What is with this invincible popup?! It doesn't go away!

edited December 2003 in Science & Tech
Sorry if this is in the wrong forum, mods please move if necessary.

I've just recently been getting these popups and I really don't know how to get rid of them. At first it said to disable Windows Messenger which I did using the Rundll thing. But, they're still coming back. They're always this color format but say different things. They popup while I'm playing MOH, tons of them overnight while I was downloading and seemingly whenever. I've run Ad Aware a bunch of times and have deleted everything it finds, which is usually only a couple of things. I run AVG Anti Virus 7.0 and it hasn't found anything. I honestly don't know what else to try, but any ideas are welcome. I used to have another spy ware detector but I can't think of the name of it, it always seemed to find things Ad Aware missed. Thanks for any help-DaK

Comments

  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited December 2003
    You've tried:

    Start -> Programs -> Administrative Tools -> Services
    Scroll to the "MESSENGER" service
    Right click on it, Properties
    Select Startup Type as "MANUAL"
    Then, click "STOP" to stop the service.

    Should keep you from getting those ever again... until you re-enable the messenger service.
  • edited December 2003
    I hadn't done that before, just did it though. This is what I did:

    First close MSN Messenger and check to see that it's not in the task manager.

    Then go to "Run" in the Start Menu and type:

    RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove

    Click Ok.

    Then reboot.

    Hopefully this will work, thanks for the response.
  • edited December 2003
    What exactly is the messenger service anyways? I just ran Spybot as well, only found a couple of things.
  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited December 2003
    Messenger allows you to send a message from one PC to another if you know the IP address or host name.

    Essentially what the spammers do is broadcast their spam messages across this service (which is usually used for Windows Administrative Alerts for Network Admin's), hitting everyone's IP's in a certain block.

    That's why you get that damned box popping up like mad.
  • edited December 2003
    Ahh ok, thanks much for the help, I really appreciate it.

    Is there any way to setup a system on voting the quality of a member? They have this at another forum I belong to, it's called Karma and you can vote for a member 1-5. It's an interesting system, probably would work a lot better at a place like this.
  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited December 2003
    I think it's only available in VBulletin 3, and I know there are plans to eventually transition to VB3, but I'm not sure when. :)
  • LincLinc Owner Detroit Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    SimGuy had this to say
    I think it's only available in VBulletin 3, and I know there are plans to eventually transition to VB3, but I'm not sure when. :)

    We're upgrading over the holidays :D (and of course by "we" I mean Shorty's doing it... ;) )
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    One thing, all the spammers of THAT sort use UDP, which is also used by P2P to FIND places to connect to and make an adhoc network. It is possible to disable UDP and surf, but not to have P2P and use no UDP which is the base problem and why no software is made-- the solution is very good firewall, with access programmed in only for those specific folks you want to allow, or a firewalled router of a very good kind.

    The IE patch that fixes RPC will help some (my Remote Programmatical Control stuff is OFF in Win XP Pro, which is one reason I use Pro and not Home, as RPC is linked to the Remote assistance stuff), for browsing, but I simply do not P2P as I run sans UDP as much as possible, and with Remote Assistance off, and with UDP disabled as much as possible. Thus, I also instead of P2P use ftp for legal ways to get to the many low cost software things that dO exist and work. FTP ports are accessible via TCP and not just UDP. BUT, you have to work and learn what is where.

    For some of the messanges, in this case, your ads are coming from two services basicly:

    RPC, and Messnger service in Windows XP, and they are exploits of underlying things those services need to work. Disable both, you disable most of UDP exploits possible, and a friewall like Sygate Pro can let you exclude most UDP. Right now I use Sytgate Pro and NAv becasue NAV used TCP and not UDP ports to get updates and defs, etc.

    I do not know how to disable UDP in XP Home, as by default XP home fights what I want to do. this is one reason I recommend Pro over Home, other than that the rollback and backup is more robust and should be usedwith XP, it would save one heck of a lot of time trying to recover things if everyone used the backup faciltiy in Pro. IT IS worth learning how to do that, very worthwhile, and how to use the rollback point maker (in essence, MS calls it Recovery Point, but a recovery point is also a rollback point if you never have to use the floppy and recovery console to regen from backup or from a ASR recovery to a rollback point specified when you make it on a floppy-- Install CD boot, insert auto system floppy after prompted to when you call teh right command in recovery console and it uses the floppy info to find the recovery or backup you made and literally overwrite when was backed up back onto HD. My rollback points are not in my boot partition, or even on the boot HD mech, the manually made ones, that gives me more robustness though I will need to use a more complex way to get at them if ultimately needed. XP drops oldest rollback, based on how much HD space you give it, so make GOOD manual rollbacks. DO NOT use GoBack on XP, it does not know what to back up right for XP.

