Pop Ups had stopped but seem to have restarted again... So I have some questions???

[Andrew S]

Hello,
Jonathan is being inundated with requests to stop the messenger pop ups, and
he is very patiently answering them all with his form letter (Given how many
times it's been asked he doesn't have much choice). However following the
most recent MS security upgrade I have again started getting them again. I
quickly checked the messenger service and sure enough it had restarted
again.

So now my questions are:
Will we have to run the check after every security upgrade?
Also is MS doing anything to close this hole in the system?
Additionally I was thinking about setting up my home LAN again with this PC.
Will this disabling of the Messenger Svc, am I going to have any problems?

Thanks,

Andrew S

 

[Jonathan Kay [MVP]]

Greetings Andrew,

I'm not exactly sure what's occurring the latest security update, certainly on my own PCs,
the Messenger service is still stopped and disabled.

What the future plans for the Messenger Service are, I'm not sure -- but my hope is that it's
disabled (and/or removed) by default.

The Messenger Service is a separate component to Windows, having it enabled or disabled will
not effect anything else in Windows, as such any networking situation won't be effected.
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Windows MVP, Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com

 

[Andrew S]

Wow now thats a fast reply... Thank you!
Given that it doesn't seem to offer very much beyond a new home invasion
head ache, what purpose does this messenger service that is causing all the
problems serve? I am rather curious as it doesn't seem to be related to any
of the online instant messaging systems most commonly used by either MSN or
AOL?

Andrew S

 

[Jonathan Kay [MVP]]

Hi Andrew,

The Messenger service dates back to workgroups, where "popup messages" were common to notify
local network users about certain events (virus alerts, servers being down, etc.). Of
course, since the Internet is just one large network, it now affects everyone -- it's
included in Windows NT, Windows 2000 and XP, but only this past year has the service begun to
be exploited by spammers.
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Windows MVP, Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com