HELP

Mike, your puter is doing exactly what the Blaster-infected ones did - I cleaned loads of those machines, mainly because I didn't get it so I was able to download the fix and put it on floppies for people. I've sent you an e-mail with the fix tool attached. Unfortunately its got a .exe extension, so if you use Outlook to download your e-mail it may get refused. If that happens let me know and I'll try changing the file extension to something nonsensical and send it again. Good luck. By the way, get ZoneAlarm as soon as you can get online long enough. Its free to download the personal version and so are the updates, its a really good firewall, works a dream. I think that's why I didn't get blaster in the first place.

Got all ready to send the e-mail, posted my message on the board and we got a power failure. Whole area out for four hours. I missed the European Championship Final!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Anyway, have had a look at the Sasser worm and there are six different versions of it, each one requiring a different fix tool. If you go toSymantec Security Centeryou can download them all. Sasser causes LSASS.EXE to crash, so it sounds like Sasser.Download all the fix tools then run them one at a time, taking care to follow the instructions EXACTLY. As soon as you're happy your system is clean, set a manual restore point.The home version of ZoneAlarm is totally free, the ZoneAlarm Pro is a 30 day trial, but if you choose not to get it, you can still have the personal version. Also, Whatever's suggestion of getting Ad-aware is a great one too. Ad-aware removes sypware on your puter - programs that spy on you and send reports back to their "master". They can use up alot of your system resources and some are classified as "High Risk" because they act a bit like a worm. Ad-Aware will remove them all. I run it after EVERY connection to the net and usually find half a dozen or so of these wee blighters. I cleaned my friend's puter and she had 1081 of them, about a third of which were high risk - Aureate, Radiate, RedSherrif - you name it she had it and she'd only been online for 3 months!!!

Mike, if you've still got a worm on board, you can block its attempts to get out using ZoneAlarm, but it will still be there. Even though your problem seems to have gone away, download and use the fix tools. They'll screen your system for the six versions of the worm and remove any they find. Good luck. Oh and don't forget both ZoneAlarm and Ad-aware need to be updated regularly just like antivirus software. I do mine fortnightly, but I used to do it nearly daily. Also make sure your XP firewall is operating as well as ZoneAlarm - it gives you an extra layer of protection, just in case. I'm a cheapskate so I run AVG antivirus which is a free for personal use one. You'll find it at grisoft. Also, there's a wee thing on the web you can use to check your security. Go here Shields UP!! — System Error Then click on "All Service Ports"
It determines your IP address then tries to "hack" your puter. If you've got ZoneAlarm configured correctly your puter will be in stealth mode and the port probe can't even detect that there's a puter at the address you've given. That means that a hacker wouldn't even bother trying to get in so you're much safer than just using a blocker. I've just done it on mine because I updated my ZoneAlarm and wanted to check it was configured correctly. It works like a dream!It's one of the best things I've found on the web for security checking. It's run by Steve Gibson of the Gibson Research Corporation. If you just go to  Home of Gibson Research Corporation  You can read up loads on security and what baddies try to do.