"Messenger Service" - How do I stop it?

[Ralph Tomaccio]

Help!

I just spent about a full day reinstalling Windows XP on
a Sony laptop, reloading all my software, preferences,
etc. Now, whenever I go on-line I continually get these
pop-ups with "Messenger Service" in the header and
messages usually about pornography, drugs, etc. I never
got these before.

I hope I'm in the right newsgroup and someone can help
me. I cannot find any software or settings to stop this.

Nor can I find anything in "Add/Remove" indicating any
kind of messenger service that I can delete.

I also downloaded Tweak XP Pro 3 as someone told me I can
delete Messenger with that. When I try, I get an error
message that says "Error registering the OCX 16422".

Someone, please help me with these annoying pop-ups.

 

[Jonathan Kay [MVP]]

Greetings Ralph,

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.

Just as a little reminder, make sure you've protected yourself against the latest security
issues by visiting WindowsUpdate and installing the security patches:
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com
(This isn't related to the Messenger Service in any way, just a reminder)
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Messenger/MSN Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com

 

[Ralph Tomaccio]

Jonathan,

Thank you so much for your help. It seems to have worked.

How necessary is "Windows Messenger" that you mentioned
is different than the Messenger Service I disabled? Do I
need it?

The reason I ask is because I think I may have removed it
in my attempts to solve my earlier problem. I went
to "Help" to learn more about it, tried to open it and
received a message saying "This program could not start"
and listed a bunch of reasons why.

I have a Sony and their "propietary disks" and don't
think I can reinstall any single components. Can I? Sorry
to be so ignorant on the "innards" of Windows, but I do
want to learn more about it.