unable to disinfect your system before Christmas day, DO NOT TURN YOUR SYSTEM ON until after Christmas Another option is to set the date on your computer to 12/26/00 or later, then DO NOT TURN OFF YOUR COMPUTER until you can get the virus eradicated This virus can only do its damage if the machine is booted up on the payload date...

Another Christmas related strain is the "Prilissa" virus which also has a "hit" date of 12/25 This particular strain is a Word Macro virus and sends itself to everyone in an Outlook address book that resides on an infected computer.

As with the KRIZ virus, it can be detected and deleted by current anti-virus programs, so once again, be sure to keep your software updated..

About the author

Posted by Ken Colburn of Data Doctors on December 22, 2000

Need Help with this Issue?

We help people with technology! It's what we do.
Contact or Schedule an Appointment with a location for help!