Downadup panic

I got to work, opened my email, checked the web for news and found that the Downadup worm's causing untold panic, such is the rate of spread. F-Secure estimate that the worm had infected nearly 9 million PC's by Friday, up from just over 2 million on Monday. The worm's hitting a long-standing vulnerability in XP, 2000 and Server 2003 which Microsoft patched - with plenty of publicity - 3 months ago.

Apart from demonstrating just how many systems out there haven't been patched, Downadup's also notable for the numerous ways in which it propogates, via flash and network drives, plus the usual array of social networking hooks.

It is though, easily removed. Tools are at F-Secure for free, and better directions at precisesecurity.

If nothing else, Downadup's showing again the best security practices of all - regular patching, up-to-dat AV and malware programs, and not opening spam. How easy does it have to be?