Alert window pops up in windows- what do I do?

Since I've started medical school I've been subjected to e-mail virus's due to their grossly unsafe server practices. Despite my best efforts to protect myself with ZONE ALARM, AD AWARE and NAV I've failed.

Now, in addition to my computer loading the damn system32 folder every time I boot up (and no, it's not in my startup folder- I'm not computer illiterate), I get these random "dwn" alert messages that when I click OK (cause it's my only choice) it brings up a second box that says "end" which I have to click ok. This happens once or twice.

I've googled the problem but haven't really come up with a solution. Did some searches throughout my file system for key words "dwn" and even run a small handfull of trojan cleaners.

Any of you hardcore programmers know how I can get rid of these annoyances or what the hell is going on?

thanks!

get a pop-up killer and that will take care of the pop-ups

Are these alert messages coming from the internet? If you do not use the messenger service, then you should disable it (this is different then MSN messenger). Press windowskey+r and type services.msc then hit enter. Right click messenger and hit stop, then right click and hit properties and select disable.

That might not be where those messages are coming from (netsend), but its a good idea to disable it anyways if you haven't already.

Do the messages say anything besides "dwn"? What do they say?

You should run spybot also with adaware as they don't catch everything, but together they are better than apart. I would also avoid IE. Firefox > *

they are NOT IE windows.

I just disabled messenger service

I've tried spybot but I'll try again.

and yes, all the pop-up window alert windows say is "dwn" and then another saying "done" after I click away after that.

It also turns out that until I click ok on these windows, programs I double click on don't finish loading until I click OK to these alert windows. To me, this means something is affecting the processes of windows and must be a pretty deep problem/bug. Makes me even more nervous

thanks for the tips, keep em rolling

Any strange services runnign in the background? Does it happen in safe mode?

I looked at both processes running AND services running for strange enteries or things that didn't look right. I google'd the one's I was suspect of and came up with nothing special.

I'm going to try booting in safemode and see if the windows still come up...

What if they don't in safe mode? What does that mean?

thanks!

Check your log files and see if there are any events documented that are causing it.

I'm thinking on what I would do. That isn't the best idea.

Searched google for dwn alert and came up with some links that are similar to yours... the first result is related but does not have a full solution. Try a google search for "dwn alert" and see what you come up with.

Symantec security response mentions the sobig virus in response to a search for "dwn".

Are these processes running on your computer? Check in task manager.

winmgm32.exe I-Worm.Sobig.
Installs backdoor program \windows\DWN.DAT.
Stop the processes: winmgm32 and dwn.
Remove from startup.

Click to expand...

I would think msconfig could solve your system32 folder loading... You might have to manually edit boot.ini. Not sure on that one, it might be something you want to ask about. Hope this helps.