This isn’t an April Fool’s Day joke, although I’m sure the creators and propagators of the Conficker virus would love as many people as possible to believe it is and therefore take no steps to secure their PC from being infected.

Unless you’ve been living underground for the last six months, you will have heard about the Conficker worm. Also known as Downadup and Kido, this virus targets and infects PCs running Windows operating systems.

The worm comes in three different flavors, variants A, B, and C, all of which target different parts of a computer network, including removable media sources such as USB drives. This means the virus spreads like wildfire.

Why the sudden elevated levels of interest in the Conficker virus? Because it’s known that on April 1, 2009, the virus will mutate and become even more difficult to remove. This date could also be when the people behind the virus decide to cash in, although we don’t yet know what this means.

Protect yourself and your PC by making sure you’ve installed all Windows Updates, and updated and run security software, including the latest Malicious Software Removal Tool from Microsoft. This won’t guarantee your safety but it will up your chances of not being infected.