Getting Rid of Happy99.exe - the Happy 99 Worm

A worm is different from a virus in that a worm is an insidious and usually illegal computer program that is designed to replicate itself over a network for the purpose of causing harm and/or destruction, or if its harmless, for no purpose at all. While a virus is designed to invade a single computer's hard drive, a worm is designed to invade a network. The most infamous worm was created by Robert Tappan Morris in November 1988; it infiltrated over 6,000 network systems around the globe.

Just last week, I got two emails from a friend - one was a general email, containing what emails generally contain. The other was a blank email with an attachment called "Happy99.exe". Now since I knew the recipient and she regularly used to send me interesting attachments, I executed the attachment. I saw a small window opening up titled "Happy New Year 1999 !!" showing a fireworks display that went on aimlessly. After a couple of minutes, staring at the same display without any change made me wonder why she sent me this without any message and shut the program. The next mail from my boss had the same program, and then another one from another colleague. That�s when my friend called up to ask if I had run the "Happy99.exe" program. When I said I did, she apologised saying that it was a virus that had unknowingly been sent by her, and that she would send me a way to get rid of it. I followed the instructions and got rid of it before I could unknowingly start infecting people in turn.

The quick and easy method
If you want the quick and easy way out, download the Happy99Cleaner, and run it on your machine. That's that - you're clean!

The method for nerds
For those who would rather fiddle around with their computers and do it the difficult way, here goes - if you�re not sure if you got the virus, here�s a simple way to find out:

From the "Start" menu, use the "Find" option to search for "SKA.EXE".
If you don�t find it, you�re safe and don�t have the worm on your system. You can continue staying safe if you don�t run any program called "Happy99.exe" - just delete it instead!
If you do find "SKA.EXE", follow the instructions below:
1. Delete SKA.EXE and SKA.DLL (usually in C\Windows\System)
2. Click Start, then Shut Down, then "Restart Computer in MS-DOS mode", then click Yes. It's important to exit Windows in order to be able to replace the file WSOCK32.DLL which Windows normally has in use.
3. Copy WSOCK32.SKA to WSOCK32.DLL by typing
  ATTRIB -R WSOCK32.DLL COPY WSOCK32.SKA WSOCK32.DLL
  The ATTRIB command is just in case WSOCK32.DLL has been made read-only since the infection. Answer "Yes" if it asks if you want to overwrite WSOCK32.DLL. Explanation: WSOCK32.SKA is a backup of the original WSOCK32.DLL. You are replacing the modified DLL with the original.
4. Optional Delete WSOCK32.SKA by typing DEL WSOCK32.SKA You can leave WSOCK32.SKA on your system. It is a copy of your original WSOCK32.DLL Do not delete WSOCK32.SKA if you are unable to replace WSOCK32.DLL with WSOCK32.SKA.
5. Return to Windows by typing EXIT
6. Replace the file WINDOWS\SYSTEM\WSOCK32.DLL with WINDOWS\SYSTEM\WSOCK32.SKA
7. Delete the downloaded file, usually named HAPPY99.EXE
Be wary!

On a happier note, the Happy 99 worm does not damage your computer - it just sits there and attaches itself to email that you send out from your computer, infecting (but not damaging) the recipient�s computers (when executed there) in turn� and keeps spreading this way. So while you don�t need to get worried, play safe�

	Getting Rid of Happy99.exe - the Happy 99 Worm
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