Pop-up problem

[Paula]

My computer has adopted a pop-up from HP scanner software
which pops up continually no matter what program I am
using. I have uninstalled the HP scanner software but the
pop-up (a message about updating scanner software if I get
a certain message) continues to stop what I am doing 'til
I "x" it. It seems to appear most often when I am using
Outlook. As an aside, I get windows style pop-ups from
several different companies telling me how to stop pop-ups
and threatening disaster if I don't contact them whenever
I am connected to the internet. Hope someone can help this
technologically challenged user. Thanks.

 

[purplehaz]

For the internet pop-ups:
Secure your hacker prone computer:

If they say messenger service in the title bar, these popups have nothing to
do with MSN messenger or Windows messenger. What this is a new way for
spammers to attack your computer and send you pop-up ads. If you receive
these ads it means that your computers netbios ports are wide open to the
internet and this could be a real security problem. What you should do is
install a good firewall that will block the ports the spammers use and stop
the ads. A good place to start is Zone Alarm ( www.zonelabs.com ) for an
inbound/outbound blocking firewall or use the inbound blocking only firewall
built in to XP. If needed configure the XP firewall to block ports 135,
137-139 and 445. Zone Alarm will block these ports by default.

Use this site to test some of your ports security:
https://grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2

You can disable the messenger service, which is the service the spammers
exploit, but it isn't needed to stop the ads and disabling the service will
not secure your computer from outside attacks or block the open netbios
ports.

Note: If the Messenger service is stopped, messages from the Alerter
service (notifications from your antivirus software, for example) are
not transmitted. If the Messenger service is turned off, any services
that explicitly depend on the Messenger service do not start, and an
error message is logged in the System event log. For this reason,
Microsoft recommends that you install a firewall and configure it to
block NetBIOS and RPC traffic instead of turning off the Messenger
service.

If the pop-ups appear while surfing web pages then download and install one
of the many pop-up blocker programs. Search www.download.com for popup
blocker, you'll find many free ones.

Also get a good spyware cleaner -- http://security.kolla.de/

 

[Adam]

Easy to stop pop ads!
Click run (on the start menu) then type services a window
will pop up saying services search on the right hand
frame (Services(Local)) For a services called messenger
then right click it and select properties. Now click STOP
then in the Startup Type box select 'Disabled' Now click
OK and you'll never get annoying adverts ever again!!!!
And it didnt cost ya a thing!

 

[purplehaz]

That "solution" only hides the real problem of open netbios ports. Disabling
the messenger service does not close the ports. These are ports that my mom
could hack, simple to exploit. Enabling a firewall is the only correct
solution to stop messenger service popup ads. The ads actually serve as a
warning telling your computer in insecure and can be exploited easily unless
you install and enable a firewall or use the built in xp firewall.