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05-02-2004, 08:04 PM
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#1 of 30 
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Join Date: Feb 2003
Local Time: 08:00 PM
Local Date: 10-07-2008
Posts: 1,961
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Yesterday evening while using my new notebook computer and attempting to connect to the internet the following box would repeatedly appear on my screen:
I thought, SHIT! I just bought this damn thing and I'm already having problems?? I couldn't download any Microsoft updates because every time I tried connecting the box would appear and give the dreaded countdown to shut down. Finally I wisened up and used the Windows XP restore method in which I could restore my computer back to a certain point in time before I experienced the problem. Once I did that and everything worked fine again I hit Microsoft's site hard and downloaded a bunch of critical/security updates. The problem seemed to be solved.
I was just looking around Yahoo and lo-and-behold, what I experienced was a wicked worm called the Sasser which is apparently spreading like wildfire, especially to unprotected laptops like mine.
So be warned and read up if you think you've been hit or have the chance.
Yahoo's story on Sasser worm.
What you should know about the worm |
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05-02-2004, 08:16 PM
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#2 of 30
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Member
Join Date: May 2001
Local Time: 05:00 AM
Local Date: 10-08-2008
Posts: 774
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I know there's a command which stops the shutdown countdown long enough to get the required updates.. To stop those pesky reboots try:
[*]Clicking the start menu[*]Select Run... [*]In the requester type "shutdown /a" (minus the quotes)[/list]That should abort the shutdown and give you enough time to install patches.
If the countdown starts again, repeat as neccessary
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05-02-2004, 08:17 PM
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#3 of 30
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Ricardo C
Member
Location: Venezuela
Join Date: Feb 2002
Local Time: 12:00 AM
Local Date: 10-08-2008
Posts: 5,142
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I already patched my system, updated my virus scanner, and my firewall.
Meanwhile, my brother, whose PC fell victim to Blaster a while back, game me a "meh, I haven't gotten around to it" when I told him about Sasser. I know it's mean, but I hope the little shit gets a scare. Nothing serious, but enough to make him take better care of his (much more expensive than mine) PC.
Man, an hour wasted on this sig! Thanks, Toshiba! :p
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05-02-2004, 08:35 PM
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#4 of 30
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Join Date: Feb 2003
Local Time: 08:00 PM
Local Date: 10-07-2008
Posts: 1,961
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Thanks for the info, Scott. 
No doubt that I was hit by the worm. 
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05-02-2004, 09:07 PM
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#5 of 30
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Member
Location: Edmonton Alberta Canada
Join Date: Oct 2000
Local Time: 10:00 PM
Local Date: 10-07-2008
Posts: 1,734
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Its a good idea to go to microsofts website every couple of weeks or so just to check to see what new critical patches are released and what you need. Its easy to, just click on the "update pc", it scans your pc in seconds and lets you know what patches you have or do not have.
Then download!
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05-02-2004, 11:32 PM
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#6 of 30
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Join Date: Feb 2003
Local Time: 08:00 PM
Local Date: 10-07-2008
Posts: 1,961
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Yeah this incident has opened my eyes to the importance of the 'automatic updates' feature for Windows. I had turned it off because I didn't want to be bothered but now I realize that was a mistake. :b
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05-03-2004, 01:30 AM
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#7 of 30
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Member
Join Date: Oct 1999
Local Time: 09:00 PM
Local Date: 10-07-2008
Posts: 2,920
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i used to be wary of windows updates
i thought, meh if it was important it would be in windows already
Now i'm a windows update nazi. I check at least once a week just in case. There's a utility you can download that will use windows task scheduler to automatically tell you/download the latest updates but I hate clutter on my taskbar.
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05-03-2004, 08:06 AM
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#8 of 30
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Member
Join Date: Nov 2000
Local Time: 04:00 AM
Local Date: 10-08-2008
Posts: 5,540
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this is a nasty mofo, it got a few workstations at work, and either it, or something else got one of their servers.
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05-03-2004, 11:03 AM
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#9 of 30
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Member
Join Date: Mar 2001
Local Time: 10:00 PM
Local Date: 10-07-2008
Posts: 481
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Yea, my dad got this worm and I had to do tech support with him over the phone for about an hour. He couldn't download the patch from MS before his computer got shutdown, so I had him run antivirus (AVG) and it found 28 files. It could only clean 27 and the other it couldn't do anything with. I was puzzled for a minute, and then it popped in my head to have him pull up task manager. Sure enough there was a process in there utilizing 40 - 50% CPU useage...it was called AVSERV2.EXE. So I had him end that process and rerun antivirus. This time it found 8 files (so this process had corruped 7 more files in just a couple of minutes) and was able to clean them all. Then he got the security updates loaded and is back in business.
I couldn't stress enough that he needed to keep XP and AVG up to date
Neal |
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05-03-2004, 03:51 PM
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#10 of 30
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Member
Join Date: Aug 1998
Local Time: 05:00 AM
Local Date: 10-08-2008
Posts: 12,160
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A firewall should stop this, like with Blaster last year.
Anti-Virus, Patch, Firewall. No excuses.
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There's a utility you can download that will use windows task scheduler to automatically tell you/download the latest updates but I hate clutter on my taskbar.
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It's easier just to subscribe to Microsoft's email bulletin which will get sent out every time they release a new patch. Patches typically get released on the 10th-15th of each month but they'll put out ones at other times if required.
No longer here.
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