Will you still have Internet access this July?

You may but....  you may not.  You won't have Internet access as of July 9 if your computer was and is still infected with the DNSChanger malware that first appeared in 2007 and continued infecting computers until the FBI nabbed the culprits in 2011.  

DNSChanger worked by re-routing any Internet request you made (web, mail, whatever) to bogus websites where they would try to trick you into giving them personal information.   They were quite successful until the FBI executed a sting operation to shut them down.

However, if you were infected, the re-routing mechanism (fake DNS settings) used by the bad guys may still be in place on your system.  Once the FBI got a hold of the perpetrators' servers they configured them so that they no longer directed infected systems to malicious websites.  However, infected systems are still using the formerly compromised servers.   The FBI originally planned to shut them down in March but there are still over 450,000 infected systems out there!  So, they've pushed the shutdown to July 9, 2012.    If your system is still infected on that date, your Internet will quit working.

Now the good news.... there is an easy fix!   Simply go to this website http://www.dcwg.org/

There you'll find a test button called "Detect" that will test your system to see if you're infected and a "Fix" button you can use to clean your system if you are infected.  You'll also find more information about the malware on that website.

Also, CNET has a good article with more information at:

http://news.cnet.com/posts/?keyword=DNSChanger&tag=nl.e497