Popup Adverts

[Guest]

Hi. I keep gettin a pop up ad when i start ie6 on win xp home. Ive tried nearly everything i can think of. Ive used Adaware, Spybot search & destroy, and webroot spysweeper. it came up with some adaware, which i deleted, and it still comes up, under the subject Ad. plz help???

 

[Mike]

you can try going to www.webroot.com they have 3 new
popup programs that you can try and run. I've been
running Spy Sweeper and Pest Patrol and I've never had
the problem. Although I've been running these same 2
programs on my mothers and my girlfriends moms systems
and they get popups as well. But I'm going to try the 3
new programs that webroot has to offer. Maybe that will
help you as well.

-----Original Message-----
Hi. I keep gettin a pop up ad when i start ie6 on win xp

home. Ive tried nearly everything i can think of. Ive
used Adaware, Spybot search & destroy, and webroot
spysweeper. it came up with some adaware, which i
deleted, and it still comes up, under the subject Ad. plz
help???

 

[Gaderian]

Hi. I keep gettin a pop up ad when i start ie6 on win xp home. Ive
tried nearly everything i can think of. Ive used Adaware, Spybot
search & destroy, and webroot spysweeper. it came up with some
adaware, which i deleted, and it still comes up, under the subject
Ad. plz help???

Have you disabled Messenger?
Start>Run then type in " msconfig " (without the quotes)
Click on the "Services" tab then scroll down until you see "Messenger"
"Uncheck" the box beside Messenger.
Apply, Ok then restart.

This will not affect MSN Messnger if you use it.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

Please stop deliberately posting potentially harmful advice.

Disabling the messenger service is a "head in the sand" approach
to computer security that leaves the PC vulnerable to threats such as
the W32.Blaster.Worm.

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're only
advice, however well-intended, was to turn off the warnings. How is
this helpful?

Equivalent Scenario: 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 you are, replies, "Well,
don't do that."

The only true way to secure the PC, short of disconnecting it from
the Internet, is to install and *properly* configure a firewall; just
installing one and letting it's default settings handle things is no
good. Unfortunately, this does require one to learn a little bit more
about using a computer than used to be necessary.

Bruce Chambers

--
Help us help you:



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

 

[Gaderian]

I disagree.
I've never heard of anyone being vulnerable for disabling messenger service
and I certainly never heard of using messenger service as a security alert.
The user is using the appropriate spyware to no avail. Anyone with a half a
brain uses an anti-virus software and a firewall and if they don't, that's
their problem.

And you call yourself a Microsoft MVP!!!
Maybe you should read Microsoft Secrity Bulletin MS03-043 at:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/?url=/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-043.asp

Quote from Microsoft: Recommendation: Customers should disable the
Messenger Service immediately and evaluate their need to deploy the patch
Oh there's more. Gibson Reasearch Corporation http://grc.com/default.htm

Quote: Wednesday, October 15th, Microsoft releases Critical Security
Bulletin MS03-043 warning users that the Windows Messenger Service running
and exposed by default in all versions of Windows NT, 2000 and XP, contains
a "Remote Code Execution" vulnerability that allows any not otherwise
secured and protected Windows machine to be taken over and remotely
compromised over the Internet.

The headline of our "Shoot The Messenger" web page, which I wrote back in
April of this year, reads:

In addition to being a security risk, Windows'
Messenger Service is being used to Spam
Windows users across the Internet.

Last month, USA Today carried a story about Messenger Pop-Up Spam in which
they quote Greg Sullivan, Microsoft's Product Manager for Windows, saying of
the Windows Messenger Service:
"Microsoft views pop-up boxes as a benign
nuisance that does not pose a security risk."


Take your own advise and "please stop deliberately posting potentially
harmful advice."

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

If you had actually read my post, you'd realize that I said that
disabling messenger service as a _sole_ security measure is dangerous.
Disabling the messenger service does *nothing* to secure the open
ports -- ports that are used by W32.Blaster and W32.Welchia. A
firewall is essential. Once a properly configured firewall is in
place, there's really no need to disable an otherwise useful service.

The Microsoft Security Bulletin advises turning off the service as
a _work-around_, not as a permanent solution. Read it again. As for
Gibson's security advice, if you do pretty much the opposite of what
he says, you'll do reasonably well. The article from USA Toady, if
that was what was really said, was dangerously misleading. No doubt
Mr. Sullivan was quoted out of context. Sure, the messenger pop-up
spam itself is merely annoying, but the open port it represents is an
open invitation to worms and hackers.


Bruce Chambers

--
Help us help you:



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