Greetings Steve,
What you're seeing is the Messenger service built-in to Windows, *not* Windows Messenger
(which are two different things) which spammers are exploiting -- this is not Microsoft, nor
can Microsoft control them anymore then they can control spam to your e-mail inbox.
To get rid of these pop ups, you'll need to disable the "Messenger Service", click Start,
then Run, enter "services.msc"and click OK. Scroll down to "Messenger", select it,
right-click and then choose Properties. Under startup type, choose 'Disabled' and then
choose the 'Stop' button. After the service is stopped, click OK. Nothing in Windows or any
real third-party applications should be effected by this.
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Windows MVP, Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources -
http://messenger.jonathankay.com