Worm Detection & Removal

WHAT IS A WORM

A worm is a malicious self-replicating computer program designed to infect multiple remote computers. Worm does not alter files but resides in active memory and duplicates itself.A worm execute independently and spreads by e-mail, in file sharing networks or through unprotected network. Worms are also known as malware.

WHAT IT DOES

Worms replicate themselves and infect a computer without user knowledge and consent. Below are the major ways these unsolicited parasites can get into the system.

Worms may propagate through mass e-mailing. Worms reaches in e-mail attachments. Once the user opens such file, the worm silently installs itself into the system. And user even does not notice anything suspicious.
Widely spread worms infect vulnerable computer on the Internet by exploiting known operating system and installed software security vulnerabilities. Such worms spread on their own and therefore do not require any user interference.

Uses a compromised system to spread through e-mail, file sharing networks, instant messenger, online chats or unprotected network shares.Infects files, corrupts installed applications and damages the entire system.

Steals or discloses sensitive personal information, valuable documents, passwords, login names,identity details and user contacts.

Severely degrades Internet connection speed and overall system performance, causes software instability.

Worm may also open TCP ports to create networks security holes for other applications, and they may attempt to "flood" the local area network with spurious Denial of Service (DoS) data transmissions.

Provides no uninstall feature, hides processes, files and other objects in order to complicate its removal as much as possible.

WORM REMOVAL

Computer worms which spread through vulnerabilities in network services can best be protected against by keeping the antivirus up-to-date and installing patches provided by operating system and application vendors.Worms work in the same manner as the regular computer viruses and therefore can be found and removed with the help of effective antivirus products like Symantec Norton , Kaspersky , McAfee , Trust EZ , AVG etc. Anti-spyware solutions such as Microsoft AntiSpyware Beta, Spyware Doctor, Ad-Aware SE, SpyHunter or eTrust PestPatrol are known for quite fair worm detection and removal capabilities.

Computer worms can be defended against by avoiding opening of attachments in your e-mail. These infected attachments are not limited to .EXE files. Microsoft Word and Excel files can contain macros which spread infection.

you should always browse the web with restricted rights - as a 'user', never as an 'administrator'.But the most effective way to prevent worm infection is to turn off JavaScript for normal web browsing. JavaScript is a powerful tool that makes websites interactive, and it's increasingly relied on by web designers. But it's also the most common entry point that worms use to infect your computer.

So there's a trade-off. Turning off JavaScript for normal web browsing will limit your access to many websites, but it's the best form of protection against worm infection.

In some cases even an antivirus or spyware remover can fail to get rid of a particular worm. In this case you have to manually remove the malware by finding files, folders, registry entries etc.