Greetings Mark,
This is Messenger's and the Internet Connection Firewall's Universal Plug and Play (UPnP),
which automatically open the ports necessary for voice/video conversations. They should be
automatically deleted if you shutdown Windows Messenger (right-click the Windows Messenger
icon in the notification area/system tray, by the clock, and click Exit) or shutdown Windows.
However, if you're seeing them being added constantly, firstly, are you using Norton
Antivirus 2003? Norton added a new "instant messaging scanning" feature to Norton Antivirus
2003, which can conflict with Messenger and cause this behavior. To stop it, open Norton
Antivirus (Right-click on the Norton Antivirus icon in the System Tray/Notification Area (by
the clock), choose 'Open Norton Antivirus'), click Options, then Instant Messenger then
uncheck MSN Instant Messenger and click OK.
Secondly, do you happen to have DirectX 9 installed (it may have been installed with a game
or demo)? To check, click Start, then Run, enter "dxdiag" and click OK. In the first window
that appears, you'll see "DirectX version" listed, if it's 9, then upgrade to DirectX 9a:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/directx/downloads/drx90.asp
If your DirectX version is listed as 8.1, then this isn't the problem.
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Windows MVP, Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources -
http://messenger.jonathankay.com