Re: Windows XP popping up internet addresses

From: Bruce Chambers (bchambers_at_nospamcableone.net)
Date: 04/30/04 

Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2004 19:21:47 -0600

Greetings --

    There are at least three varieties of pop-ups, and the solutions
vary accordingly. Which specific type(s) is troubling you?

    1) Does the title bar of these pop-ups read "Messenger Service?"

    This type of spam has become quite common over the past year or
so, and unintentionally serves as a valid security "alert." It
demonstrates that you haven't been taking sufficient precautions while
connected to the Internet. Your data probably hasn't been compromised
by these specific advertisements, but if you're open to this exploit,
you most definitely open to other threats, such as the Blaster Worm
that still haunts the Internet. Install and use a decent, properly
configured firewall. (Merely disabling the messenger service, as some
people recommend, only hides the symptom, and does little or nothing
to truly secure your machine.) And ignoring or just "putting up with"
the security gap represented by these messages is particularly
foolish.

Messenger Service of Windows
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;168893

Messenger Service Window That Contains an Internet Advertisement
Appears
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=330904

Stopping Advertisements with Messenger Service Titles
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/howto/communicate/stopspam.asp

Blocking Ads, Parasites, and Hijackers with a Hosts File
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

    Whichever firewall you decide upon, be sure to ensure UDP ports
135, 137, and 138 and TCP ports 135, 139, and 445 are _all_ blocked.
You may also disable Inbound NetBIOS (NetBIOS over TCP/IP). You'll
have to follow the instructions from firewall's manufacturer for the
specific steps.

    You can test your firewall at:

Symantec Security Check
http://security.symantec.com/ssc/vr_main.asp?langid=ie&venid=sym&plfid=23&pkj=GPVHGBYNCJEIMXQKCDT

Security Scan - Sygate Online Services
http://www.sygatetech.com/

    Oh, and be especially wary of people who advise you to do nothing
more than disable the messenger service. Disabling the messenger
service, by itself, is a "head in the sand" approach to computer
security. The real problem is _not_ the messenger service pop-ups;
they're actually providing a useful, if annoying, service by acting as
a security alert. The true problem is the unsecured computer, and
you've been advised to merely turn off the warnings. How is this
helpful?

    2) For regular Internet pop-ups, you might try the free 12Ghosts
Popup-killer from http://12ghosts.com/ghosts/popup.htm, Pop-Up Stopper
from http://www.panicware.com/, or the free Google Toolbar from
http://toolbar.google.com/, which is what I use.

    3) To deal with pop-ups caused by any sort of "adware" and/or
"spyware,"such as Gator, Comet Cursors, Xupiter, Bonzai Buddy, or
KaZaA, and their remnants, that you've deliberately (but without
understanding the consequences) installed, two products that are
quite effective (at finding and removing this type of scumware) are
Ad-Aware from www.lavasoft.de and SpyBot Search & Destroy from
www.safer-networking.org/. Both have free versions. It's even
possible to use SpyBot Search & Destroy to "immunize" your system
against most future intrusions. I use both and generally perform
manual scans every week or so to clean out cookies, etc.

Bruce Chambers 

--
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having both at once. -- RAH
"P. Jayant" <pjayant@sancharnet.in> wrote in message 
news:OwmvdEkLEHA.1264@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
>I have a peculiar pop-up messages problem: peculiar because the 
>pop-ups are
> not ads but Windows XP generated boxes saying “you or a program have
> requested information from” followed by one of the following 
> addresses which
> keep coming by rotation. Probably, there are some others in the 
> kitty of a
> spy-program hiding somewhere which I have not trapped visually. The
> cyclically r-appearing addresses are:
> www.budweiser1.servebeer.com
> www.fu2.deejay-fuzion.net.nz
> www.pwned.ph33r.info
> www.rit.edu and
> irc.bogde.info
>
> These pop-ups start as soon as Windows XP is started even before the 
> PC is
> on-line to my ISP or a program like Ineternet Explorer is opened.
>
> I can stop the popping up by asking Windows not to show me the 
> message until
> next log-in but I can hear the audio beep signal in the background 
> which I
> have configured to be heard every time a new program is opened. 
> Besides,
> once the pop-ups start and I am connected to my ISP, without opening 
> any
> web-page, the spyware is hogging the outgoing kilobits capacity as 
> can be
> seen from the modem’s send blinking light.
>
> I have been monitoring pop-up ads using AdAware 6.0 and also using 
> the
> Search and Destroy program for detecting and removing spyware. They 
> do
> detect suspicious programs and I do delete them but they have not 
> been able
> to find the program which seems to have these embedded web 
> addresses. I am
> regularly deleting all temporary Internet files and have asked I. E. 
> 6 to
> delete all cookies Windows Explorer has not been able to tell me any
> location where these addresses are strored.
> I also have a program named Process Explorer which can list the 
> active
> processes at any time but I do not know how to detect the culprits 
> using
> this software.
>
> Could anyone suggest the method of detecting the source of these 
> pop-ups and
> destroying the spy software?
>
> P. Jayant
>
>
>