Messenger pop-ups

[Kandi]

Can someone PLEASE tell me how to stop these annoying
messenger pop-ups with out having to pay for it?????????
I hope everyone hates these as much as I do.
Thanks

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

Does the window title say anything about Messenger? If so, you need a
firewall. 'Messenger spam', is not in itself harmful, but is symptomatic of
a larger problem - your computer has ports open from the Internet.

You can disable the Messenger service, but that is unwise as a solution as
you'll still have the underlying problem that caused you to get the messages
in the first place - consider the messages a useful warning that you have no
protection from the Internet. This is all too important now, given the
recent rash of RPC worms....

For a standalone machine, see www.sygate.com for a free personal firewall,
or if using Windows XP, you can enable the built-in internet connection
firewall (ICF).

See http://securityadmin.info/faq.htm for more info. Also,
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/nopopups.htm is a good resource - although
for browser popups, you might want to consider http://toolbar.google.com -
it works like a champ and is also handy for searching.

 

[rifleman]

Can someone PLEASE tell me how to stop these annoying
messenger pop-ups with out having to pay for it?????????
I hope everyone hates these as much as I do.
Thanks

Activate the XP Firewall or install a third-party one. There are several
that are free.

 

[Jonathan Sherwin]

If you don't want to take other measures to stop the pop-ups, i.e.
instigating the installation of a firewall, you can deactive the Windows
Messenger (in XP) service completely.

Take a look here:
http://www.microsoft.com/WindowsXP/pro/using/howto/communicate/stopspam.asp
on how to disable the service,

And here: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;330904 to
read more about SPAM via the Windows Messenger service.

J

 

[rifleman]

If you don't want to take other measures to stop the pop-ups, i.e.
instigating the installation of a firewall, you can deactive the Windows
Messenger (in XP) service completely.

NO! That only treats the SYMPTOMS not the cause. If anything, activate the
XP firewall.
The cause is OPEN NETBIOS PORTS. Deactivating the messenger service does NOT
close the open ports.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

Please stop deliberately posting potentially harmful advice.

Disabling the messenger service is a "head in the sand" approach
to computer security that leaves the PC vulnerable to threats such as
the W32.Blaster.Worm.

The real problem is _not_ the messenger service pop-ups; they're
actually providing a useful service by acting as a security alert. The
true problem is the unsecured computer, and you're only
advice, however well-intended, was to turn off the warnings. How is
this helpful?

Equivalent Scenario: You over-exert your shoulder at work or
play, causing bursitis. After weeks of annoying and sometimes
excruciating pain whenever you try to reach over your head, you go to
a doctor and say, while demonstrating the motion, "Doc, it hurts when
I do this." The doctor, being as helpful as you are, replies, "Well,
don't do that."

The only true way to secure the PC, short of disconnecting it from
the Internet, is to install and *properly* configure a firewall; just
installing one and letting it's default settings handle things is no
good. Unfortunately, this does require one to learn a little bit more
about using a computer than used to be necessary.


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

If you don't want to take other measures to stop the pop-ups, i.e.
instigating the installation of a firewall, you can deactive the Windows
Messenger (in XP) service completely.

Take a look here:
http://www.microsoft.com/WindowsXP/pro/using/howto/communicate/stopspam.asp
on how to disable the service,

And here:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;330904 to

 

[Richard H. Walter]

I have a secure computer running Norton Internet Security, behind a Linksys
Broadband Router with a Firewall and Norton Antivirus.

I have completely removed Windows Messeger from the computer and religiously
followed the advice of a couple of MS Knowlegebase articles about disabling
Windows Messenger. In spite of all this, I still get a pop-up every 10
minutes that tells me that there is a new version of Windows Messenger out
there just waiting for me to download.

Any ideas how to stop the nag screen?

Thanks,

Dick Walter