May 25, 2012 - 05:30 PM EDT — AAPL: 562.29 (-3.03, -0.54%) | NASDAQ: 2837.53 (-1.85, -0.07%)

Montana school district’s Windows computers offline due to worm; Macintosh computers unaffected

Wednesday, September 3, 2003 · 10:10 pm · 21 Comments

“The Helena School District was hit by a virus similar to the one that tied up the State of Montana last week, and District Technology Services Manager Joe Baechtel said it could be several days before all the schools are back on line,” reports Laura Tode for The Helena Independent Record. “The w32.welchia worm virus leaked into the school district

Categories: MacDailyNews, News

Thank You for supporting MacDailyNews!

♥ Adobe Photoshop CS6 Extended for Mac - Student and Teacher Edition DVD (65171323) only $249!
♥ Blowout: Apple 15.4" MacBook Pro i7/4Core/2.0GHz/4GB/500GB (MC721LL/A) only $1,549.99 + Free Shipping from MacMall
♥ Mac Madness Save 25% on Parallels Desktop 7!
♥ 15% Off Compatible Ink. 10% Off All Others (excludes OEMs). Free Shipping over $55. Coupon: 123BLOSSOM, Expires 6.18.12
♥ Save up to 60% at the Hammacher Schlemmer Special Values Sale-While supplies last.
♥ Dragon Dictate for Mac 2.5 - New! Simply Smarter Speech Recognition
♥ Up to 30% OFF Accessories from Verizon Wireless
♥ Limited Time Offer: Get free ZAGGsmartbuds when you buy a ZAGGsparq!

Comment Feed

21 Comments

1 2 Next »

BuriedCaesar

Thursday, September 4, 2003 - 1:04 am · Reply

Well, how ’bout that – hey teach’, plug that old Selectric in and break out the carbons and mimeograph fluid!

(How many reading this right now even know what I’m talking about?)

Sadly, this will only become more and more prevalent, given how poorly M$ has responded – this little infection has not gotten even half as much ink as the Blaster and SoBig attacks. However, the Welchia (or Nachi) worm is one of those attacks that could have EASILY been prevented, except for the one minor detail that M$ networks let that stuff run rampant because many pc programs simply WON’T WORK PROPERLY without the kind of network settings that clearly assist such worms in propagating. Very sad indeed.

And, hmmm, why did the Macs that are on the same network not become infected? (I know, rhetorical question for some, but I just had to ask it…)
innocent naive

Thursday, September 4, 2003 - 1:17 am · Reply

What is a virus? Is that one of those killer apps I keep reading about? I’ve only used Macs my whole life. Should I be worried?

blink, blink!
Seahawk

Thursday, September 4, 2003 - 4:43 am · Reply

Selectric: no idea what you are talking about. I am afraid to look for it in Google
Dave H

Thursday, September 4, 2003 - 5:11 am · Reply

Ho hum, another day, another network taken offline by a Windows virus. You can nearly set your watch by them now.

Well, at least it should stop school districts from migrating to Windows.
Matthew24

Thursday, September 4, 2003 - 5:42 am · Reply

To be continued….
BigSMan

Thursday, September 4, 2003 - 6:57 am · Reply

dont act surprised….time for more macs in school!!
kev~!

Thursday, September 4, 2003 - 8:14 am · Reply

what’s strikes me as funny is that I went to Capital High (’91 grad) and when I was there the only windows machines were in the CAD lab in Mr. Duff’s office. And they were smoking machines, too, they were 486 @ 33 Mhz. Screaming machines for the time, doorstops by ’93, but hey. We still had selectrics because we still had a mandatory typing course (which I wouldn’t doubt that they still had) and I’m sure they are in the same storage space as all the gymnastics equipment that they don’t use anymore but couldn’t get rid of without peeving some Helenans.

And I used the PCs in the CAD lab because AutoCAD wasn’t built for the Mac and the lab was donated by Boeing (I think… maybe… perhaps it was a grant, Duff would know) and the macs we had then were just ok, although the school’s paper and yearbook were both done on macs. I think it’s interesting that now, I couldn’t survive without my PowerBook, so I don’t know how students function without their own computer. I’m really hoping that parents will see fit to get an iBook for their kids for 7 – 12th grade. What you can do today is brilliant, and classes wouldn’t suck the way they did…

of course, AutoCAD also needs to port to OS X.

ah, the memories….
OhGreat

Thursday, September 4, 2003 - 9:11 am · Reply

I used to use the IBM Selectric typewriters back in high school for my typing class. They were ok back in those days.
Aryugaetu

Thursday, September 4, 2003 - 9:36 am · Reply

Flashback:

Trying to use that last old sheet of carbon paper that was thinner than tissue paper. Don’t forget 4-part forms: “Press hard”.

And, OHHH the smell of the blue mimeograph quiz fresh off of the machine. Every time the teacher was late for class with a stack of paper in their arms, we knew it was because they printed something (often a quiz) on the slow mimeograph between classes. When the quiz was distributed, every kid lifted it to their nose to smell the fresh blue ink.

Life was much simpler.
steve

Thursday, September 4, 2003 - 11:05 am · Reply

It is unlikely that Apple will make ads showing the problems in the Windows world these days, but there is a lot of creativity in the Mac community. Perhaps someone should start a contest for the best ad showing why typewriters make a better business decision than going with Windows.
MJG

Thursday, September 4, 2003 - 11:06 am · Reply

Heh. Yeah, I vividly remember the smell and the dampness of that fresh paper.
Melangell

Thursday, September 4, 2003 - 11:22 am · Reply

“(How many reading this right now even know what I’m talking about?) “

I DO!!! I DO!!!

Yes, Aryugaetu, the smell of a freshly printed test on paper that for some odd reason always felt slightly cool… Ah the memories…
Methusela

Thursday, September 4, 2003 - 11:28 am · Reply

Boy, I remember when a Selectric was unattainable – only rich folk or businesses had them. High tech during my college years was one of the low-end Brother electric typewriters. The only folks who got to use a computer were those guys who carried around stacks of punch cards (their principle aerobic exercise was chasing the cards during a windstorm).
Methusela

Thursday, September 4, 2003 - 11:33 am · Reply

Oh yeah, and the only thing that smelled better than fresh mimeograph ink was one of those Ohio Test answer sheets. God, I needed a life in my youth!
Limbo

Thursday, September 4, 2003 - 11:56 am · Reply

Schools keep saying they have to switch to Windows because it’s what they use in the business world. Well now they get to enjoy as much virus-ridden downtime as the business world.
Ted Lemkie

Thursday, September 4, 2003 - 1:56 pm · Reply

don’t forget smith-corona typewriters as well.
MacBuddy

Thursday, September 4, 2003 - 4:03 pm · Reply

WinTel is sure suffering a bad case of worms these days.

But, they do because of ‘market-share’ only.

- – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

B.C….First had to clean the mimeograph fluid from my hands, before firing up the Selectric connected to the TV to write this. I was watching ‘Brazil’, again.
Ben

Thursday, September 4, 2003 - 6:36 pm · Reply

I heard that you could use dog medicine to rid your PC of worms. You just crush the tablets up and put them in the CD drawer. Or if you have a liquid, just splash it on your hard drive and it should do the trick.
David

Thursday, September 4, 2003 - 10:44 pm · Reply

Why on earth are they being caught by Wlchia now. It exploits the same vulnerabilities as blaster. You would have thought they installed the patch.
Methusela

Friday, September 5, 2003 - 10:38 am · Reply

mmmm….Smith-Corona….clack….clack-clack…clack-clack-clack-clack…..clack…..DING!