Unwanted messages from messanger??????????????

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Videot

My wife just bought a laptop & I have been setting it up. It has XP home on
it. As soon as I had Dial up Networking installed I connected to Internet &
clicked Norton's to do a virus update. Within 30 seconds I had 2 pop ups.
One from a porn site & another from some site that says I have spyware on my
machine & was offering to remove it.

I suspect that these somehow came through Windows Messenger. If so how do I
stop this happening again. This doesn't happen on my PC. Could it be that
the firewall wasn't active yet? I have since done Windows Update & don't
know if there was a fix in it for this problem.
 
Videot said:
My wife just bought a laptop & I have been setting it up. It has XP home on
it. As soon as I had Dial up Networking installed I connected to Internet &
clicked Norton's to do a virus update. Within 30 seconds I had 2 pop ups.
One from a porn site & another from some site that says I have spyware on my
machine & was offering to remove it.

I suspect that these somehow came through Windows Messenger. If so how do I
stop this happening again. This doesn't happen on my PC. Could it be that
the firewall wasn't active yet? I have since done Windows Update & don't
know if there was a fix in it for this problem.

Yep, you have adware or spyware. Don't use the site offering to remove
the spyware. There are good free programs to keep you spyware, adware,
pop-up, and hijacker free.

You need the following:

A good Anti-Virus program, updated and run frequently.

A good firewall like Zone Alarm or the built in XP firewall
ZoneAlarm is available free at:
http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp

Ad-Aware 6.0 - for removing spyware
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/

Spybot Search & Destroy - for removing spyware
http://www.safer-networking.org/

CWShredder - gets rid of page hijackers
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4086.html

Google Toolbar - for blocking popups

http://toolbar.google.com/

Before running the Spybot and Ad-Aware, delete temporary internet files
and internet history.
 
I know that programs like Spybot Search & Destroy are good at removing
Spyware but how do you stop it in the first place. You could run this
program & I suspects others as well but having removed it you get another
dose of it the next time that you visit that site.
 
Spybot has an immunize feature that will prevent a lot of the stuff from
being downloaded.
Spyware Guard will stop a lot of it too.
 
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 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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