So, the general advice is: be cautious and back up your data on a regular basis.

Worms usually get into your computer via email or P2P programs. There’s a couple of simple (free) measures that can be taken in order to avoid this type of nuisance.

If you use a resident email software such as Outlook, enable the preview marker timer to its maximum value (usually 60 seconds). This leaves you time to react in case the message is suspicious. When using a P2P program, never ever open a received file before you have checked what it is under the Windows Explorer (if you use Windows).

This allows you to check, for example, that a so called picture is in fact a ms-dos application and hence potentially dangerous for your PC.

In general, be suspicious about any incoming publicity that encourages you to click on a given link “if you want to learn more about it” unless you trust the source of that information. Some Antivirus, such as Panda Software’s True Prevent package allow your PC to be protected against intruders that are not yet registered in your local copy of your antivirus.

That was just free food for thought.