I have winservs.exe on my windows 2k and I need to know how to get rid of it. I tried going to the regedit file and following it down to the run file but did not find it there, any help would be greatly greatly appreciated.

Larry, hope this helps; http://www.computing.net/security/wwwboard/forum/1937.html Norm

I found WINSERVS.exe in my startup menu after experiencing extensive pop-up ad and cpu performance problems. But before I found this hideous "torjan" lurking in my start-up menu, I had downloaded adware and a couple other spybot / adware removal programs. After running these, I found that my system was loaded with about 6 different spyware / adware programs. WINSERVS.exe was NOT one of the programs found by ADWARE or the other applications. Removing the WINSERVS.exe program from the start-up process was VERY simple for me: CTL-ALT-DEL then select "End Task" after highlighting WINSERVS. When it is currently not a running application (no longer appearing in the "running" menu), do the following: Goto Start/Programs/Startup and then RIGHT-CLICK on WINSERVS, then select delete. This SHOULD remedy your problem. However, to be safe I went into regedit and thoroughly scanned for any residuals of this annoying program in the registry. I personally found none. HOWEVER, when searching for "PURITYSCAN.EXE" (more on purityscan below) in the FIND feature in windows. I found a copy of purityscan.exe in the LIMEWIRE (peer2peer) folder. PUIRTYSCAN scans your hard drive looking for pornography related words using a pre-programmed search string. It also copies the WINSERVS.exe file to your startup execution without your knowledge or permission. WINSERVS.EXE spawns a bevy of POP-UP ads while running. Courtesy of LIMEWIRE in my case. CLICKSPRING.COM offers the purityscan program to webmasters as part of an affiliate program and most of the time these webmasters find ways to load the PURITYSCAN / WINSERVS onto your computer. The purpose of WINSERVS? To keep the almighty dollar flowing to all of those marketers you see in all of those annoying pop-ups...all courtesy of WINSERVS.EXE, PURITYSCAN.EXE, CLICKSPRING.COM and in my case, LIMEWIRE PEER2PEER. Also, I find it very offensive that the company producing the JIMMYSURF POP-UP BLOCKER program is utilizing the WINSERV pop-up attack plan. They have the annoying "STOP POP-UP ADS NOW!" pop-up. How clever. My advise to all reading this is to DELETE LIMEWIRE, KAZZA and other peer 2 peer file swapping programs. They get paid to load PURITYSCAN onto your computer, without your knowledge. Most KAZZA.exe and LIMREWIRE.exe programs are packed with some sort of exploitation-ware. If it's not PURITYSCAN, it may be GATOR or some other rediculous ad-ware app. REMOVE KAZZA and LIMEWIRE for your future sanity!