Steve, 2 ways of doing this....answers quoted from Jonathan Kay and Gary
Tsang
Have fun,
Alex
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1. POP UP ADVERTS
Do these "pop-ups" that are appearing have "Messenger Service" in their
titlebar? If so, 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
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4. POP UP ADVERTS (part 2)
For Messenger Service ads:
You need 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/