Re: Windows XP

From: Bruce Chambers (bruce_a_chambers_at_h0tmail.com)
Date: 12/12/04 

Date: Sun, 12 Dec 2004 08:17:46 -0700

Veronica wrote:
> I don't really know how to remove those pop-up messages that I get everytime
> I turn on my pc......I was told Microsoft had a website where it would run a
> pc test or something and it would tell me how to remove these messages..

     What specific kind of pop-ups are you seeing? There are at least
three varieties of pop-ups, and the solutions vary accordingly.

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

     This type of spam has become quite common over the couple of
years, 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 may well be open to other threats, such as the Blaster Worm that
swept across the Internet last year and the currently active Sasser
Worm. 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

     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 Google Toolbar from
http://toolbar.google.com/. Alternatively, you can upgrade your WinXP
to SP2, to install IE's pop-up blocker. Another alternative would be
to use another browser, such as Mozilla or Firefox, which has pop-up
blocking capabilities. (But I'd avoid Netscape; it carries too much
extraneous AOL garbage.)

     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.

     Additionally, manual removal instructions for the most common
varieties of scumware are available here:

PC Hell Spyware and Adware Removal Help
http://www.pchell.com/support/spyware.shtml

     More information and assistance is available at these sites:

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

The Parasite Fight
http://www.aumha.org/a/parasite.htm

> as
> well as the "Low Disk Space" on my HP recovery drive ????....Can anyone
> please help me?

        This one's simple: don't save any data to the Recovery partition.
Doing so puts your ability to recover from a severe problem at risk. 

-- 
Bruce Chambers
Help us help you:
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having 
both at once. - RAH

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Spyware
    ... recently swept cross the Internet. ... "putting up with" the security gap represented by these messages is ... Messenger Service Window That Contains an Internet Advertisement ... also blocks many of the pop-up adds on the Internet. ...
    (microsoft.public.security)
  • Re: Spyware
    ... recently swept cross the Internet. ... "putting up with" the security gap represented by these messages is ... Messenger Service Window That Contains an Internet Advertisement ... also blocks many of the pop-up adds on the Internet. ...
    (microsoft.public.security.virus)
  • Re: unending pop-up(s)
    ... and unintentionally serves as a valid security "alert." ... recently swept cross the Internet. ... Messenger Service Window That Contains an Internet Advertisement ... also blocks many of the pop-up adds on the Internet. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin)
  • Re: Spyware
    ... recently swept cross the Internet. ... "putting up with" the security gap represented by these messages is ... Messenger Service Window That Contains an Internet Advertisement ... also blocks many of the pop-up adds on the Internet. ...
    (microsoft.public.win2000.security)
  • Re: pop up adds
    ... And ignoring or just "putting up with" the security ... Messenger Service of Windows ... Blocking Ads, Parasites, and Hijackers with a Hosts File ... Popup-killer from http://12ghosts.com/ghosts/popup.htm, Pop-Up Stopper ...
    (microsoft.public.security.virus)