messenger pop up wi dows

[Jeff hart]

how do i get rid of the pop up messenger windows that
always appear when i am online.they are very annoying anfd
often ibclude advirtising for xxx sites.

[Jonathan Kay [MVP]]

Greetings Jeff,

If these "popups" that appeared had "Messenger Service" in their titlebar, what you're seeing
is the Messenger service built-in to Windows, *not* Windows Messenger (which are two
different things) which spammers are exploiting -- this is not Microsoft, nor can Microsoft
control them anymore then they can control spam to your e-mail inbox.

To get rid of these pop ups, you'll need to disable the "Messenger Service", click Start,
then Run, enter "services.msc"and click OK. Scroll down to "Messenger", select it,
right-click and then choose Properties. Under startup type, choose 'Disabled' and then
choose the 'Stop' button. After the service is stopped, click OK. Nothing in Windows or any
real third-party applications should be effected by this.

However, if they're an actual Messenger conversation, there has been an upsurge in some
Messenger (that is .NET Messenger) spam in the last few weeks. This conversation did go
through the Messenger server, but you may not be aware that anyone can actually send you a
message through the .NET Messenger network without being on your contact list. For example,
if you right-click your Messenger icon, choose "Send an Instant Message", the Other tab, you
can actually type in a Passport e-mail address and send a message to them, without being on
their contact list.

However, you can change this behavior, so that people will have to add your to their contact
lists before they can send you a message (note, if it's arriving using the 'group' method of
Messenger spam, this will only block the group spam in MSN Messenger 5), open up the main
Messenger window, click Tools, then Options, then the Privacy tab, click 'All other users'
(or 'All users' in MSN Messenger 5) and then click the Block >> button.
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Windows MVP, Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com


"Jeff hart" > wrote in message
...
> how do i get rid of the pop up messenger windows that
> always appear when i am online.they are very annoying anfd
> often ibclude advirtising for xxx sites.