"Informative Security notice popups"

[Rich]

Lately I have noticed a rash of popups that appear "out
of nowhere" informing me "a user at risk" that
a "solution" to the pop up security risks will be given
to me by visiting their sites.

My questions "Why am I so lucky" to get these frequent
notices? Where are they coming from? and How can I stop
them. I will get them visiting neutral sites such as a
corporate Fortune 100 web site. When BAM out of the blue
come these pop ups. Their does not seem to be any
pattern to the frequency.

I down loaded Spy Bot and cleaned up and immunized my
system but somewhere a program is lurking and I don't
know how to find it. I always close the window and don't
visit the web site listed but the pop ups keep coming?

I don't see any programs running on the tray?

Anybody have an idea where I can look for the culprit
program? Or is a web site just sending me the messages
automatically? I have a DSL connection not always up.

Or can you suggest another program to try other than Spy
Bot?

Thanks Rich

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

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

This particular "sales method" is strikingly similar to the
"protection" rackets offered to small businesses by organized
criminals. Yes, it's a scam; no reputable business would need to
resort to extortion. Particularly since they're trying to sell you a
type of protection that is already available to you free of charge.

This type of spam has become quite common over the past few
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. Install and use a decent,
properly configured firewall. (Disabling the messenger service, as
some people recommend, only hides the symptom, and does nothing to
secure your machine.) And ignoring or just "putting up with" these
messages and the problem they represent 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 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 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?

Equivalent Scenario 1: Somewhere in a house, a small fire starts,
and sets off the smoke alarm. You, not immediately seeing any
fire/smoke, complain about the noise of the smoke detector, and are
advised to remove the smoke detector's battery and go back to sleep.

Equivalent Scenario 2: You over-exert your shoulder at work or
play, causing bursitis. After weeks of annoying and sometimes
excruciating pain whenever you try to reach over your head, you go to
a doctor and say, while demonstrating the motion, "Doc, it hurts when
I do this." The doctor, being as helpful as some of your respondents,
replies, "Well, don't do that."

I'm beginning to think that the people deliberately posting such
bad advice are hacker-wannabes who have no true interest in helping
you secure your system, but would rather give you a false sense of
security while ensuring that your computer is still open to
exploitation.


Bruce Chambers

--
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You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH

 

[David]

see my other posts i have been getting the pop ups as well
(endads.com, defeatmessenger, messagekiller, adbuster .,,,
etc. they all are the same . howevere my system has been
hacked and is currently out of my control. they made a
hidden network out of my unit , everything is on back
screens , you cannot get to because theey have passwords
and serial keys. i believe my breach was from those sites.
they have been recording my info via netmessenger and
outlook express. i would very closely look at your
security and logon logs, everytime one od those pop ups
appeared there was an attemt immediately after to either
log on or try somerhing else. also they have changed alot
of the process id numbers and other identifiers, if you
find anything please let me know. thanks

You should re-format your machine to regain control, Then make sure you
run a Firewall and an Up-to-Date Anti-Virus.