XP crashing - Remote Procedure Call
 

My computer has just started crashing at random, usually within half an hour after booting it up, and as soon as just a couple of minutes after bootup. It displays the following error message with a 60 second countdown before my computer reboots itself and no option to cancel.

"The system is shutting down. Please save all work in progress and log off. Any unsaved changes will be lost. This shutdown was initiated by NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM

Time before shutdown: xx:xx:xx

Message
Windows must now restart because the Remote Procedure Call (RPC) service terminated unexpectedly."

I recently installed XP on my PC but had no problems at first. I then had some problems getting internet access (ISP was jerking me around for a couple of weeks) and have just sorted that out. The crashes started immediately once I got back online and I imagine I could solve the problem by just pulling the plug but then I'd be back to having no internet again.

Anyway, due to recent changes in living arrangements, I am now connected to the internet via a cable modem plugged directly into my computer, whereas in the past it was going through a server. I suspect this change may be where the problem is but I am unsure, as I have no idea what the above error message means. Further pondering makes me wonder if it could be hacker activity - I have no firewall installed because I've never connected to the internet through my own computer before; should I get something now? (The current setup is only temporary and I'll soon be behind a router.)

Any advice is much appreciated.

System info:

Celeron 800 or 850 (I forget)
Windows XP Pro/IE 6
256 megs ram
37 gig HD, unpartitioned

You have the ms Blaster worm on your PC. MS patch that fixes the issue http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

here is the link to the norton page about the virus and a removal tool http://securityresponse.symantec.com...oval.tool.html

edit: here is the MS page that explains more about this http://www.microsoft.com/security/incident/blast.asp

It appears that you are infected with the mblast worm

This page explains it and how to get rid of it: http://www.updatexp.com/msblast-exe.html

Patched and removed. Thank you both for your help and apologies for asking such a newbie question. :/

To prevent future problems like this I suggest that you install a nice software firewall. Zonealarm is free and tells you when software tries to access the internet.