Generic Host Process?

As of yesterday, after a few minutes on internet (ATTworldnet) I get this message: "Generic Host Process for Win32 Services has encountered a problem and needs to close. Windows must now restart because the Remote Procedure Call service terminated unexpectedly. . .initiated by NT Authority System." I have no idea what this means, but the computer does restart. Windows XP on an IBM NetVista purchased 1 1/23 years ago. Can someone help? Don

 

got a call from a sister in law last night with this exact problem. Headed there this morning after coffee to check it out. Tried diagnosing over the phone, and she didn't know how to "reboot ". sigh. "Just pull the plug going into the wall, dear, and LEAVE IT ALONE!" She said her sister downloaded a bunch of stuff over the weekend. Another sigh. Will let you know what I find.

 

Hello Don,

If you don't know by now, this is a worm that's rapidly spreading among home PC's.

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,1217046,00.asp Article, one of many today.


The MS patch for this flaw is 823980, available at the MS update site or as a download here at the catalog site http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/en/default.asp?corporate=true


Regards - Charles

 

Charles:
Thanks for the address. So far the site is too busy to do me any good, but I'll keep trying.
Don

 

Hey Don,

In the meantime, instructions on how to clean it out yourself:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1217741,00.asp

Regards - Charles

 

Blaster was the problem on my sister in law's computer. I can't believe she's running XP Pro with 128 Mg of ram on a 600 mhz system, no firewall or third party internet security software and it took Blaster to bring it down. She has had it running this way for over a year on the same cable ISP as me (Norton reports about 10 probes or attacks a day for me) and the dumb thing didn't even stutter until this past weekend. I made some suggestions (get another stick of memory, install a firewall etc) but she blew them off. Oh, well, she'll call again, and she's going to trade me some babysitting time the next time she wants me to fix it!

Johanna

 

Johanna - I don't think your sister-in-law is my daughter but it certainly sounds like it. Same panic call about things not working. Same MSBlast infection. Same lack of protection. And same reaction to my suggestions for protection.

Fortunately I don't need babysitting 'cause the kid (well, married with 3 of her own but still my kid ) is in GA while I'm in NC. And I just know she'll call again at the next crisis. Ah well.

 

Newt,
I wiped her comp with nfdisc, reinstalled my sis-in-law's XP, installed the SP1, made her buy her NIS and installed that. Took it to her house, plugged everything in, and spent an hour giving her a basic tutorial. Everything is working perfectly, although a lot slower than what I'm used to. She called me this morning and asked if it was okay to turn off Norton for her email because it (gasp!) is scanning her incoming and outgoing email. I told her "No!" and that the only time she should shut off Norton is when the modem is unplugged (i. e. working offline) She says she doesn't like the delay. I told her to buy a newer machine. I also told her that if she shuts Norton off and something bad happens, it's gonna cost her money for me to fix it. You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make them drink... I am still amazed that that old comp didn't blow up during the reinstall. It was slow, but steady, and she did say that it originally had Win98 on it. As old as her comp is, I was surprised Windows had even been invented yet! LOL!
Johanna

 

Charles:
Thanks for your help. I was able to stay on the internet long enough to save Symantec's fix, and once I got the patch all seems to be well again.
Don