USA: Computer experts waited early Wednesday to see what impact -- if any -- the worm known as Conficker.c will have on the world's computers, according to a CNN report.

"As long as you've patched or at least brought your antivirus software up to speed, you should be fine," said Chris Pirillo, a tech expert for CNN.com.

"I believe just about everybody out there," Pirillo said, "has a removal tool." Still, the worm can wreak havoc, he said.

Unlike viruses, worms self propagate, spreading by networks. "Once it's out there, it's very difficult to stop," Pirillo said.

He predicted that "the worst possible outcome" would be that some computers would run "suboptimally," as network traffic becomes clogged.

And its ability to do that is cleverly designed: Conficker.c has a feature that disables the Windows update program in the Microsoft product, keeping Windows from becoming patched, Pirillo said. It also disables the auto-update capabilities of many anti-virus software programs.

Pirillo said it may be a week or more before the true impact of the worm is known, but he predicted it will have one. "It's going to be very annoying to say the least," he said. "It's going to impact network traffic in a big way."