Need serious help removing malware

Anything that forces unrequested popups at you is always suspected as bad.

Since you reinstalled Windows, you are back to square one with all the defaults of Windows which includes the unwanted Windows Messenger service.

Run this Disable/Remove Windows Messenger to remove Windows Messenger.

 

Open up the Task Manager (press Ctrl-Alt-Del, or right-click in the taskbar and choose Task Manager), click the Processes tab and look for 'msmsgs.exe'. If you see it, right click it and then click 'End Process'. Make sure all occurrences are ended. The run the removal tool again.

 

Try one of the below.

You can do the following, depending on whether you are running the Home or Pro versions of Windows.

Pro version:

1. Click Start > Run, type gpedit.msc, then press Enter.
2. Under Local Computer Policy Double-click the following items to expand them:
   • Computer Configuration
   • Administrative Templates
   • Windows Components
   • Windows Messenger
3. Double-click "Do not allow Windows Messenger to run" and click Enable.
4. Click OK, then quit the Group Policy snap-in.

For users running the Home edition:

1. Start Windows Messenger
2. Click Options on the Tools menu.
3. Click the Preferences tab, click to clear the "Run this program when Windows starts" check box, then click OK.

If you are using Outlook Express, you can also prevent users from manually running Windows Messenger by:

1. In Outlook Express, click Options on the Tool menu.
2. On the General tab, click to clear the "Automatically log on to Windows Messenger" check box.
3. Click OK.

To prevent Windows Messenger from signing in when you run Outlook:

1. In Outlook, click Options on the Tools menu.
2. On the Other tab, click to clear the "Enable instant messaging in Microsoft Outlook check box.
3. Click OK

Sorry this is not a topic for the malware forum. Try the Software Forum.