Disabling pop up ads

[Deborah]

Where do I go and how do I block all the annoying pop up
advertisements that keep appearing via messenger? My
Norton firewall is not stopping them and a message came
indicating its knows my computer numerical address.

What other purpose does Messenger sure? Can I safely
remove it?

HELP

[Jonathan Kay [MVP]]

Greetings Deborah,

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.
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Windows MVP, Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com

"Deborah" > wrote in message
...
> Where do I go and how do I block all the annoying pop up
> advertisements that keep appearing via messenger? My
> Norton firewall is not stopping them and a message came
> indicating its knows my computer numerical address.
>
> What other purpose does Messenger sure? Can I safely
> remove it?
>
> HELP

[Larry]

Jonathan,
Just to let you know. An outfit named Novasoft blames
Microsoft for the sudden appearance of a series of
repetitive incredibly annoying popups that all have the
same appearance. One of the popups directs you to a site
www.blockmessenger.com to purchase software to disable
and/or discontinue the appearance of these popups. I
find it hard to believe that these popups did not
originate from Novasoft itself. How else could one of
the popups direct people to its site to purchase the
software. Assuming I am correct, this is an outrageous
fraud that is blaming Microsoft for a problem that
Novasoft itself created. If I am wrong, then I am
disappointed that Windows XP is configured to allow these
things to appear.
I am curious what the real deal is. Can you let me know?
My address is .
Thanks in advance.
>-----Original Message-----
>Greetings Deborah,
>
>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.
>____________________________________________
>Jonathan Kay
>Windows MVP, Messenger
>Associate Expert
>http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
>Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com
>
>"Deborah" > wrote in message
...
>> Where do I go and how do I block all the annoying pop
up
>> advertisements that keep appearing via messenger? My
>> Norton firewall is not stopping them and a message came
>> indicating its knows my computer numerical address.
>>
>> What other purpose does Messenger sure? Can I safely
>> remove it?
>>
>> HELP
>
>
>.
>

[Jonathan Kay [MVP]]

Hi Larry,

Novasoft is the one most likely sending the popups, probably either with their own software,
or something like DirectAdvertiser (http://www.directadvertiser.com/).

Microsoft could be blamed, however, the "Messenger Service" has been around for over a
decade, and has existed (turned on by default!) since the initial beginnings of NT (NT4,
Win2k, XP are all effected). It's sole purpose just to send informative messages to users
over local networks. It's only this past year that it's actually started to be exploited.
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Windows MVP, Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com

"Larry" > wrote in message
...
> Jonathan,
> Just to let you know. An outfit named Novasoft blames
> Microsoft for the sudden appearance of a series of
> repetitive incredibly annoying popups that all have the
> same appearance. One of the popups directs you to a site
> www.blockmessenger.com to purchase software to disable
> and/or discontinue the appearance of these popups. I
> find it hard to believe that these popups did not
> originate from Novasoft itself. How else could one of
> the popups direct people to its site to purchase the
> software. Assuming I am correct, this is an outrageous
> fraud that is blaming Microsoft for a problem that
> Novasoft itself created. If I am wrong, then I am
> disappointed that Windows XP is configured to allow these
> things to appear.
> I am curious what the real deal is. Can you let me know?
> My address is .
> Thanks in advance.
> >-----Original Message-----
> >Greetings Deborah,
> >
> >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.
> >____________________________________________
> >Jonathan Kay
> >Windows MVP, Messenger
> >Associate Expert
> >http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
> >Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com
> >
> >"Deborah" > wrote in message
> ...
> >> Where do I go and how do I block all the annoying pop
> up
> >> advertisements that keep appearing via messenger? My
> >> Norton firewall is not stopping them and a message came
> >> indicating its knows my computer numerical address.
> >>
> >> What other purpose does Messenger sure? Can I safely
> >> remove it?
> >>
> >> HELP
> >
> >
> >.
> >