Messenger pop ups.

[John Kelma]

Can anyone tell me how to block messenger pop ups.
Ninety nine per cent of them come from the people who
advertise how to stop them. This is ironical and unfair.
Why should I pay them for stopping pop ups which they are
responsible for in the first place. I would be grateful
for any information that would help.

 

[aux]

If you go to www.download.com they have a lot of programs
you can use that will stop pop ups.

 

[Steven L Umbach]

Messenger popups reveal that your internet connection is very insecure by allowing
your netbios ports to be exposed to the internet. Go to http://scan.sygatetech.com/
to check your vulnerability. I bet you get a lot of warnings. The cure is to install
a firewall, either a hardware device such as one of the affordable nat/firewall
devices at the cable/dsl modem [best choice] or a personal firewall of which there
are free ones available for personal use. Zone Alarm is good for novice users, and
something like Sygate or Kerio for more advanced users that understand basic tcp/ip
principles. For other pop ups the Google toolbar is awesome. --- Steve

http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/
http://www.webattack.com/Freeware/security/fwfirewall.shtml
http://toolbar.google.com/

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

Ironic and unfair? Perhaps. Extortion? Definitely.

This type of spam has become quite common over the past several
months, and unintentionally serves as a valid security "alert." It
demonstrates that you haven't been taking sufficient precautions while
connected to the Internet. Your data probably hasn't been compromised
by these specific advertisements, but if you're open to this exploit,
you may well be open to other threats, such as the Blaster Worm that
recently swept cross the Internet. Install and use a decent,
properly configured firewall. (Merely disabling the messenger
service, as some people recommend, only hides the symptom, and does
little or nothing to truly secure your machine.) And ignoring or just
"putting up with" the security gap represented by these messages is
particularly foolish.

Messenger Service of Windows
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;168893

Messenger Service Window That Contains an Internet Advertisement
Appears
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=330904

Stopping Advertisements with Messenger Service Titles
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/howto/communicate/stopspam.asp

Blocking Ads, Parasites, and Hijackers with a Hosts File
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

Oh, and be especially wary of people who advise you to do nothing
more than disable the messenger service. Disabling the messenger
service, by itself, is a "head in the sand" approach to computer
security. The real problem is _not_ the messenger service pop-ups;
they're actually providing a useful, if annoying, service by acting as
a security alert. The true problem is the unsecured computer, and
you've been advised to merely turn off the warnings. How is this
helpful?


Bruce Chambers

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