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Posted by Steve Winograd [MVP] on November 19, 2005, 10:13 am
If you were Registered and logged in, you could reply and use other advanced thread options >>>>A friend (yes, really!) has a laptop with Win2000 v5.00 on it, and has been
>>>>on the web with out-of-date AV software. She has accumulated loads'v
>>>>pop-ups saying "Warning - your registry is corrupted. Go here [URL] and
>>>>download this and that, and run it or your machine will fall over" sort'v
>>>>stuff. Naturally, she doesn't accept their invitations, but the number of
>>>>these pests is annoying.
>>>>She's turned to me for some help, and I'm not having a lot of luck.
>>>>I've run Avast and Ad-Aware and Spy-Bot, all to no avail. Nor can I find any
>>>>reference to any text the pop-ups contain (URLs, etc) in the Registry.
>>>>
>>>>Can anyone help, please?
>>>
>>>Sounds like those poxy messenger adverts. You can safely disable the
>>>service with control panel / admin tools / services
>>>
>>>Look for the messenger service and right click it, then select stop, to
>>>start with - if the pop-ups stop, and there are no side effects to the
>>>laptop, then return services and messenger service, right click it and
>>>select properties, then set automatic to disabled.
>>
>> If the problem is "messenger spam" coming in from the Internet through
>> the Messenger service, simply disabling the service doesn't address
>> the more fundamental problems. The computer needs:
>
>Agreed, but by judging the OP, it looks as if this is a case of
>repairing the system of another user by someone who at least does show
>signs of knowing what they are doing, even if it is in the *wrong*
>order. Hence just a quick KISS answer.
>>
>> 1. A firewall (software, hardware, or both) to protect it from all
>> types of undesired access by other Internet users.
>
>Agreed, blocking ports 1026-1033 seems to stop those blasted things.
>
>> 2. All available critical Windows updates.
>>
>> With those in place, it isn't necessary to disable the Messenger
>> service, which has legitimate uses on a LAN.
>
>Agreed again, but the OP said nothing about a LAN being in use, and all
>those patches and fixes in place is a must have, and a lesson that has
>only just become easier for windows users with the auto-update features
>of xp, Wonder what changed in XP to make the messenger service disabled
>by default in sp1.
>
>All the best Steve
>Martin
>(TpwUK)
Thanks for your reply, Martin. I think that disabling the Messenger
service by default came in SP2:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/maintain/sp2netwk.mspx#ELAA
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)
Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see. I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.
Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
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