Warning: Phatbot

Government and computer security officials are expressing concern about a new Trojan horse, Phatbot. This program uses peer-to-peer processes to link up infected computers. The computers can be used to attack Web sites or spread massive amounts of spam.

Phatbot targets Windows computers that have not been updated. It spreads through flaws in Windows' networking area. Microsoft has issued patches for the flaws, but many computers have not been updated.

Phatbot's ability to spread through P2P makes it difficult to eradicate. On individual computers, it disables anti-virus and firewall programs. If you normally have an anti-virus icon in your notification area, and it has disappeared, you may have Phatbot. The notification area is in the lower right corner of the desktop. It includes a clock.

F-Secure, an anti-virus company, has a program this will delete Phatbot. It's available at http://www.f-secure.com/v-descs/agobot_fo.shtml

That is pretty much correct, Zephirine. Later versions of Windows were built different than 98 and earlier. The ealier versions are not as vulnerable to these types of things...

Your Windows XP machine could be....make sure it has all the Critical Security Updates and if on the net, make sure it has a firewall. This is also important if you have a network set up and the XP machine is part of the network. The virus could be caught on a 98 machine and sent to the XP machine...

So, it's always important to do the Windows Updates and have a firewall enabled....plug up all of them holes!

~Dan