popups

[Ian MacK]

i am experiencing a rediculous number of popups, i am on
a cable connection and am also using MSN and Yahoo
messengers, but i do not have any fike sharing programs
such as Kazaa
everyone i know is running these messenger programs but
is experiencing no popup problems, what is so special
about me?
i suspect some hideous virus or something of the kin, but
am not sure at all.
please give me some direction
oh yes, occasionally i recieve a windows warning box
telling me that my computer is "vulnerable to excessive
popups" and that a certain something has expired, i am
not sure what this means, but it is offering me little
solution. my computer is relatively free of programs, i
have no games and i download basically nothing, where is
this coming from??

tahnk you

 

[Kelly]

Hi Ian,

Are these pop-ups labled Messenger Service? If so:

You need to turn of networking on your internet connection. You do this by
either disabling NetBIOS over TCP/IP or turn on the firewall.

To disable the Messenger Service:

Go to Start/Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Services. Double click the
Messenger Service and change Automatic to Disabled, then click the Stop
button.

Or use this automated edit:

Disable Messenger Service (Line 95)
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Home PC Firewall Guide
http://www.firewallguide.com/

More information and options here on using a Firewall:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_m.htm#ms

 

[Guest]

-----Original Message-----
i am experiencing a rediculous number of popups, i am on
a cable connection and am also using MSN and Yahoo
messengers, but i do not have any fike sharing programs
such as Kazaa
everyone i know is running these messenger programs but
is experiencing no popup problems, what is so special
about me?
i suspect some hideous virus or something of the kin, but
am not sure at all.
please give me some direction
oh yes, occasionally i recieve a windows warning box
telling me that my computer is "vulnerable to excessive
popups" and that a certain something has expired, i am
not sure what this means, but it is offering me little
solution. my computer is relatively free of programs, i
have no games and i download basically nothing, where is
this coming from??

tahnk you
.

go to start run then type in msconfig hit enter then go to
the start-up tab uncheck item msmsgs in the list. this
will stop messenger from loading all together when your
system starts up again.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

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, Pop-Up Stopper
from http://www.panicware.com/, or the Google Toolbar from
http://toolbar.google.com/, which is what I use.

3) To deal with pop-ups caused by any sort of "adware" and/or
"spyware,"such as Gator, Comet Cursors, Xupiter, Bonzai Buddy, or
KaZaA, and their remnants, that you've deliberately (but without
understanding the consequences) installed, two products that are
quite effective (at finding and removing this type of scumware) are
Ad-Aware from www.lavasoft.de and SpyBot Search & Destroy from
http://security.kolla.de/. Both have free versions. It's even
possible to use SpyBot Search & Destroy to "immunize" your system
against most future intrusions. I use both and generally perform
manual scans every week or so to clean out cookies, etc.


Bruce Chambers

--
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