I've been getting some weird "error messages":

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v293/abotsakou/error.bmp[/img]

(First line says: "Message from SECURITY UPDATE to WINDOWS" time, date.)

and a couple of similar to this one.

Are they any credible? If not (which I think is the case, since they keep warning me about crashes that never come) how can I get rid of them?

Thanks a lot!!
AnnaBtG.

P.S.: I don't know how to make the picture bigger, sorry.

Anna, if you're getting these while surfing around on the net, just ignore them.

You can close them down by right-clicking your mouse and choosing the close option. (You can also close them down by clicking on the x in the top righthand corner of the box, but this is risky because some of these make it look like you're closing the thing down, but in reality you're clicking on something else. So safer just to use the mouse and then you're sure you're closing it.)

LabRat

Maybe I didn't make myself clear enough...

I meant, how can I get rid of them so that they don't appear all the time? I've been closing down the boxes but they keep coming up.

Still, thank you for the reply, Labby
See ya,
AnnaBtG.

AnnaBtG,

What does the title bar say (the first text on the top of the box)?

Can you give more info on the text that appears?

EDIT: Also, what system are you using?
Looking at the picture, it seems that there is a web site listed at the end of the text. Can you copy it down here?

malu

Sorry... I thought the picture would be big enough for the letters to be seen...

It's mostly in English, I'm translating the little bits that aren't:

---

MSN Messenger Service

Message from SECURITY UPDATE to WINDOWS (time, date).
Important Notice From MSOFT
Buffer Overflow in Messenger Service Causes Unexpected Computer Shutdown, Virus Infection and Remote Code Execution

Affected Software:

Microsoft Windows NT Workstation
Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0
Microsoft Windows 2000
Microsoft Windows XP
Microsoft Windows Win98
Microsoft Windows Server 2003

Non-Affected Software:

Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition

Your system IS affected, download the patch from the address below !
FIRST TYPE THE URL BELOW INTO YOUR INTERNET BROWSER, THEN CLICK 'OK'.

WWW.WUPDATE.NET

---

I get some other similar to it, too.

Oh! I have Windows XP.

See ya,
AnnaBtG.

As LabRat asked, does this happen when you're navigating on the Internet?

It seems like it's adware.

Do you have any anti-spyware installed in your computer (like Spyware Doctor or Spybot)?

Is your version of Windows XP set for automatic updates?

If it is a valid security update (as it is supposedly describing), your computer should be able to download directly from Microsoft the security update.

malu

Well, the language it uses and the presentation makes it reek of something sinister to me.
Not to mention that it wants you to click on a url.

Since it's asking you to dl a supposed patch to solve an error, I'd suggest not clicking on the given url, but googling your way to the official MS site.

You can then take a look around there and see if there are any patches being offered to solve this problem. If there are, you can safely dl and install it from there. If not, then you know for sure this is something dodgy.

I suspect, however, that if this was a genuine error/patch from MS then more of us would be getting this error message and we'd have heard more about it on news websites, etc.

I don't think you can shut these down permanently, Anna - just like any other adware. The only thing you can try is to dl and install a ad blocker and see if this is one it picks up.

Other than that, you'll just have to close them down when they appear. I have a similar one that appears infrequently that my ad blocker doesn't prevent, but you may be more lucky with this one.

LabRat

AnnaBtG,

Do you use MSN Messenger? If so, which version?

I found this web site that seems to talk about a problem with MSN Messenger, and the text seems something like what you got on your window.

malu

Yes, I only get this (and, as I said, a couple of others) message when connected to the Internet.

I do have anti-spyware software (Ad-Aware SE Personal) - I ran it just yesterday, in fact.
As for ad-blockers, I have the Yahoo! toolbar with Pop-Up Blocker.

I use MSN Messenger, version 6.2. I went to the link Malu suggested - it gives a link that supposedly takes you to the update, but instead it takes me to a page where you download MSN Messenger version 6.2 (or, at least, that's what I understand when I see this !).

I'll do some Googling later and see if I find some update.

Thanks for the help, girls
See ya,
AnnaBtG.

From looking at the linked site, and browsing around, I can tell you this did NOT come from Microsoft. WUpdate.com is owned by someone in Odenton, Maryland. One website said it's a phishing scheme, others just say it's adware.

I don't see any recommendations on how to get rid of it. Since you already have Ad-Aware, I'd suggest both Spybot S&D and Hijack This!, which you can get from download.com.

AnnaBtG,

I hadn't looked at the link to MSN Messenger 6.2. It does say that the date published is 4/13/2005. When did you install your MSN Messenger? If it was before that, they might have fixed the bug.

Oh, wait! I think I know: find what is your version of MSN Messenger exactly (I think it's on Help->About, or something like that). If it isn't 6.2.0208, then you need to update to this version (or maybe to version 7) to fix the bug (I read this in some web page; don't have the link anymore).

It's worth a try to get rid of the ad, isn't it?

Good luck!

malu

Updating in Messenger 7.0 didn't help...

I'll try downloading Spybot. I already tried once, but the file ended up corrupted Gonna have to try again.

See ya,
AnnaBtG.