Annoying Pop-ups tied to Messenger Service

[Scott]

How do I stop all of the annoying pop-ups I am
receiving? Ever since I installed XP Pro I have received
pop-ups every 10 minutes.

 

[siljaline]

How do I stop all of the annoying pop-ups I am
receiving? Ever since I installed XP Pro I have received
pop-ups every 10 minutes.

Online/offline? - Spyware, likely.

Spyware Removal Tools, Lavasoft's "Ad-aware",
Direct download -
http://ftp.pcworld.com/pub/new/privacy___security/aaw6181.exe

Lavasoft/Ad-aware home: http://www.lavasoftusa.com
Mirror site: http://www.lavasoft.de/

*Also* install and run SpyBot Search & Destroy,
Direct download -
http://studserver.uni-dortmund.de/~su1669/spybotsd12.exe

SpyBot home: http://security.kolla.de/
SpyBot How-To: http://www.tomcoyote.org/SPYBOT/
More detailed help: http://tomcoyote.org/~mosaic1/spybot/
Support Forum, http://net-integration.net/cgi-bin/forum/ikonboard.cgi
Navigate to the SpyBot S&D section.

Install, reboot, read FAQ and overview, use online update feature to obtain the
latest reference files, scan for Spyware much like you would with your
pre-installed anti-virus scanner.
Rid your machine of unwanted Spyware pests.

HTH


--
siljaline

"Arguing with anonymous strangers on the Internet is a sucker's game
because they almost always turn out to be -- or to be indistinguishable from
-- self-righteous sixteen-year-olds possessing infinite amounts of free time."
- Neil Stephenson, _Cryptonomicon_

 

[Edward Chung]

http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/article03-300

 

[Jon Kennedy]

See this site for more information: http://www.jmu.edu/computing/security/info/winmsg.shtml
The best way to handle this is to enable XP's native firewall, or install a third-party one. I recommend the free version of ZoneAlarm - http://www.zonelabs.com