Windows XP worm speaks to users as it deletes their files; Macintosh unaffected

“A worm that contains an embedded audio message has been bending the ears of Windows users,” Dan Ilett reports for CNET News.

The Amus worm, which may be Turkish, uses the Windows Speech Engine, embedded on Windows XP, to play the following message:

“How are you. I am back. My name is Mr. Hamsi. I am seeing you. Haaaaaaaa. You must come to Turkey. I am cleaning your computer. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. 0. Gule gule.”

“Gule gule” means “bye-bye” in Turkish.

“The worm, which runs after the Windows XP boot-up music has played, also deletes certain files, causing Windows to fail,” Dan Ilett reports for CNET News.

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: It’s a sad, sorry state of affairs, this Windows, isn’t it? For our Windows-only friends, there is a better way! Information about smoothly adding a Mac OS X machine to your computing arsenal can be found here.

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18 Comments

  1. I think it’s great that Windows has an embedded speech engine! This means that at least part of Windows has caught up to where the Mac was in 1984!!!

    If Windows could speak, it would say “I suck.”

  2. Speaking of speaking, you may not be aware of what this virus writer had to go through. From our friends at xvsxp.com, this is how you make XP speak…

    var vt = WScript.CreateObject(“Speech.VoiceText”);
    vt.Register(“”, WScript.ScriptName);
    var phrase = “Is there something I should say?”;
    if ( WScript.Arguments.length )
    phrase = WScript.Arguments(0);
    vt.Speak(phrase, 1);
    while ( vt.IsSpeaking )
    WScript.Sleep(100);
    WScript.Quit();

    …and this is how you make your Mac say the same thing…

    say “Is there something I should say?” �

    …and I have NO idea how to make XP do this simple task…

    say “This is cool” using “Kathy” saving to “someText.aiff”

    I use this to make unique “alarms” for my Mail so, for example, when I get something from Bill, it says “That brainless wonder, Bill, thinks you should see this email.” I have a different one for each friend and family member.

    It beats the hell out of “You’ve got Mail.”

  3. Hehe, you know I hate to say this but I do have a smug grin on my face at the moment ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” />

    You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink…

  4. I wonder how many of the PCers will be affected… Is there some place to find
    that kind of info. on the web updated hourly or something??

    You’re right, notatotalsucker, this is fun. I am SO HAPPY!!!

  5. Hilarious. I’m sorry, but I fail to have any sympathy for those that continue to use Windows despite all of the warnings about lack of security. Maybe this will freak a few unfortunate victims out bad enough that they’ll swear off of Windows forever.

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