Blaster worm or the W32/Blaster is the most popular variant of the worm, which is increasingly dangerous to all the systems. The worst threat that this worm poses is that of blended threat. It is essential to know all about it to be able to counter it.

Blended threats that are relative to the worm are all about combined threats. The threats that include worms, viruses, Trojans and other malicious codes work together. When all these threats work in collaboration it becomes easy to exploit the system vulnerability. It is all about combining multiple modes and techniques for spreading the infection rapidly. It results in widespread damage that is difficult to tackle.

Symptoms of Infection

Now that you know how dangerous the worm can be, you need to know if your system too is infected by the worm. You will find some symptoms that will help you recognize and determine the presence of the worm:

• The primary symptom of infection will include error messages. You will unexpectedly receive messages that say:

RPC service or the remote procedure service terminated unexpectedly

System shutting down; save all your work and log off

Unsaved changes can be lost

Shutdown by NT AUTHORITYSYSTEM

• System will shut off or restart repeatedly

• A dialog box will appear on the screen that asks you to send the report to Microsoft if you are using 2003 Windows Server based system

• You might receive a Stop error message if you are running system on Windows NT or Windows 2000

• You might discover files like Teekids.exe, Msblast.exe, Penis32.exe, Nstask32.exe, Win32sockdrv.dll, Yuetyutr.dll and Winlogin.exe

• Unusual TFTP* files will start appearing on the system

Virus Detection

It is essential to detect the virus before further damage or permanent damages caused to the system Because of any .exe file as mentioned above. If it appears on the system, then you need to download a robust antivirus and perform a complete system scan.

You will need to search for .exe files using the following method:

• Go to Start menu-> Run and when the Open box appears type the cmd and hit Ok
• When the command prompt appears, enter dir %systemroot%system32filename.ext /a /s command and hit the Enter key

• All the .exe file names will appear.

If you can locate any of the inappropriate .exe files, then you should be sure that the system contains the worm. Now after knowing about the prevalent infection on the system and the files, you need to immediately eliminate them. Delete the files and then opt for system recovery. For deleting the file you will need to use the following command:

“del %systemroot%system32filename.ext /a”

Now press Enter.

Prevention

Wherever there is trouble, it is possible to prevent it too. Utilizing the following steps you can prevent the infection from infiltrating the system.

To avoid this virus from infecting your computer you just need to turn on the ICF or the internet connection firewall or the Enterprise Edition or Basic Firewall. For each version of Microsoft system, you will need to find a different option that will be relative to the preventive means. However, for lesser confusion you can rely upon locating firewall protection.

If you are running a Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP then you can apply the following steps:

• Go to Start Menu-> Control Panel, Networking and Internet Connections

• To turn on the Firewall, you need to right click and choose the option of Properties

• Go to the Advance tap and select the option of ‘Protect my computer,’ it will help you in preventing or limiting access to the system, just choose the Internet check box option.

It is possible that dial-up connections will not show the option in the Network Connection folders. If you are using something like MSN or the AOL, then the options will not appear. You will need to apply different means for turning on the ICF option.

• Fire up the Internet Explorer

• In the Tools menu, choose the tab of Internet Options

• Go to the Connections tab and choose the option of a dial-up connection that you are using for internet connectivity and then choose Settings

• Go to Properties in Dial-up settings

• Go to Advanced tab and select the option of ‘Protect my computer or network’

• Choose the Internet checkbox

Even after, you have applied all the relevant steps and procedure if things are not working then you should contact your ISP or seek online computer support.