disable windows messenger

[adene12]

I want to try to disable windows messenger to get rid of
those darn pop-up ads as per the advice of the Kim K.
shows tips. However, my Internet Explorer always has the
message that it is not connected. I have aol and I'm told
that I am unable to connect the I.E. to disable the
Windows Messenger. What is true and what can I do about
making the necessary changes? thanx

 

[Paul]

Do these "pop-ups" that are appearing have "Messenger
Service" in their titlebar? If so, what
you're seeing is the Messenger service built-in to
Windows, *not* Windows Messenger (which
are two different things) which spammers are exploiting --
this is not Microsoft, nor can
Microsoft control them anymore then they can control spam
to your e-mail inbox.

To get rid of these pop ups, you'll need to disable
the "Messenger Service", click Start,
then Run, enter "services.msc"and click OK. Scroll down
to "Messenger", select it,
right-click and then choose Properties. Under startup
type, choose 'Disabled' and then
choose the 'Stop' button. After the service is stopped,
click OK. Nothing in Windows or any
real third-party applications should be effected by this.

 

[Alun Jones [MS MVP]]

I want to try to disable windows messenger to get rid of
those darn pop-up ads as per the advice of the Kim K.
shows tips.

Kim's advice is generally sound, if a little simplistic (but then, how much
can you say in a radio show?). In this case, however, she's
over-emphasising a non-solution.

To be fair to Kim, she does preface the mention of disabling the Messenger
Service (not "Windows Messenger") with a note that you should install a
firewall. Once you've installed the firewall, there's no point to disabling
the Messenger Service. In fact, it would be advantageous to keep the
Messenger Service around. Why? Because you know that if you start
receiving those popups again, your firewall settings need to be checked!

Once you've installed the firewall correctly, Messenger Service will only
tell you locally-generated messages (such as "your antivirus software has
found a virus", or "network going down in five minutes"). If it tells you
other things, then you obviously haven't installed the firewall correctly.
Why turn off an indication that your security isn't tight, when that
indication itself poses no threat other than having to click the close
button?

Alun.
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