# April Fool's Day - Stay off the Internet? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 29, 2010, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fools-day-stay-off-the-internet/534240 "2010-03-29T19:15:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fools-day-stay-off-the-internet/534240/1 "2010-03-29T19:15:46Z")
I’m sure this is a dumb question, but are there more trojans and viruses and stuff created or released or whatever on April Fool’s Day? Would it be a good idea to just stay off the computer for a day (_if I can_)? ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fools-day-stay-off-the-internet/534240/2 "2010-03-29T19:32:42Z")
If the virus is released on that date then it could take days or weeks for virus protection software companies to identify it and send out updates for it. ---
**Author:** ![Long\_Time\_Lurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/2bfe46/32.png) [@Long\_Time\_Lurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Long_Time_Lurker)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fools-day-stay-off-the-internet/534240/3 "2010-03-29T19:33:46Z")
Personal opinion is that you’re being overcautious. Keep your operating system up to date with the latest patches, use a firewall (preferably both hardware and software), an anti-virus program of your choice (personally, I do not use one), and exercise caution in your browsing and downloading habits and you should be fine. Some of the previous April Fools viruses were pre-released anyway (i.e. you already picked it up before April 1, and it is set to activate on April 1): For example, [No joke in April Fool's Day computer worm - CNN.com](http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/03/24/conficker.computer.worm/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fools-day-stay-off-the-internet/534240/4 "2010-03-29T19:34:38Z")
Wasted effort. Regardless of any particular day or date some computer nasty is released to the world, it still takes time to propagate. One can venture the script kiddies who create this stuff don’t think so much about release dates (so as to coincide with some specific date) as these nasties would have an activation date. On this latter point, that would mean they are already in the wild for an April 1 activation. For a classic virus with a known activation date, see [Michelangelo (computer virus) - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelangelo_%28computer_virus%29) There was the [Conflicker worm](http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/03/24/conficker.computer.worm/index.html) that was scheduled to activate on April Fools Day last year (2009). Much hubbub before the date but I don’t recall any real impact. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fools-day-stay-off-the-internet/534240/5 "2010-03-29T19:41:39Z")
Any day can be bad. I am currently working on a Groundhog Day virus that restores people’s computer back to its state 24 hours beforehand every day at midnight including internet news pages and resets the clock as well. I can’t wait until next February. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2010, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fools-day-stay-off-the-internet/534240/6 "2010-03-29T22:54:10Z")
The real reason to stay of the Net on April 1 is that half of what you read will not be true. Google will even try to trick you. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fools-day-stay-off-the-internet/534240/7 "2010-03-30T00:16:43Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Any day can be bad. I am currently working on a Groundhog Day virus that restores people’s computer back to its state 24 hours beforehand every day at midnight including internet news pages and resets the clock as well. I can’t wait until next February. Is that you, Bill Murray? ---
**Author:** ![SoulFrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fools-day-stay-off-the-internet/534240/8 "2010-04-01T09:02:34Z")
My [Topeka-fu](http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/different-kind-of-company-name.html) shows that April 1st is pretty much like any other day. ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fools-day-stay-off-the-internet/534240/9 "2010-04-01T09:15:17Z")
> [@a35362](#): > > I’m sure this is a dumb question, but are there more trojans and viruses and stuff created or released or whatever on April Fool’s Day? > > Would it be a good idea to just stay off the computer for a day (_if I can_)? Yes. Yes. How will you decide which answers are not whooshes? ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fools-day-stay-off-the-internet/534240/10 "2010-04-01T14:12:16Z")
not only am i not going on the internet on the 1st because of more traps people will set, heck even well respected forums will mess with you. i’ve got a cite for that somewhere. also i’m not eating anything on the 31st because bathrooms are a likely place for bobby traps. and i’m not eating anything because food traps are also likely. no body is going to get me, i’m staying in bed all day. damn i forgot to flip my calendar page. oh crap! ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fools-day-stay-off-the-internet/534240/11 "2010-04-01T14:31:31Z")
Yeah, the whole Straight Dope Message Board seems to have been hit by a virus that changed forum titles, and has randomly changed some of the titles of members/guests. The tech staff are working overtime to try to repair this, but they tell me that it probably won’t be fixed until tomorrow. ---
**Author:** ![SoulFrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fools-day-stay-off-the-internet/534240/12 "2010-04-01T14:33:33Z")
You got off light: [http://thebruces.stormbirds.org/forums/index.php](http://thebruces.stormbirds.org/forums/index.php) Probably going to take all day to get us fixed up, too… ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/april-fools-day-stay-off-the-internet/534240/13 "2010-04-01T14:44:49Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Any day can be bad. I am currently working on a Groundhog Day virus that restores people’s computer back to its state 24 hours beforehand every day at midnight including internet news pages and resets the clock as well. I can’t wait until next February. Never heard of that one. What’s it called? I Googled but didn’t find anything.