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VIRUS WARNING: Thousands could be left without Internet

Posted at 5:17 PM, Jul 05, 2012
and last updated 2012-07-06 06:49:04-04

Pay attention, or you could be booted off the Internet Monday.

Facebook is notifying users who have a certain type of malware on their computers, reminding users that if they don’t remove it, they will lose internet access on July 9, when the FBI shuts down the malware.

If a user accesses Facebook from a computer infected with DNS Changer malware, the site will display an alert with a link to a website that instructs users on how to remove the malware.

The FBI’s website also has a link that allows people to check if they have malware on their machines.

According to the FBI, DNS Changer malware can modify a computer’s settings and possibly direct the computer to “improper results.”

To check whether a computer is infected, users can visit a website run by the group brought in by the FBI: http://www.dcwg.org. We have found that people trying to access www.dns-ok.us/ using Internet Explorer can not get any results, and should try another browser.

Is your computer infected? Find out here.

The site includes links to respected commercial sites that will run a quick check on the computer, and it also lays out detailed instructions if users want to actually check the computer themselves.

For the complete story of how the FBI found the hacker installed malware, click here.