THE CORRECT (AND ONLY) WAY TO DEAL WITH MESSENGER SERVICE POP-UPS. DON'T LISTEN TO JK - OR ANYONE EL

  • Thread starter Thread starter Fred
  • Start date Start date
F

Fred

Then why is Microsoft turning off Messenger Service by default in XP SP2 and
future releases?
 
Late last week, America Online acknowledged it taken the drastic and
unprecedented step of programming its software to silently turn off a
Windows service so that it could stem the tide of spam and security
vulnerabilities facing its subscribers.

The Windows Messenger service, enabled by default, allegorically leaves the
door wide open for pop-up ads to pester Windows XP and 2000 users, while
leaving them at risk of security exploits. Now, Microsoft has weighed in and
says it will turn off the service in Windows XP.


--
 
I have a copy of RC1 Beta and they did.

Following is a quote fromt he release documentation.

"
What existing functionality is changing in Service Pack 2 for Windows XP?
Alerter and Messenger Services Disabled
Detailed description
In previous versions of Windows, the Messenger service is set to start
automatically and the Alerter service is set to manual start. In Service
Pack 2 for Windows XP, both of these services are set to Disabled. No other
changes are made to these services.

"
 
I have a copy of RC1 Beta and they did.

Following is a quote fromt he release documentation.

"

What existing functionality is changing in Service Pack 2 for Windows XP?
Alerter and Messenger Services Disabled
Detailed description
In previous versions of Windows, the Messenger service is set to start
automatically and the Alerter service is set to manual start. In Service
Pack 2 for Windows XP, both of these services are set to Disabled. No other
changes are made to these services.

Why is this change important? What threats does it mitigate?
There have been a number of security vulnerabilities discovered in these
services. While the services are started, they allow incoming network
connections and present an attack surface. This elevates their security
risk. Also, these services are used infrequently in current computing
environments. Because of the number of vulnerabilities discovered, the
additional attack surface that the services present, and the lack of service
use, they are now disabled by default.

What works differently or stops working? Are there any dependencies?
Any applications or services that use the Alerter or Messenger services to
communicate with the user will not be successful.

How do I fix these issues?
There are two possible avenues to resolve the issue. The recommended
resolution is to revise the software to use another method to communicate
with the user. This allows you to communicate with the user in a more secure
way, without having to use the Alerter or Messenger services.

The second way is to have the application start the Alerter or Messenger
service before making use of its services. Information on starting services
can be found in online Help and in MSDN.

Do I need to change my code to work with Service Pack 2 for Windows XP?
If your code makes use of the Messenger or Alerter services, you may need to
change your code. For more information, see "How do I fix these issues?"
above.

"
 
Don't you think you owe JK a public apology for your attack that turned out
to be unjusitfied?
 
You would think then, that you would be smart enough to fix your stupid
clock.
Your date was days ahead of everyone when you started this thread.

Not so smart are ya?
 
Striker said:
Don't you think you owe JK a public apology for your attack that
turned out to be unjusitfied?
Click to expand...

What for?! Exposing Jonathan for the fraud that he is?! Why else would he be
posting deliberately misleading, not to mention potentially harmful,
advice?! I stand by everything I've said - I'm certainly *NOT* going to
apologise. If I can save one naive newbie from thinking that they've
eliminated a problem from their computer, when they haven't, then my
campaign will not have been in vain.

Nothing to apologise for.
 
Phil said:
You would think then, that you would be smart enough to fix your
stupid clock.
Your date was days ahead of everyone when you started this thread.

Not so smart are ya?
Click to expand...

That was deliberate. And the clock was fine, it was the calendar that was
set ahead a week. I wanted it to remain on top so that it was seen by as
many as possible.

Looks like it worked....
 
Cerridwen said:
What for?! Exposing Jonathan for the fraud that he is?! Why else would he
be
posting deliberately misleading, not to mention potentially harmful,
advice?! I stand by everything I've said - I'm certainly *NOT* going to
apologise. If I can save one naive newbie from thinking that they've
eliminated a problem from their computer, when they haven't, then my
campaign will not have been in vain.

Nothing to apologise for.
Click to expand...


How about backing up your claims? One link to a A/V website that says their
product *must* have the messenger service running in order to function?
Hrmm?

Scary
 
Well then, deliberately ignoring proper netiquette of posting on NG's with
the proper date shows a lack of respect to all other posters.

Thanks for coming.
 
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