Pressing F1 on Your Keyboard? Think Again!

You must have seen how a mysterious computer virus makes the hard drives explode in fractions of seconds in Bruce Willis-starrer 2007 action film Die Hard 4.

Well, not so dramatic, but an interesting hacking attack has recently surfaced as reported by Microsoft.

Microsoft has issued a warning of an exploit that causes the computers running Windows XP and Internet Explorer to become infected with malware just with a keystroke: specifically the F1 button.

So here's what actually happens: A flawed implementation of Windows Help and Visual Basic in Internet Explorer creates a potential loophole which lets a hacker to code a dialog box and run any malicious code.

This actually means that the hacker can install any program on your computer, more likely a virus or malware.

"F1" is quite handy in Windows environment when it comes to basic help topics. Just by pressing this key, you can get the basic help about almost any application running in Windows.

Actually, such an attack can be carried out only if there is an interaction with the user. So there has to be a "push of button" in order to carry out the hack-attack.

Microsoft has warned the users to not press F1 while browsing until a patch is released to contain the flaw.

So simply put, browse your way without asking for help!