Right... 1st April... computers down. Yea... couldn't they just put a fake spider on our shoulders? Sounds a lot easier to me, and it doesn't make believers freak out and turn their computers off for a day.
But see the bright side: The many people believe this, the many will turn their computers off. That means economy AND environment protection. ^_^ Hurray!
Removal
On 15 October 2008 Microsoft released a patch (MS08-067) to fix the vulnerability.[32] It should be noted that this patch was released prior to the creation and release of the Conficker worm. Removal tools are available from Microsoft,[33] BitDefender,[34] ESET,[35] Symantec,[36] Sophos,[37] and Kaspersky Lab,[38] while McAfee and AVG can remove it with an on-demand scan.[39][40] While Microsoft has released patches for the later Windows XP Service Packs 2 and 3 and Windows 2000 SP4 and Vista, it has not released any patch for Windows XP Service Pack 1 or earlier versions (excluding Windows 2000 SP4), as the support period for these service packs has expired. Since the virus can spread via USB drives that trigger AutoRun, disabling the AutoRun feature for external media (through modifying the Windows Registry) is recommended.[41] However the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team describes Microsoft's guidelines on disabling Autorun as being "not fully effective," and they provide their own guides.[42] Microsoft has released a removal guide for the worm via the Microsoft website.[43]
I have service pack 3 so... yea.