Annoying 3RD party WINDOW PATCH pop-up

[Guest]

Lately I have been getting annoying 3rd party popups from www.windows-patch.com or something like that. You go there and they want you to pay $20. Does any one know how to stop these without having to format my drive? (I do have firewall and popup stopper but seems to not be affected by them). I must have their program running in the background.

 

[Dave Patrick]

Some places to look; natively you can; Start\Settings\Control
Panel\Administrative Tools\Computer Management(Local)\System
Information\Software Environment\Startup Programs|View|Advanced, then in the
"Location" column, you'll find the path to the "Startup" location either in
the "Startup" directories or from the registry's "Run" keys.

%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
%USERPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

You can delete the shortcuts that you no longer want to run.


HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

You can delete the string value for the program you no longer want to run.

or copy msconfig from Windows XP


--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft MVP [Windows NT/2000 Operating Systems]
Microsoft Certified Professional [Windows 2000]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect


:
| Lately I have been getting annoying 3rd party popups from
www.windows-patch.com or something like that. You go there and they want you
to pay $20. Does any one know how to stop these without having to format my
drive? (I do have firewall and popup stopper but seems to not be affected by
them). I must have their program running in the background.

 

[Greg Stigers]

I could not find anything on a windows-patch web site or spyware. But from
your description, and without more information, spyware would be my first
guess. Your AV vendor may offer a spyware solution, and that is probably
your best bet for commercial use. For personal use at home, I use Ad-aware
personal from http://www.lavasoftusa.com. However, it may also be a "nag
screen", if you have a shareware product installed. Again, without more
specifics, I don't recognize this particular name, so cannot be 100% sure.

I've been known to take people out of the Power Users group, when they
cannot seem to handle the responsibility of being able to install software.
And boy, was my wife ticked! ;-)

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

It's a scam, trying to get you to buy an update that Microsoft
provides free of charge. It's also a very clear warning that your PC
is wide open to anyone on the Internet who wants to hack it.

This type of spam has become quite common over the past several
months, 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
recently swept cross 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?


Bruce Chambers
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