GoFuckYourself.com - Adult Webmaster Forum - Achtung! <messages> spam. interesting business model

the story:

1. on one of the free web-based email sites you may get an activex/java trojan
2. it modifies the standard "Messenger" service on your windows system

Service description:

"
Transmits net send and Alerter service messages between clients and servers. This service is not related to Windows Messenger. If this service is stopped, Alerter messages will not be transmitted. If this service is disabled, any services that explicitly depend on it will fail to start.
"

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known discomforts:

1. it shows some messages containing advertisement, these are standard alert windows which have personal taskbar icon
2. these windows have "always on top" property so it's always in the middle of your screen
3. on 2-monitors systems this shit is on the middle of your main monitor screen
4. it updates messages from their server, so you always may get fresh messages if connected. if disconnected, itshows you default ads/downloaded before
5. these messages appears about 5-7 times per day

Example window:

http://www.adultwebware.com/_wrk/message.gif

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interesting business model:

1. one of the messages would be a "firendly advice" how to remove them -- you should go to their website
2. on their website they offer a "bullet-proof" solution to remove the shit from your system
3. it costs $9.95

their website is here

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cureability:

1. go to your Control Panel
2. click Administrative Tools --> services
3. find "Messenger" service in the list

http://www.adultwebware.com/_wrk/msgexample1.gif

4. click on it and set "startp type" to "manual" or "disabled" (also you can stop the running service to disable it right away)

http://www.adultwebware.com/_wrk/msgexample2.gif

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I hope this short article would save your time if you have got this trojan by occasion.

Take care.