infinitepossibilities

i was quietly tapping the keys of the laptop when my windows live messenger window popped up. there was a message from my contact abroad. she sent a zip file called image34.photobucket.com. since i maintain communication with her, i didn’t find that there was something amiss with her sending me a file. incidentally, just yesterday - i was talking with a colleague from manila about zipping files. the file sent to me was of the same format as the zip file that i discussed yesterday. finding nothing unusual to the zip file sent to me, i unzipped it. it was then that the laptop acted weird for like a minute. i couldn’t control the mouse pointer as if it was stuck and the chat window kept on flashing - for like several times a second. as usual, not wanting to call on owner-of-the-room-i-envy and complain over something i have no clue whatsoever - i just let the episode go and waited for the mouse pointer to move. two or so minutes after, i was invited to a net conference with just the question "what happen?" the clueless me, asked "what’s wrong? is there a problem?". i was told that i sent a zip file. surprised, i informed my two colleagues that i did no such thing. in the middle of my denial via windows live messenger, my colleagues here all started coming to the kitchen to ask about a file that i apparently sent.

continuous denial.

precisely because I did not send the file. at least not consciously. i was informed that the file was a virus. it spread via Windows Live Messenger and infects the pc of the people in my Contacts List if they happen to click on the file, which they purported i sent them.

the kind of person that i am who doesn’t just sit waiting for information to come in; i immediately googled "msn virus" and "windows live messenger virus" and found these two links:

http://msn-errors.blogspot.com/2007/02/ratemynuts-virus-msn-worm.html
http://forums.techguy.org/malware-removal-hijackthis-logs/556829-windows-live-messenger-virus.html

i am assuming that the virus mentioned in those two articles was the same virus that gave us a scare. haha, but i could just be full of assumptions as prior to going home chairman told me that their triumvirate found the culprit. curious me asked and was told that it was an smtsvc.exe file. naturally, i googled it and found this:

http://www.cisrt.org/enblog/read.php?191&page=1

yeah, i think this it.

as always, i’m just full of assumptions. but hey, the first two links might just help somebody.

also, just to be sure that nobody has spoofed my IM, i followed my friend’s advice of changing my password.