Hello,

I downloaded the recent Microsoft security patch updates a couple of
days ago, and now I have an annoying, flashing icon in my system tray
that I cannot make go away.  When I mouse over it, it says virus
alert!

To the best of my knowledge, the icon appeared only after downloading
the Microsoft patches.

I use MacAfee for my virus protection, and the virus definitions are
current, and after a scan, it detects no virus.

I spoke with Dell, and we disabled all the start up programs, and that
did not work.  They had no other advise.

I ran a search in Google, and came up with this site...

http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org/how_do_i_remove_the_security_ale.htm

...followed all the instructions, and still the icon remains.

It makes this annoying bleep sound every 5 seconds, and as I use my
computer to play all my music, this makes for a very annoying
predicament.

The icon looks like the "automatic updates icon" (globe with windows
logo) and flashes to a red circle with a white x inside it.

Not necessarily an answer, but it's always good to just start over;
this may just be a weird Windows problem.  I had a video card and DVD
player that just wouldn't install for any reason, so I wiped
everything and reinstall, and there was no problem.

You may want to just consider doing that.

This is the windows XP service pack 2 security centre icon.  The
security centre can be disabled in the following way.

start a new text document and copy and paste the following in exactly
as it appears here:




REGEDIT4

;disables the windows security centre
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\wscsvc]
"Start"=dword:00000004





When saving the text document give it a file extension of .reg instead of .txt

Then double click this file and choose yes to enter the details into
the registry of the machine.

Reboot and ther security centre icon will no longer be active.

prismcomputing:

I followed your instructionsto the last detail...copied the text to
notepad, changed the extention to .reg, then clicked on the icon to
add what you provided to the registry, rebooted the system...and the
darn little bugger is back in the system tray, flashing and beeping.

I missed the boat on signing up to be a researcher but the answer to
your question is simple....double click the icon....and then the
windows security center window should pop up....click the antivirus
tab...and then check the box that says I have an antivirus program
that I will monitor myself.

That should work....too bad im not a researcher...

Funnyguy:

You would think that it would work, as that is the very first thing I
tried to do.  However, when this icon gets double clicked on, nothing
happens.

then try going to the windows security center through the control panel

This is NOT windows update .. it is a virus .. it will download MANY
antispyware programs on your PC and be extreamly annoying. I have
searched the web for removal instructions .. tried many.. haven't
found one that works yet. Hoping to find one soon. I will keep you
posted.

Funnyguy,

Already tried that as well.  I should have stated that in my original post. 

Frenziedfemale,

I am curious to see what you find...But why wouldn't my virus
protection not have caught it?

Go to Control Panel then Security Center. In the left part, click on
"Change the way Security Center alerts me". Then uncheck the warnings
you do not want to "pop" anymore.

Thewolf1:

I did that as well...2 days ago, to no avail.

Last night, my Macafee program popped up 10 or so alerts, stating that
it found a "pup" on my systym, and I chose to remove it.  It also
popped up 2 virus alerts for trojans, and we deleted the files...and
now, the icon has gone away.

The thing that has me baffled is that I have ran a virus scan
everyday, at least 2 times per day, and it has detected nothing.  I
updated my virus def's everyday, and it showed no updates avail for
me.  So I went to "pcpitstop" and tried one of thier virus scans (deep
scan) and left my computer idol for a couple of hours while it ran the
scan.  Upon coming back to the computer...the pcpitstop window was
totally closed, with no report of what it found, and all those "pup"
alerts from Macafee were open on my screen.  After following the
Macafee promts to remove the programs...the icon went away.  I don't
know what's going on, if it is going to come back...how these "pups"
are slipping in, as I have my Zone Alarm firewall enabled.

I thank everyone for posting comments and attempting to help me out.

I think "frenziedfemal" was right, that this was a virus, and somehow
it was slipping past my Macafee progrqam.?.

Mcaffee probably didnt have an update available for that virus until
the time it found it....i would run spybot and adaware just to make
sure its all gone...I am not a fan of mcaffee...i prefer norton.  and
about your zone alarm....depending on how long you have had it
installed on ur system...zone alarm tends to start allowing things in
or totally disabling your internet connection after a while...best
thing to do is un install it and reinstall it with all the updates.

