Messenger Service Pop-ups

[Momma Mowery]

How do I block or stop these messenger service popups on
my XP???

 

[Evan Stedman]

-----Original Message-----
How do I block or stop these messenger service popups on
my XP???
.
Go to the following website

www.grc.com

and download a program called ShootTheMessenger.exe


This will block the messenger popups, but will not affect
MSN or Windows Messenger.

 

[Jeremy Button]

A better and safer solution would be to not
download 'Shoot the Messenger' but get a firewall to block
some of your unused ports.

- Jeremy

 

[Leslie Cider]

-----Original Message-----
How do I block or stop these messenger service popups on
my XP???

Or you could try going to www.messengerkill.com . They
have 2 solutions - their software, OR they tell you how
to disable the messages yourself.

Good Luck!
Leslie

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

This particular "sales method" is strikingly similar to the
"protection" rackets offered to small businesses by organized
criminals. Yes, it's a scam; no reputable business would need to
resort to extortion. Particularly since they're trying to sell you a
type of protection that is already available to you free of charge.

This type of spam has become quite common over the past few
months, 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. Install and use a decent,
properly configured firewall. (Disabling the messenger service, as
some people recommend, only hides the symptom, and does nothing to
secure your machine.) And ignoring or just "putting up with" these
messages and the problem they represent 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 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 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?

Equivalent Scenario 1: Somewhere in a house, a small fire starts,
and sets off the smoke alarm. You, not immediately seeing any
fire/smoke, complain about the noise of the smoke detector, and are
advised to remove the smoke detector's battery and go back to sleep.

Equivalent Scenario 2: 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 some of your respondents,
replies, "Well, don't do that."

I'm beginning to think that the people deliberately posting such
bad advice are hacker-wannabes who have no true interest in helping
you secure your system, but would rather give you a false sense of
security while ensuring that your computer is still open to
exploitation.


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

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

Please stop posting potentially harmful advice. What are you, a
hacker-wannabe? Why else would you be deliberately posting bad
advice? Are you trying to give people a false sense of security by
having them turn off what are, in effect, valid security warnings,
while still leaving their PCs open to potential exploitation?

Disabling the messenger service 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 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."

An essential component of securing a PC against outside attacks,
short of disconnecting it from the Internet, is to install and
*properly* configure a firewall.


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

 

[Mike Mulligan]

You misunderstand messenger spam. It has nothing to do with Windows
Messenger; it relates to the messenger service of Windows XP. But with such
similar names, it's easy to see why so many make the mistake.

If messenger spam gets through a firewall, one of two conclusions can be
drawn:
1. It's not really messenger spam, or
2. The firewall is not correctly configured.

Mike Mulligan

 

[Kevin Davis³]

(Disabling the messenger service, as
some people recommend, only hides the symptom, and does nothing to
secure your machine.)

Oh, and be especially wary of people who advise you to do nothing
more than disable the messenger service. Disabling the messenger
service is a "head in the sand" approach to computer security.

My real gripes here. I would re-word these paragraphs slightly as
such.

"(Only disabling the messenger service to fix this problem, as
some people recommend, hides the symptom)"

"Oh, and be especially wary of people who advise you to do nothing
more than disable the messenger service. Only disabling the messenger
service is a 'head in the sand' approach to resolving this problem."

I would totally agree with these paragraphs.

Rationale for first change: Asserting for a fact that "disabling the
messenger service does nothing to secure your machine" is
unequivocally stating that you are assuring everyone that no
vulnerability exists in the messenger service. Or ever will.

Rationale for second change: Once you start talking about
"approaches to computer security" your comments will be taken in that
context and people will think all they need to do for good computer
security is install a firewall. Which is, in fact, a poor approach to
computer security (albeit much better than none at all). No security
expert advises a single layer approach to computer security.

 

[Alun Jones [MS MVP]]

Rationale for first change: Asserting for a fact that "disabling the
messenger service does nothing to secure your machine" is
unequivocally stating that you are assuring everyone that no
vulnerability exists in the messenger service. Or ever will.

Running the minimum number of processes necessary is a frequent step that is
taken to secure systems, yes. On the other hand, Messenger Service is used
by some antivirus tools to notify the user of an incursion. As a result, by
disabling it, you may miss security notifications.

Rationale for second change: Once you start talking about
"approaches to computer security" your comments will be taken in that
context and people will think all they need to do for good computer
security is install a firewall. Which is, in fact, a poor approach to
computer security (albeit much better than none at all). No security
expert advises a single layer approach to computer security.

Defence in depth, huh? I'd normally agree with you - the problem is that
here, we aren't talking about fixing a vulnerability and then putting a
firewall around it - there is no known vulnerability in Messenger Service
(though I'm sure someone will try a "Shatter"-style attack on it for a while
to try and prove me wrong), and retaining Messenger Service acts like a
canary - if you see the Messenger Service spam pop back up, you know that
your firewall has been defeated.

So, leaving Messenger Service running, while installing a firewall, is
really not a single layer approach - it gives you a sentry to watch over the
firewall.

Obviously, "a firewall" is not the be-all and end-all to security - there
are other ways that unwanted data gets onto systems, from borrowed software
to mobile hardware. A number of people have received worm infestations
because a visiting salesman plugged his laptop into their network.

But, having said that, installing a firewall is a basic part of securing
your system. Data should not be wandering, willy-nilly and unguarded, from
the public Internet into your private system(s). Stopping all traffic other
than what you need, through the main avenue of attack, is going to cut down
on a lot of your chances of infection.

Alun.
~~~~

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