My home computer is infected...

Quote from inandlong:

It seems that the computer at home has this RPC virus. It causes the computer to continually reboot. The Microsoft tollfree number is busy busy busy, Anyone have the fix for this yet?
More...

Interesting thing is, RPC is not comming up on the same puter while on dialup connection. Turn the dsl modem on and it shows up within a min and shuts down. Any ideas why only on dsl?

I switched on the xp firewall (local area connection under lan or high speed internet), go to advanced tab and select Internet connection firewall. It works fine now.
 
RPC is not "called" by a dial up networking connection. By default, dial up does not allow connection to system ports (132 - 139). It requires special configuration to allow these ports to be accessed through dialup, like assigning PPP to the dialup adapter.

It really all depends on how your networking is set up. When you use DSL or cable, your computer is basically seeing that connection as a local network connection. Dialup uses a sort of translation software which tricks the PC into seeing it as a local connection. If you have a VPN (Virtual Private Network) adapter, such as installed by AOL or to access a corporate network through dialup, it might still affect you. The adapter I refer to is a software setting, not hardware.

Here's what I posted on another board about this whole situation. I hope it can be of help to someone here too:

"Let this serve as a (painful) reminder. Visit windows update at least once a week. If you run XP, you can even set it to do so automatically.... even completely unattended! Also make sure to keep your antivirus definitions up to date. And if you don't have a router, at least run a software firewall. Preferably use a router with NAT and a software firewall.

For anyone who gets hit with this. Here's a free removal tool from Symantec:

http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.blaster.worm.removal.tool.html

It works. I've been referring friends to it all day long. Why they wouldn't listen to me about taking precautions in the first place is ..... bleh!

Once you run that and get rid of the thing, go to windows update:

http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/

And download/install anything listed as a critical update.

Your system will thank you, and so will the rest of the internet. As with many virii, this one turns your machine into a node which will try to infect others. This one also generates a LOT of net traffic, slowing everything down for everyone."


 
Quote from MarkB:

RPC is not "called" by a dial up networking connection. By default, dial up does not allow connection to system ports (132 - 139). It requires special configuration to allow these ports to be accessed through dialup, like assigning PPP to the dialup adapter.

It really all depends on how your networking is set up. When you use DSL or cable, your computer is basically seeing that connection as a local network connection. Dialup uses a sort of translation software which tricks the PC into seeing it as a local connection. If you have a VPN (Virtual Private Network) adapter, such as installed by AOL or to access a corporate network through dialup, it might still affect you. The adapter I refer to is a software setting, not hardware.

Here's what I posted on another board about this whole situation. I hope it can be of help to someone here too:

"Let this serve as a (painful) reminder. Visit windows update at least once a week. If you run XP, you can even set it to do so automatically.... even completely unattended! Also make sure to keep your antivirus definitions up to date. And if you don't have a router, at least run a software firewall. Preferably use a router with NAT and a software firewall.

For anyone who gets hit with this. Here's a free removal tool from Symantec:

http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.blaster.worm.removal.tool.html

It works. I've been referring friends to it all day long. Why they wouldn't listen to me about taking precautions in the first place is ..... bleh!

Once you run that and get rid of the thing, go to windows update:

http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/

And download/install anything listed as a critical update.

Your system will thank you, and so will the rest of the internet. As with many virii, this one turns your machine into a node which will try to infect others. This one also generates a LOT of net traffic, slowing everything down for everyone."
More...

Mark, thanks for the RPC clarification. I had no clue that it was a virus at first. I called the dsl provider (since it was only happening with the dsl connection) They suggested the update and the XP firewall to be enabled. It seems to have done the job. Apparently, the virus is still there (since I did not remove it) unless the XP update takes care of it.

Should I uninstall the updates, remove virus, and then reinstall the updates? Is it safe to remove it after the updates?
 
Just run that symantec remover that I mentioned earlier. It will get the virus out of your system. Then go back to windows update to make sure that you have all the latest critical updates. Even if you have done so right before running the symantec virus remover.

RPC itself is not a virus. The virus runs as MSBLAST.EXE in your task manager. RPC is a valid windows function.
 
LOL, yes I see you did Mark. Thanks to you too. :) I had gone to the chat room and asked those guys, that's where Optional was. But had I not done so, yu were right there to save the day. Thanks again.
 
MarkB, Question about this RPC issue in Win XP.

When I run my DSL connection with the XP firewall turned off I get this RPC error and have to reboot. If I turn the Xp internet firewall on it doesn't happen.

Is there a way to run my DSL connection without using Microsoft intenet firewall?

Also, I have had some problems in the past installing Windows Updates from Microsoft. Sometimes they don't install correctly and sometimes they even seem to slow my machine down. I just reinstalled Win XP two days ago and it works much faster now than before. I am concerned if I install the Updates that my computer will slow down again. Do you have any opinion on this?

Thanks
 
Miamibeach, it sounds like you really need to run the virus cleaner, as I've outlined above. After that, patch your system from windows update. But you really should run some sort of firewall, and Microsoft's is not the best, but it is serviceable. If you'd like something simple to use, go to:

http://www.zonelabs.com

and download the free version of Zone Alarm.

But only AFTER you've removed the virus and updated your system!

Do you have a problem with running a firewall for some reason? Is it stopping you from accomplishing something online?
 
Quote from inandlong:

It seems that the computer at home has this RPC virus. It causes the computer to continually reboot. The Microsoft tollfree number is busy busy busy, Anyone have the fix for this yet?
More...

Yes, the fix can be found. I had the same problem. Did the search for 'RPC Service Fatal Error' using Google. Followed the steps in the info I have found. The info is too detailed to recover it from my memory, but if you do what I did you are most likely to find the same fix for your problem.
 
Quote from inandlong:

LOL, yes I see you did Mark. Thanks to you too. :) I had gone to the chat room and asked those guys, that's where Optional was. But had I not done so, yu were right there to save the day. Thanks again.
More...

Inandlong, I'm just really glad that you got rid of the bug. It's a real nasty! Was just playing the newbie crybaby on the boards, hehe. I thought you mighta got that from the chat room, since I've seen where them heavy hitters hang out!
 
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