RichardHarlos.com

If you get an MSN message inviting you to download a vide called Fantasma, don’t do it! It could be one of the biggest computer mistakes you’ll ever make.

The link to download that video actually download’s a virus called BlackAngel.B. It’s not a nice virus, as you can read for yourself:

Once it has infected a computer BlackAngel.B uses the instant messenger to send messages to all the contacts in a user’s list, disguising itself as a video called “Fantasma” …

Besides showing a picture (see below), the BlackAngel.B code makes several modifications to the system, which include closing different security applications (antivirus programs, firewalls, etc.) to avoid detection. It also tries to close a number of windows (Windows Task Manager, Control Panel, Registry Editor, System Configuration Utility, System Restore) so that the user cannot use operating system configuration tools,
-from Panda Security as quoted in BlackAngel.B worm spreading via Microsoft’s MSN Messenger, TGDaily.com, 14 June 2006.

Virus verified at BlackAngel.B article, Secunia.com, 13 June 2006.

Here’s the picture that the virus displays when you’re infected:

Putting that Spanish text into Google’s translator gives us:

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, people! Better not to get infected than to try to get clean once infected (does that sound like a slogan for a message against sexually transmitted diseases or what?)

And look! I got through an entire post about a virus without ranting against Microsoft or MSN—be proud of me {smile}.