If you or somebody you know is having trouble with windows restarting for seemingly no reason when you are connected to a network (or the internet), there is a solution.

Likely you are seeing a message box that says something about the Remote Procedure Call (RPC) service terminating unexpectedly.

This is being caused by an internet worm that is taking advantage of a flaw in the MS RPC implementation. If you are crashing you have the worm.

There is a solution.

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=823980

This article explains the flaw and contains links to the microsoft patch files for each OS.

My suggestion:

1. IMMEDIATELY enable the Internet Connection Firewall, before reconnecting to the internet. This will protect your computer from further attacks.

2. Download the patch files as soon as possible after the computer boots.

3. Immediately disconnect from the internet.

4. Now you can safely install the patch without having to worry about windows shutting down on you.

After the patch is installed you will need to remove the worm.

6. Download the Stinger cleaner utility from NAI here: http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger/

You should be clear!

Here are direct links to those patches.

Patch for Windows XP

Patch for Windows 2000

Patch for Windows Server 2003

Keep in mind that this will only prevent infection, and stop the resets, but it will not cure an infection. Various sites have tools for cleaning it off, but the best protection will come from having a virus scanner installed and running all the time. There are quite a few choices, including a free scanner that ranks very close to it’s commercial counterparts in effectiveness.

Good luck!