Over the last few months, the “Down and Up” worm, also known as “Conficker” has infected an estimated 6% of all PCs worldwide. The concern is what the authors will now do with all these compromised systems. They could ask for credit card information as the bogus Antivirus 2009 does. They could use the computers to attack and demand money from websites through denial of service (DOS) attacks. No one knows yet what the intentions of the authors are.
It is considered the most professional and pernicious worm attack that researchers have yet seen. It effects all versions of Windows. As a worm, it does not require any user action for the computer to be compromised. The machine must just not be recently patched.
Download the Malicious Software Removal Tool (also available in Windows Updates) in order to protect your computer or to possibly get rid of the worm (most people who have it do not know). Then you can feel comfortable that your computer is owned by you and not by the bad guys.