How to disable "Messenger Service"?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Sylvia
  • Start date Start date
S

Sylvia

Does anyone know how to disable those very
annoying "Messenger Service" pop-ups that are spam
advertising? Thanks!
 
For more information about the Messenger Service Spam and how to stop them
from your computer visit this link:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/howto/communicate/stopspam.asp

These windows are sent to your system using the Messenger service. You
should either use a firewall to block your file/printer sharing ports
(TCP/UDP ports 135, 137, 138, 139, and 445) from the Internet.

First thing you'll want to do is to install or enable a firewall:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;Q330904

Disabling Messenger Service can be a good idea, but it does not solve the
real problem.

The ads are not the real problem, the ads are only a symptom of a larger
issue. The real problem is open ports that allow unwanted traffic into the
computer.

Disabling Messenger does nothing for the open ports. You would need a
firewall that controls the traffic.

The above solution will not work if you have AOL as 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.

Disable Messenger Service:
Start/Control Panel, click Administrative Tools, click Services.
Go down to "Messenger".
Right click "Messenger" and select Properties.
Hit the Stop Button under Service Status section
Then under Start-up select DISABLE
Click OK and follow prompts

Check this link:
http://www.aumha.org/a/noads.php
Run Ad-Aware (free version) or Spybot to check for spyware:
http://www.lavasoft.de/
Or
http://spybot.eon.net.au/

For internet pop-ups, try one of these:
http://www.panicware.com/
http://www.bysoft.se/sureshot/stopthepop/index.html
http://www.popupbuster.com/PopUpBuster/
http://www.kolumbus.fi/eero.muhonen/FS/
http://www.endpopups.com/
http://www.adshield.org/
 
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
 
-----Original Message-----
Does anyone know how to disable those very
annoying "Messenger Service" pop-ups that are spam
advertising? Thanks!
.
Click to expand...
Go to www.grc.com and download "Shoot the Messenger" and
you will find other things there to help make XP a little
more secure.
 
1. Click Start and Run.
2. Type services.msc in the Open box and click OK
3. Scroll down to Messenger in the right pane.
4. Double-click Messenger and click the General tab.
5. Under Service Status, click the Stop button.
6. In the Startup Type drop-down box, select Disable.
7. Click Apply and OK.
8. Restart the computer.
 
GRC's Shoot Messenger utility just disables the Messenger Service. It does
not enable the firewall.

--
Ramesh - Microsoft MVP
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

~ Please reply to newsgroup ~


-----Original Message-----
Does anyone know how to disable those very
annoying "Messenger Service" pop-ups that are spam
advertising? Thanks!
.
Click to expand...
Go to www.grc.com and download "Shoot the Messenger" and
you will find other things there to help make XP a little
more secure.
 
Greetings --

This type of spam has become quite common over the past year, 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 almost 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

--
Help us help you:



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

You couldn't be more wrong. All Gibson's Shoot the Messenger does
is turn off what are, in effect, security warnings. The program does
nothing to secure the PC.

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
 
Greetings --

You couldn't be more wrong. All Gibson's Shoot the Messenger does
is turn off what are, in effect, security warnings. The program does
nothing to secure the PC.

Bruce Chambers
Click to expand...

So I guess Microsoft, AOL, and numerous security experts are wrong,
too, when they are telling people too disable the Messenger Service?

I think not.

Install a firewall first. Get a SOHO router if you can afford the
$50, and then if you don't need the Messenger Service, disable it.
 
 
Kevin said:
So I guess Microsoft, AOL, and numerous security experts are wrong,
too, when they are telling people too disable the Messenger Service?
Click to expand...

The service is superfluous, but advice - including any by Microsoft -
just to turn that off is leaving the primary loophole open. And that is
where the BLAST worm came in, and through it other things might strike
at other, as yet unidentified, vulnerabilities. So the advice *must* be
to have a firewall, *and* to block these NetBIOS ports - which are not
going to have legitimate use on an internet connection.
 
Kevin said:
Here are some interesting links as well:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/security/bulletin/ms03-043.asp
Click to expand...

THat is a nice example of a new vulnerability that comes in through that
self sa,e NetBIOS route (or the RPC one) as used by BLAST. And that the
patching of that port with a firewall that must be first line of
defence. Patching the vulnerable code it then hits (or disabling it in
the case of messenger) is needed, but is secondary. Which is the point
 
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