Conficker has infected up to 15 million computers to date and is set to change the way it works on Wednesday.
There have been some reports the worm could trigger poisoned machines to access personal files, send spam, clog networks or crash sites.
Conficker, also known as Downadup or Kido, first appeared last November. The worm is self-replicating and has attacked a vulnerability in machines using Microsoft's Windows operating system, the software that runs most computers.
It can infect machines via a net connection or by hiding on USB memory drives used to ferry data from one computer to another. Once in a computer, it digs deeps, setting up defences making it hard to extract.
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Among those affected by the virus have been the House of Commons and the defence forces of the UK, Germany and France.
The reason for the hype and the concern around Conficker is that 1 April is the day the worm is set to change the way it updates itself, moving to a system that is much harder to combat.
Five months ago a consortium of web security firms banded together to form the Conficker Working Group, to learn more about the worm and to try to stop it.