It's simple, you have a spyware, the most useful software to destroy
spyware, is Ad-aware, you can download this software for free or buy
the version that you must pay.
I'm from Paraguay, i have a notebook, and it gave me the same problem,
but it take me a long time to solve it, so be patient, and test other
software.
You can access in www.lavasoft.com, and you can download; Ad-Aware
Enterprise, Ad-Aware Professional, Ad-Aware Plus, Ad-Aware Personal,
Ad-Aware Firewall or Ad-Aware Process-Watch. But don't be scary about
it, it's like a joke.
Good luck!!!

In case this is due some virus or spyware, why dont you try Quick Heal
Anti-Virus 2006. You can down load a trial version from the website

http://www.quickheal.co.in/public/downloads/

Make sure no antivirus programs are active when you install
Quickheal,if possible uninstall norton or any other antivirus for best
results.
Quick Heal is a very powerful & excellent anivirus software and can
sucessfully remove & detects thousands of Spyware, Adware etc.

Funnyguy:

Thanks for the advice.  I ended up purchaseing a spyware program called 
"spyware doctor" ...as I had already tried running spybot as well as
adaware, and they did not fix the issue (for the record, niether did
the "spyware doctor").

I always update my Zone Alarm when prompted...and always choose the
fresh install option.

Anywhoo...thanks for everything guys and gals.  I do appreciate all
the effort put in, in assisting me with this matter.

Here is the Answer...

download the following program http://aaron.aberdeenit.com/smitrem.zip

Save it to your desktop.. Boot the computer into safe mode.. Excract
the file to the desktop..

**SAFE MODE BOOT** Press F8 before you get to the windows logo
screen...select safe mode..

Then click the EXE.. And Exctract again to the desktop there will then
be a folder on your desktop look in the folder for a file called
"RunThis.bat" click the file.. It should come up with a command prompt
type box... follow what it says on screen... it will look for the
SPYAXE virus (Which is what this is called) Then once its finished
will either take you to an uninstaller screen to remove it... or will
automatically run System Clean up.. PLEASE LET THIS FINISH!!! EVEN THO
IT **MAY** Take a wee while... then restart in normal mode and the
virus should be gone......


If this has helped you please email me!!!

If Anyone has any further problems let me know...


Peace!
Aaron Robertson
AberdeenIT
Scotland
www.aberdeenit.com
aaron.robertson@aberdeenit.com

You should check this out! The manual removal worked for me the first
time, I had Spyware Doctor installed and it kept it from returning,
but when I re-installed Spyware Doctor the icon returned and I can't
seem to get rid of it. Follow this link for further info.

http://www.2-spyware.com/remove-spywarestrike.html

As I said, the first time it worked like a charm....follow these
instructions...any problems, e-mail me @dcrum25@hotmail.com - I'm not
an expert by any means, but have some knowledge.

hello i had the same proble as you guys and it found the fix on a page
in the page. this is how you get rid of this bad virus. go into safe
mode and delete de following items from the system32 folder in windows
REPLMAP.DLL MSSEARCNET.EXE and the file that starts with HP(4
DIGITS).TMP. also delete any file with the name SPYAXE and the
SPYWARE. delete all of them from the recycle bin too. then just reboot
your pc and done deal. hope this help others like it did with me.
thanx

Hi all i spent over 12 hours trying to fix this prob. I tried adaware
spybot pc gaurd to no avail. The fix for this is find the files listed
in the above post and use unlocker found here.
http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/. Right click on the files and select
unlocker make sure u select delete in the option bottom left and then
select kill process for all the files individually. U may have to
restart but it will remove the files. I recomend this program for all
users it has got me out of a lot of probs and allways works as long as
u know the file to delete.

I found the easiest and most user freindly way to remove this problem,
was to load XoftspySE and run it in safemode and then delete the
quarantine files before going out of safe mode.

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Ill make this clear ;)

Problem: SpyWare
Name: SpyFalcon
Type: I think just a way to get you buy their program ><
Fix: Updated Ad Aware! :O
Question: Solved??

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