pop ups

L

Livie

I just upgraded to winXP, and now I am getting popups every
few minutes saying that I have spyware virus, porn, and
some messages with suggeative pictures. How can I stop
these? I never got them on Win 98. Thanks, Livvie
 
K

Kaylene aka Taurarian

Windows Messenger - stopping spam and pop ups
The issue is that currently ANYONE can actually send you a message through the
..NET Messenger network without being on YOUR contact list!
You can change this so that people will have to add you to their contact lists
before they can send you a message (which will have the effect of blocking these
Spam messages in the future).
Open up the main Messenger window, click Tools, then Options, then the Privacy
tab, click All users and then click the Block >> button.
This way you can manually add who you want to receive messages from and block
all others.

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

Enable or Disable Internet Connection Firewall in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;283673
NB: AOL is not compatible with Windows XP Internet Connection Firewall (ICF)
If you have AOL, you should contact AOL and/or get a 3rd party firewall.

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

http://www.updatexp.com/messenger_service_spam.html
Messenger Service Spam - End It Now!
 
B

Bruce Chambers

Greetings --

There are at least three varieties of pop-ups, and the solutions
vary accordingly. Which specific type(s) is troubling you?

1) Does the title bar of these pop-ups read "Messenger Service?"

This type of spam has become quite common over the couple of
years, 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
swept across the Internet last year and the currently active Sasser
Worm. 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?

2) For regular Internet pop-ups, you might try the free 12Ghosts
Popup-killer from http://12ghosts.com/ghosts/popup.htm, Pop-Up Stopper
from http://www.panicware.com/, or the Google Toolbar from
http://toolbar.google.com/, which is what I use.

3) To deal with pop-ups caused by any sort of "adware" and/or
"spyware,"such as Gator, Comet Cursors, Xupiter, Bonzai Buddy, or
KaZaA, and their remnants, that you've deliberately (but without
understanding the consequences) installed, two products that are
quite effective (at finding and removing this type of scumware) are
Ad-Aware from www.lavasoft.de and SpyBot Search & Destroy from
www.safer-networking.org/. Both have free versions. It's even
possible to use SpyBot Search & Destroy to "immunize" your system
against most future intrusions. I use both and generally perform
manual scans every week or so to clean out cookies, etc.

Additionally, manual removal instructions for the most common
varieties of scumware are available here:

PC Hell Spyware and Adware Removal Help
http://www.pchell.com/support/spyware.shtml

More information and assistance is available at these sites:

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

The Parasite Fight
http://www.aumha.org/a/parasite.htm


Bruce Chambers
--
Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. - RAH
 

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