Greetings --
There are at least three varieties of pop-ups, and the solutions
vary accordingly. Which specific type(s) is troubling you?
1) Does the title bar of these pop-ups read "Messenger Service?"
This type of spam has become quite common over the past several
months, and unintentionally serves as a valid security "alert." It
demonstrates that you haven't been taking sufficient precautions while
connected to the Internet. Your data probably hasn't been compromised
by these specific advertisements, but if you're open to this exploit,
you may well be open to other threats, such as the Blaster Worm that
recently swept cross the Internet. Install and use a decent,
properly configured firewall. (Merely disabling the messenger
service, as some people recommend, only hides the symptom, and does
little or nothing to truly secure your machine.) And ignoring or just
"putting up with" the security gap represented by these messages is
particularly foolish.
Messenger Service of Windows
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;168893
Messenger Service Window That Contains an Internet Advertisement
Appears
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=330904
Stopping Advertisements with Messenger Service Titles
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/howto/communicate/stopspam.asp
Blocking Ads, Parasites, and Hijackers with a Hosts File
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm
Oh, and be especially wary of people who advise you to do nothing
more than disable the messenger service. Disabling the messenger
service, by itself, is a "head in the sand" approach to computer
security. The real problem is _not_ the messenger service pop-ups;
they're actually providing a useful, if annoying, service by acting as
a security alert. The true problem is the unsecured computer, and
you've been advised to merely turn off the warnings. How is this
helpful?
2) For regular Internet pop-ups, you might try the free 12Ghosts
Popup-killer from
http://12ghosts.com/ghosts/popup.htm or Pop-Up
Stopper from
http://www.panicware.com/. Myself, I use Norton Internet
Security, which, in addition to containing Norton Anti-Virus and
Personal Firewall, also blocks many of the pop-up adds on the
Internet.
3) For pop-ups caused by some sort of "adware" and/or "spyware,"
such as Gator, Comet Cursors, or Bonzai Buddy, that you've
deliberately installed, two products that are quite effective at
finding and removing scumware are Ad-Aware from
www.lavasoft.de and
SpyBot Search and Destroy from
http://security.kolla.de/. Both have
free evaluation versions.
Bruce Chambers
--
Help us help you:
You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH
