Popups

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Date: Sun, 6 Jun 2004 09:22:00 -0700

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 several 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, such as
the Blaster Worm that recently swept cross 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. A free good
firewall you can get is ZoneAlarm.

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/communic
ate/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/. Also a good firewall can stop
these(such as nortons internet security).

    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. Use both and generally perform manual scans
every week or so to clean out cookies, etc.

*above court bruce c*

Spybot Search and Destroy
 http://www.safer-networking.net/

Lavasoft AdAware
 http://www.lavasoft.de

CWSShredder
 http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html

Hijack This!
 http://mjc1.com/mirror/hjt/

Important: You *must* seek updates for Ad-Aware, Spybot,
etc., before each and every use, even "right out of the
box". But even they can't catch everything, 24/7. When
all else fails, HijackThis
(http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/files/HijackThis.exe)
is the preferred tool to use. It will help you to both
identify and remove any hijackware/spyware. **Post your
files to http://forums.spywareinfo.com/ or
http://forum.aumha.org/viewforum.php?f=30 for expert
analysis,
not here.**

>-----Original Message-----
>Just purchased Win XP Home edition and have problem with
>unwanted AD or Pop Up. When I go to Eplorer or even
>Outlook Express an ad comes up sent by www.rouwa.com/babe.
>I tried to block it by going to Tools, Internet Options,
>Privacy and edit and it still pops up every 3 or four
>minutes, interfering with both programs.
>Is there a fix for this problem. I used Millenium before
>XP and never had a problem. I cannot return XP because I
>broke a sealed box.
>Can ypu hel me?
>Charles Caravello caravel7@edifax.com
>.
>

• Previous message: Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]: "Re: someonehas hacked into my account"
• In reply to: Charles Caravello: "Popups"
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