TOPIC: Problem: Messenger Service Pop - Up

MESSENGER SERVICE

message from FROM to TO 9/19/2006

Stop! Windows Requires immediate Attention!

Windows has found 55 critical System errors

to fix the errors please do the following

1. Download Registry Update from - www.helpfixpc.com

2. Initial Registry update

3. Run Registry update

4. Reboot your computer.

failure to act now may lead to system failure.

my question is this

why is the pop up showing ( and the worst part is that it shows on my server i am using a client server type of connection)?

it is a virus?

will my system actually lead to a system failure?

what do i do to end this mess?

it comes as a pop-up on my screen.


my people i need answers plssssssssssss.

You are being afflicted by the phenomenom that is "Messenger Service spam" and under no circumstances should you follow any instructions.

The fact that you're getting this "spam" means that you do not have a firewall or that you've left some holes open in your firewall.

Follow the following steps:

1. Enable your firewall.
2. Disable the Messenger Service (unless it's in use on your internal network). Note that it has nothing to do with Windows Messenger or MSN Messenger.

The above two steps will put a stop too the problem. Also check out this Microsoft KB.

You may find that this is Spyware, got this on my mates computer and when he clicked it some spyware was installed (System Doctor or something). Download (or update) some decent Spyware software.

I use Spybot Search and Destroy which i have always found to be good. I used Sophos Version 6 on my mates computer as it now comes with Anti-Spyware stuff built in now.

Also, another terrific product is SpywareBlaster. This will actually modify files to stop Known sites that contain spyware from actually being accessed and spreading onto your machine. This can be found here and i find it really, really good and worth a look.

http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

N.B. Spyware blaster is a preventative application that stops hit from hitting your computer, you will need to use something like SpyBot Search and Destroy to remove current spyware.

http://www.safer-networking.org/

Smurf is right that clicking on the messages may cause the installation of spyware, but you will need to follow the instructions above to stop the messages getting through in the first place. Then you can install the recommended antispyware software.

I've found that Search & Destroy, although being very good, doesn't find everthing that may be on your system.

There are other anti-spyware programs you can use that look for different things. For a completely messed up PC, I run it through a seive of the following:

Adaware - www.lavasoft.com
Spybot Search & Destroy - www.safer-networking.ORG (NOT www.safer-networking.COM ... sneaky! but amazing how many people that catches out)

HiJackThis - www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/programs.php

CWShredder - www.intermute.com/spysubtract/cwshredder_download.html

First things first though and run regedit then - HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ (Run , RunOnce, RunOnceEX)
and
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ (Run , RunOnce, RunOnceEX)

and make sure there are no nasties in there.

One thing with spyware programs though is knowing if the program itself is not bogus. It's not uncommon for a program to be issued by spyware writers that gets rid of their competitors spyware but dumps it's own spyware on your PC instead.
This being the case, always check out and Anti-Spyware program on a comparison site before running anything.

It's a jungle out there...

Spyware REALLY ticks me off! I can't believe people actually sit down to devise such antisocial stuff!