Scared that you might get fooled by a worm on April Fool’s Day?

Security alerts have been blinking since last week, warning users of another strike by a new strain of the Conficker worm on the first day of April. The C-strain is expected to be more resilient than the previous ones, making it hard to detect or remove. An infection will most probably be fatal as it would require you to reformat your hard drive in order to completely eradicate the bug.

While antivirus and anti spyware makers are sounding the alarm, all you need to do in order to avoid being a victim is to be extra vigilant in checking the files that you download, the Web sites that you visit, and the portable storage devices that you attach to your computer via USB or Bluetooth.

Microsoft has already released patches and updates that could ward off a Conficker attack. If your OS is receiving automatic updates from its maker, then chances are is that you’re already protected. Of course, Windows cannot stave off an attack alone. A good and reputable antivirus software would be an excellent (and indispensable) complement to the built-in defenses of your operating system.

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In case you haven’t heard yet, millions of PCs around the globe are fast succumbing to a worm that experts have yet to completely dissect.

According to F-Secure, a security software company based in the US, around 9 million computers are already playing host to the dreaded malware called “Conficker.” Millions more are expected to be infected by it in the next few days.

Little information has been unearthed as to what the virus could do. What is conclusively known, though, is that it exploits networks and servers that have not installed the latest security patches issued for Windows RPC Server Service. The fact that many antivirus programs cannot detect it also exacerbates the problem.

Conficker, which also goes by the name “Downadup,” spreads rapidly as it immediately copies itself into systems and storage devices. It’s very difficult to detect as it uses different extension names.

While security software makers appear to have been caught flatfooted, they are already laying out plans to curb the infection. Microsoft has recently announced that the latest update of its malware detection and removal tool would already be able to identify and eliminate Conficker.

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