Dear Sir/Madam,

I just noticed something called 'Seaport Search Enhancement Broker' running
in the background on my machine (Windows XP Home Edition, Service Pack 3).
I've never heard of it and cannot find any information about it online.

Does anyone know what this is, whether or not I should be worried about it,
what it is there for and if/how I can get rid of if?

Thanking you in advance,

Malicious software ("malware") is installed on your computer.

Make sure that your anti-malware software is running, then download the
latest signatures and run a full scan.

Comprehensive anti-malware software scans for all types of malicious
software in the background, on demand and on schedule. If you don't have
comprehensive anti-malware software, you're a sitting duck.

For now try scanning your system with /several/ of the better online
scanners, such as:
Kaspersky Antivirus (http://www.kaspersky.com/virusscanner)
Panda ActiveScan (http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan)

Download HijackThis from www.trendsecure.com. Run it, save a log, and
post the log at one of the many sites that support HJT, such as
spywarewarrior.com, bleepingcomputer.com, and http://aumha.net -- but
not here. Within a day you'll have step-by-step advice from an expert on
cleaning up any malware infestations.

Even the best detection and removal software can't fix every malware
infection. If none of the above remove the infection, you may want to
show the computer to a professional. You might need to erase your hard
drive and start over.

Dear Leonard Grey,

Still no luck. I used DiskCleanup and deleted all my Internet files and then
thoroughly scanned my machine with AVG Anti-Spyware 7.5, CCleaner, Ad-Aware
2008, SpyBot Search and Destroy, Spyware Doctor and Yahoo! Anti-Virus (all of
them fully up-to-date). None of these found anything of consequence and
'SeaPort' the process continued to run.

I then used 'HijackThis' and posted the log file at SpywareWarrior. Nobody
has responded to it (whilst some newer threads have been) leading me to
deduce that no one there thinks there is anything worth commenting on.

I have also used 'Services.msc' to find the process, stop it and disable it.
Based on the location and the descriptions (including Microsoft Corporation
trademarks) it looks about as legitimate as my Microsoft software.

Anyway, for now, if there is something wrong on my machine, I cannot find
it. I don't know if you can recommend anything else? I also used the Panda
Active Scan you mentioned; as before, it did find a few cookies (which I
deleted, again) but nothing else.

From what I gather, it's installed with Windows Live group of programs, mine
appeared shortly after updating MSN. The only thing is its registered in
msconfig services tab as written by "microsoft corp." not "microsoft
corporation" though it disappears if you tick hide all microsoft services box.

"Karim434" wrote:
[..]

This is a Microsoft search enhancement app. See details here http://theparallaxview.com/2008/12/seaportexe/
on what it's about and if you should wish to remove it.