The answer to this problem can be found at http://www.techimo.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-128257.html and I repeat the solution here, with thanks to the person who figured it out.

""Okay,...

david@mex

The removal instructions you posted here are incomplete and will NOT work.
avserve is only one variant of sasser. There are 6 in all I think.
If you don't want to format and...

To disable / remove windows messenger

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=302089

This is typical Sasser activity. It does not matter whether you format and reinstall or not. Until you turn on your firewall and patch the vulnerability you will be wide open to attack. The Sasser...