Can You Break The Internet...?

It always amuses me when people tell me they are afraid to explore their computers because they might delete something vital. I try to explain that you can't do any real damage - things can always be reinstalled. You cannot "break the internet..."

However, it seems that the internet might be broken for several people tomorrow. Something to do with a criminal gang who created a virus which makes computers go through a false address when visiting websites. The only thing users will have noticed is that their computers run a bit slowly. The FBI apparently cracked the internet ring, but decided to route infected machines through a special server. No idea why. Now it seems that the server is proving too expensive, and it's going to be switched off on Monday 9 July 2012.

Infected computers will then be unable to access the internet...

There are some websites you can visit to check if your computer is affected, and some more sites to tell you what to do if it turns out you have the virus.

The whole thing has a whiff of the Domesday conspiracy theory about it... one of those urban myths which keep doing the rounds... after all, why didn't the FBI sort this out straight away rather than paying for servers to re-route computers?

However, I didn't get a slew of emails from people warning me that I would lose the internet on Monday (as has happened with all the other urban myths) and so I thought I'd visit the recommended website, just out of curiosity. It seems that my computer is "clean!" That said, it did occur to me that if I was a criminal wanting to get people to visit a particular website, this is exactly the sort of rumour I'd use to get it going...

Anyway, if any of you want to check for yourselves, you can click here. More information is available here.

Of course, if you're checking this post on Monday morning, you can save yourself the hassle, as your internet is obviously still working...