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Thread ID: 30609 2003-02-25 06:04:00 Something odd... "net.dde" honeylaser (814) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
123772 2003-02-25 06:04:00 I had the oddest thing happen before I left work today. I was finishing up some work, with only Outlook and 1 IE 6 window open, and went to minimise all my windows. All of a sudden, about 50 windows popped up at once - Outlook, Word, Excel, IE, MSN Messenger (which I uninstalled), McAfee AV, Explorer. The only recognisable headers on any of the windows was "net.dde". Most of the others were blank.

I had just installed McAfee Virus Defense Suite a few hours beforehand, and I had done a full virus scan with the latest updates not long before. A virus scan after a forced reboot found nothing at all.

As mentioned in my other thread (pressf1.pcworld.co.nz), I haven't been able to run Windows Update, so none of the critical security patches have been installed since XP Pro was trashed and reinstalled on the machine.

We have a Netscreen 5XP firewall, so I don't think it could have been someone trying to get in... but could it be? My searches for net.dde come up with security/IIS/vulnerability type pages.
honeylaser (814)
123773 2003-02-25 22:47:00 FYI... checked the firewall management logs this morning, and nothing suss. Have reinstalled XPP from scratch this morning and restored vital files from a backup I did yesterday afternoon. Not suprisingly, I can actually run Windows Update now (must have been something funky in the XP setup).

I guess the point of this thread now is just "huh?" I'd still be interested in finding out if this has happened to anyone else, or if anyone has any ideas as to what it may have been. I don't have any gaping security vulnerabilities anymore (yay!) and nothing seems amiss. But maybe thats the calm before the storm?
honeylaser (814)
123774 2003-02-26 00:28:00 Maybe your boss "fixed" it again. X-(

Show him the hammer. :D
Graham L (2)
123775 2003-02-26 01:08:00 > Maybe your boss "fixed" it again. X-(

Maybe he did :D But now I'm being accused by the engineers of fiddling with setting and breaking my PC. They don't trust me! Every time something goes wrong, apparently it's my fault. Sheesh.
honeylaser (814)
123776 2003-04-11 00:25:00 It happened again! This time I was prepared, and my machine even stayed upright long enough for me to get a snapshot of the cheeky daemon at work!

sal.neoburn.net
sal.neoburn.net

Any ideas now? Since my original post I have installed all critical updates and SPs, virus scan every day, and yet this still happens.
honeylaser (814)
123777 2003-04-11 00:54:00 One word for this and that is "weird" ?:|
Does any one have any ides????
stu140103 (137)
123778 2003-04-11 02:40:00 DDE is "Dynamic Data Exchange - A function that enables the exchange of data between different applications (whatis.techtarget.com)", apparently, in case anyone was going to look it up.

What a noggin scratcher.
honeylaser (814)
123779 2003-04-11 02:58:00 check your scheduled tasks etc. Might be a workmate playing a prank on you PoWa (203)
123780 2003-04-11 03:20:00 > check your scheduled tasks etc. Might be a workmate
> playing a prank on you

I doubt it! If you knew my workmates you would understand. There doesn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary running. No-one has installed anything on this machine that I am aware of (I have the password, no-one else does).

We do have a couple of servers though - a Novell, a web filter server & terminal server, which I am connected to. No-one else has had the same problem though, so I am assuming that it is this machine only.
honeylaser (814)
123781 2003-04-11 09:02:00 Why what are your workmates like? You can never be too sure about anyone you know.. Maybe it was a April Fools but had a delayed activation.. PoWa (203)
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