stopping the torment of Windows Messenger

[Robin]

I recently upgraded to Windows XP and am now tormented all
day and night by large gray pop up boxes trying to sell me
things, often coming in batches of 6. I have followed all
the so-called instructions for turning OFF Windows
Messenger, but even though I disabled all the checkboxes
in Preferences, they are still coming. I even had a
computer consultant come to my home office and do all
kinds of fancy things to supposedly eliminate the program
(he said it is fiendish). Three days later, the pop ups
were back.

Whatever good will I had toward MicroSoft is hanging by a
slim thread.

Can anyone PLEASE send me EFFECTIVE, FULL instructions for
the destruction of the Windows Messenger program? I am at
my wits end!!

Thank you so much,

Robin

[John A. Wolf]

f these pop-ups have "Messenger Service" in their title bar, then what
you're seeing is the messenger service built-in to Windows, which spammers
are now exploiting. This is not related to MSN or Windows Messenger. The
messenger service is included primarily for network administrators to send
messages to users, at home you probably have no need for it.



To get rid of these pop ups, you have two choices:



1.. You can stop this from happening by turning on the Windows XP Internet
Connection Firewall (ICF) or by installing another firewall program like
ZoneAlarm. To turn on the Windows XP ICF, open the Network Connections
window and right click on your Internet Connection then click on the
advanced tab and check the "Protect my computer and..." box. Or;


1.. You'll need to disable the Messenger Service, click Start, then Run,
enter "services.msc" (without the quotes) 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.


I would recommend the first option as it will provide you with more
protection and solve the problem, the second really just addresses the
symptom. However, a firewall could prevent some software from working as
expected.



If theses pop-ups are actual MSN/Windows Messenger conversations they will
have "[Someone] - Conversation" in the title bar and in order to get rid of
these spammers you either need to block them as they appear in the Messenger
window or go to the Tools Menu in Windows Messenger and click on the privacy
tab then move the "All other users" to the block list.



Good luck


--
John A. Wolf



"Robin" <> wrote in message ...
> I recently upgraded to Windows XP and am now tormented all
> day and night by large gray pop up boxes trying to sell me
> things, often coming in batches of 6. I have followed all
> the so-called instructions for turning OFF Windows
> Messenger, but even though I disabled all the checkboxes
> in Preferences, they are still coming. I even had a
> computer consultant come to my home office and do all
> kinds of fancy things to supposedly eliminate the program
> (he said it is fiendish). Three days later, the pop ups
> were back.
>
> Whatever good will I had toward MicroSoft is hanging by a
> slim thread.
>
> Can anyone PLEASE send me EFFECTIVE, FULL instructions for
> the destruction of the Windows Messenger program? I am at
> my wits end!!
>
> Thank you so much,
>
> Robin
>