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ATTENTION! Pop-ups ahoy!

This is where you can discuss your homework, family, just about anything, make strange sounds and otherwise discuss things which are really not related to the Lancer-series. Yes that means you can discuss other games.

Post Tue Sep 07, 2004 8:01 pm

ATTENTION! Pop-ups ahoy!

I have something I would really like to share you people. This is geared towards people such as myself who have encountered pop-ups even when you are NOT ON THE INTERNET. Chances are, you have been hijacked. This happened to me several days ago, and I have not been able to figure out the problem until a few minutes ago. If you use Spybot: Search and Destroy, Ad-aware and any Anti-virus software, and they come up negative and you still get pop-ups even when you're not surfing the 'net, you've been screwed by a fairly devious worm/trojan horse/virus/exploit. I honestly can't determine what it was, but it was one of the above. See, if your anti-spyware and anti-virus software come up with nothing bad, and you're still getting pop-ups, a file has been installed into your Windows\system folder that can render it undetectable(not always the case, but in this one it is). This is the main file you want to look for, WINSCV32.EXE. This is NOT a windows system file. Here's proof why. Check out your Task Manager and if it has an entry called "Sys28" or "SysA", it'll show the file that you need to get rid of. It doesn't belong there and you'll want to get rid of it. Unfortunately, this file is a little hard to delete since it's been disguised as Windows system file, which Windows runs automatically when you boot it up and won't let you delete it. Here's how I dealt with the little bastard. See, I run a dual-boot system with Windows 98 and Windows XP. I use 98SE for internet access so it takes most of the pounding from viruses and whatnot and leaves XP alone. Basically, I rebooted into XP and searched the Windows 98 system folder for this file. Unfortunately, I found a bunch of other "system files" that I didn't recognize. Bang! they got deleted too. You'll have to get into the registry and search for ANY entry that contains the key word "SysA" or "Sys28" or ANYTHING like that and DELETE it. Chances are, when you search for that phrase, it'll only come up ONCE. Get rid of it immediately. I did this and when I rebooted, I haven't gotten a pop-up since. I know for a fact that the file I mentioned above, was bogus, because when I rebooted 98, it didn't come up with a message saying that there was an important file missing or corrupted. This is for those who use a dual-boot system like me. But it also gives those who only use ONE operating system, a heads-up as to what to look out for. I don't expect any response to this, but I want people to know what they may be dealing with and how to deal with it. Chances are, most of you people won't experience this, but if you DO, read this thread. It WILL help. I just stumbled on to the solution by accident, and it worked, thankfully.

Post Tue Sep 07, 2004 11:11 pm

I had something similar. Why could you not have posted this 6 months ago

I ran a ghost program on mine.

Post Tue Sep 07, 2004 11:57 pm

Had a similar experience two years ago. I had a Win98-System only. That means you can't delete system files with the Explorer. You have to do it with the command prompt.
Therefore: after searching for the corrupt files note the exact position and type this in the command prompt (and that's not always easy because in the command prompt you can only use 8 digits per folder; you must work with ~ ).
I don't know but i think it works the same way with other one-system-systems.



I don't care a beep beep about my rank

Post Wed Sep 08, 2004 1:32 am

Yarrrr! no firewall off the port bow.

Post Wed Sep 08, 2004 2:29 am

po-ups when you aren't connected to the interweb are often caused by html files neing brought to the foreground, there's usually some scipt in the startup files that kicks em off. Active desktop makes it easy for these things to do what they do. they're annoying but usually not dangerous. But a fair view viruses use the same technique to redirect you to webpages that have malicious code and objects in them.

the usual remedy is as laways updated AV and Spyware scanning. But check in the startup that nothings pointing to a .htm, .html, .hta file, because that will almost certainly be it.

Post Wed Sep 08, 2004 3:27 am

@Bret: I didn't have this problem six months ago. I had it last week. Well, I solved the problem and I'm not getting pop-ups anymore. So, I'm happy now.

Post Wed Sep 08, 2004 4:29 am

@mee

I know I had mine about 6 months ago and i tried so many things to get rid of it before i ran the ghost. I was just saying it would have been helpful if it had happened to you 6 months ago so i knew then what to do.

Post Wed Sep 08, 2004 1:19 pm

@Bret: Experience is a VERY harsh teacher. But it's the best teacher.

Post Wed Sep 08, 2004 11:25 pm

That will NOT work for all "Hijackers", as different malware use different files, etc. Still, listen to him people, as that information may come in handy. Oh yeah, and USE A FIREWALL!

Post Thu Sep 09, 2004 1:55 pm

Hmm, interesting. I got pop ups a while back when I wasn't using an internet program (I have a cable modem, so I'm always connected). I didn't think much of it, and it stopped with time. Haven't had any computer problems since, so perhaps telling folks with random popups to do a wonton delete of files right next to critical programs might not be such a great idea, expecially since it may be perfectly harmless. --- VH16

Sometime's the cure is worse than the disease

I am Nobody; Nobody is Perfect; Therefore, I am Perfect

Post Thu Sep 09, 2004 2:08 pm

Wonton delete? What is that, a kind of Chinese delicatessen?

Post Thu Sep 09, 2004 2:30 pm

@Viva: That file I mentioned in my post was NOT harmless. It didn't even belong there. It didn't cause my machine to crash or anything like that but the pop-ups it was generating were getting worse. So, I deleted it. No pop-ups since.

Post Thu Sep 09, 2004 7:38 pm

Well, its good to have anti spyware programs and stuff like that so when your parents are in your room you dont start getting a million porn popups then pulling the cord outof the back of your computer

-what was that?
--Erm....Nothing? Screensaver?

Post Fri Sep 10, 2004 12:18 pm

All i can say is this...FIREWALL ahoy!!! and download that service pack 2..i have read conflictign stories about it and stuff....but from my experiance..it works great on my system...



"To live is to die....but living is to die slowly..why waste time on trivial things just play as hard as you can"

Post Sat Sep 11, 2004 6:04 am

SP2 messed up some stuff on my machine. Kazaa no longer engages, and I can't install black and white. Be cautious. --- VH16

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