Pop Ups

[Colette]

I'm not sure if I picked the correct category for my
question, be kind this is my first time using this method
to get the information I need.

Recently I've been getting very annoying pop ups,
advertising potential "virus problema & hacker invasion,
etc.", and giving me the option to stop all pop ups. If I
pick one of them, such as ENDADS.com is there a potential
problem I may cause by loading this option with XP? OR it
there something that Microsoft recommends?. Hopefully, my
questions are clear, looking forward to hearing from
someone with an answer.

[Rifleman]

In article >,
says...
> I'm not sure if I picked the correct category for my
> question, be kind this is my first time using this method
> to get the information I need.
>
> Recently I've been getting very annoying pop ups,
> advertising potential "virus problema & hacker invasion,
> etc.", and giving me the option to stop all pop ups. If I
> pick one of them, such as ENDADS.com is there a potential
> problem I may cause by loading this option with XP? OR it
> there something that Microsoft recommends?. Hopefully, my
> questions are clear, looking forward to hearing from
> someone with an answer.
>
just enable the built-in XP Firewall.

[Chris Lanier]

Most likely you are talking about the "messenger Service" in Windows XP.

You can just enable XP's built in firewall to stop them. -
https://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/proddocs/hnw_enable_firewall.asp

"Colette" > wrote in message
...
> I'm not sure if I picked the correct category for my
> question, be kind this is my first time using this method
> to get the information I need.
>
> Recently I've been getting very annoying pop ups,
> advertising potential "virus problema & hacker invasion,
> etc.", and giving me the option to stop all pop ups. If I
> pick one of them, such as ENDADS.com is there a potential
> problem I may cause by loading this option with XP? OR it
> there something that Microsoft recommends?. Hopefully, my
> questions are clear, looking forward to hearing from
> someone with an answer.

[Bill Martin]

Shipping with "messenger" activated was not one of Microsoft's better ideas
IMHO. It's like they used to ship their browser and e-mail with all the
security set wide open. Maybe messenger is needed within the corporate
environment but I see no real use for it in home/small office use.

Anyhow, just kill the sucker. Go into:

Start/Settings/CntrlPnl/AdminTools/Services

and double click on "Messenger". Then select "disabled" in the pull down
menu. If you ever do have a use for it you can re-enable it. You may have
to reboot after disabling it. I don't recall since I did this many months
ago.

Good luck...

Bill

[Perdita X. Nitt]

Colette wrote:
> I'm not sure if I picked the correct category for my
> question, be kind this is my first time using this method
> to get the information I need.
>
> Recently I've been getting very annoying pop ups,
> advertising potential "virus problema & hacker invasion,
> etc.", and giving me the option to stop all pop ups. If I
> pick one of them, such as ENDADS.com is there a potential
> problem I may cause by loading this option with XP? OR it
> there something that Microsoft recommends?. Hopefully, my
> questions are clear, looking forward to hearing from
> someone with an answer.

The below is shamelessly stolen from Bruce Chambers, who explains things
more eloquently than I ever could!

This particular "sales method" is strikingly similar to the "protection"
rackets offered to small businesses by organized criminals. Yes, it's a
scam; no reputable business would need to resort to extortion. Particularly
since they're trying to sell you a type of protection that is already
available to you free of charge.

This type of spam has become quite common over the past few 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.
Install and use a decent, properly configured firewall. (Disabling the
messenger service, as some people recommend, only hides the symptom, and
does nothing to secure your machine.) And ignoring or just "putting up
with" these messages and the problem they represent 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 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 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?

Equivalent Scenario 1: Somewhere in a house, a small fire starts, and sets
off the smoke alarm. You, not immediately seeing any fire/smoke, complain
about the noise of the smoke detector, and are advised to remove the smoke
detector's battery and go back to sleep.

Equivalent Scenario 2: You over-exert your shoulder at work or play,
causing bursitis. After weeks of annoying and sometimes excruciating pain
whenever you try to reach over your head, you go to a doctor and say, while
demonstrating the motion, "Doc, it hurts when I do this." The doctor, being
as helpful as some of your respondents, replies, "Well, don't do that."

I'm beginning to think that the people deliberately posting such bad advice
are hacker-wannabes who have no true interest in helping you secure your
system, but would rather give you a false sense of security while ensuring
that your computer is still open to exploitation.

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 most of the pop-up ads on the Internet (though, personally, I don't
advocate the installation of any Norton application).

For pop-ups caused by some sort of "adware" and/or "spyware" that you've
inadvertently 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.


--
Perdita X. Dream

Please help us to help you
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Keep all posts to the groups as private requests for assistance
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[Stormy Norm]

Try proxyconn.com this works great...........
"Colette" > wrote in message
...
> I'm not sure if I picked the correct category for my
> question, be kind this is my first time using this method
> to get the information I need.
>
> Recently I've been getting very annoying pop ups,
> advertising potential "virus problema & hacker invasion,
> etc.", and giving me the option to stop all pop ups. If I
> pick one of them, such as ENDADS.com is there a potential
> problem I may cause by loading this option with XP? OR it
> there something that Microsoft recommends?. Hopefully, my
> questions are clear, looking forward to hearing from
> someone with an answer.

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

Please stop posting potentially harmful advice. What are you, a
hacker-wannabe? Why else would you be deliberately posting bad
advice? Are you trying to give people a false sense of security by
having them turn off what are, in effect, valid security warnings,
while still leaving their PCs open to potential exploitation?

Disabling the messenger service 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 service by acting as a security alert. The
true problem is the unsecured computer, and you're only
advice, however well-intended, was to turn off the warnings. How is
this helpful?

Equivalent Scenario: You over-exert your shoulder at work or
play, causing bursitis. After weeks of annoying and sometimes
excruciating pain whenever you try to reach over your head, you go to
a doctor and say, while demonstrating the motion, "Doc, it hurts when
I do this." The doctor, being as helpful as you are, replies, "Well,
don't do that."

The only true way to secure the PC, short of disconnecting it from
the Internet, is to install and *properly* configure a firewall; just
installing one and letting it's default settings handle things is no
good. Unfortunately, this does require one to learn a little bit more
about using a computer than used to be necessary.


Bruce Chambers

--
Help us help you:
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH


"Bill Martin" > wrote in message
om...
> Shipping with "messenger" activated was not one of Microsoft's
better ideas
> IMHO. It's like they used to ship their browser and e-mail with all
the
> security set wide open. Maybe messenger is needed within the
corporate
> environment but I see no real use for it in home/small office use.
>
> Anyhow, just kill the sucker. Go into:
>
> Start/Settings/CntrlPnl/AdminTools/Services
>
> and double click on "Messenger". Then select "disabled" in the pull
down
> menu. If you ever do have a use for it you can re-enable it. You
may have
> to reboot after disabling it. I don't recall since I did this many
months
> ago.
>
> Good luck...
>
> Bill

[Bill Martin]

> ...The only true way to secure the PC, short of disconnecting it from
> the Internet, is to install and *properly* configure a firewall...

You're right -- but only half right. I do have an external fire wall (who
would trust Microsoft security software?) and it does stop the external
messages. However, I still had to drive a stake through messenger's heart
and kill it too to keep the operating system from also using it to natter at
me.

Bill