    John.
    Last Known Good State is a rollback point part (System State and backup ideally), most recent in most cases, first. If it fails, you can run it again after failure and possibly also a reboot, and XP CAN try to hunt for another in same directory specified to use.
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    UDP is also used for some games and is used for DNS resolving, so turning it off may not be the best idea...

    EX

    Edit for typo
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    RPC is Remote Procedure Call, not Programmatical Control...
  • edited December 2003
    MSN Messenger is disabled, I don't use P2P, and now I the messenger service is disabled. I hope that's all I need to do. Thanks for the responses!
  • edited December 2003
    dak125 had this to say
    Ahh ok, thanks much for the help, I really appreciate it.

    Is there any way to setup a system on voting the quality of a member? They have this at another forum I belong to, it's called Karma and you can vote for a member 1-5. It's an interesting system, probably would work a lot better at a place like this.

    Please dont bring Karma here, it is a horrible thing:sad2:
  • JengoJengo Pasco, WA | USA
    edited December 2003
    dude, MSN messenger and Messenger Service have nothing to do with each other, MSN Messenger is an instant messaging program, Messenger Service was supposed to be used to warn people about new virus threats and junk like that, people found out about that and started using it to spam....

    Just do what simguy told you to do and that should fix everything

    :rolleyes:
  • DexterDexter Vancouver, BC Canada
    edited December 2003
    Jengo had this to say
    dude, MSN messenger and Messenger Service have nothing to do with each other, MSN Messenger is an instant messaging program, Messenger Service was supposed to be used to warn people about new virus threats and junk like that, people found out about that and started using it to spam....

    Just do what simguy told you to do and that should fix everything

    :rolleyes:

    Actually, Messenger service was first incorporated in Windows NT to allow enterprise admins to message users on the LAN, ie:
    Message from Sysadmin to All Users:

    The network server will be shutting down for 15 minutes to enable a hardware upgrade. Please save your work and log off any network documents.

    Etc. The service is in 2000 and XP for compatibility with NT. 95 and 98 users do not have the Messenger service, so they never see this type of messages, which have now been exploited by spammers.

    And yes, just do what SimGuy said, but also, employ a firewall as Ageek said, as some spyware can re-enable your Messenger service, or just allow them through their own hidden background apps using a different port. If disabling the Messenger service does not stop the messages, put on a firewall, preferably hardware, and run a thorough spyware sweep.

    Dexter...
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    Basically, if you are on a network with a router or a firewall between your network and the internet, you can keep Messenger turned on, as messages will only get through if you have port 135 forwarded on the router, and then it will still only work to the forwarded machine, while on the other hand allowing you to still use it freely in your own network without interuption.
  • DexterDexter Vancouver, BC Canada
    edited December 2003
    Enverex had this to say
    Basically, if you are on a network with a router or a firewall between your network and the internet, you can keep Messenger turned on, as messages will only get through if you have port 135 forwarded on the router, and then it will still only work to the forwarded machine, while on the other hand allowing you to still use it freely in your own network without interuption.

    No offense Enverex, but who the heck uses Messenger service in a home LAN? Unless you have an app written to write the messages for you, you have to shell to DOS, manually type in the net send command with the target IP address, and then the message. By the time you do that you can walk to the other computer user in the household and tell them that dinner is ready.

    Dexter...
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    I use net send on my LAN on a very regular basis

    net send < compname > < message >

    Easy, quick.
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    Dexter had this to say
    Enverex had this to say
    Basically, if you are on a network with a router or a firewall between your network and the internet, you can keep Messenger turned on, as messages will only get through if you have port 135 forwarded on the router, and then it will still only work to the forwarded machine, while on the other hand allowing you to still use it freely in your own network without interuption.

    No offense Enverex, but who the heck uses Messenger service in a home LAN? Unless you have an app written to write the messages for you, you have to shell to DOS, manually type in the net send command with the target IP address, and then the message. By the time you do that you can walk to the other computer user in the household and tell them that dinner is ready.

    Dexter...

    I use it on the Uni network regularly, plus it takes about 2 seconds to press the Win key + R then type "net send andromeda Its on the left". Which is infact faster than climbing down a ladder, going down stairs, then into the back room. Even easier if I need to send it to multiple people.

    It is also used on the network at work for notification of remote printing jobs.
  • DexterDexter Vancouver, BC Canada
    edited December 2003
    Well, see, there you go, I say "who the heck ever..." and 2 people say "I do!"

    **Dexter looks for the shrug-shoulders smilie....

    Cheers guys,

    Dexter...
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited December 2003
    Yep, it's a common mis-conception that the Messenger service is related to MSN Messenger or Windows Messenger. As people have said, it is of course not related at all. This particular service I believe is billed to be disabled by default in the next service pack for Windows XP. So come SP2, spammers will have the little bit less business. For now though, just disabled the service if you have no use for it.

    Cheers
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