pop ups while playing games

[Jim]

I play alot of first person online games and right in the
game I'll get some kind of instant message pop up from
someone i dont know to talk with them online. I was told
that there is some kind of way to block these annoying pop
ups, cause I have to leave the game to get rid of them.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[Mary Sauer]

Get yourself some spyware such as Ad-Aware or Spybot and others.
This article may help too
Messenger Service Window That Contains an Internet Advertisement Appears
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;330904

--
Mary Sauer MS MVP
http://dgl.microsoft.com/
http://mvps.org/msauer/
"Jim" > wrote in message
...
> I play alot of first person online games and right in the
> game I'll get some kind of instant message pop up from
> someone i dont know to talk with them online. I was told
> that there is some kind of way to block these annoying pop
> ups, cause I have to leave the game to get rid of them.
> Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[Sharon F]

On Sun, 24 Aug 2003 01:34:16 -0700, Jim wrote:

> I play alot of first person online games and right in the
> game I'll get some kind of instant message pop up from
> someone i dont know to talk with them online. I was told
> that there is some kind of way to block these annoying pop
> ups, cause I have to leave the game to get rid of them.
> Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

If you are using a messaging program (MSN Messenger, Windows Messenger,
Yahoo, AIM, etc), there should be an Ignore option somewhere. In most of
these programs, you can right click on a name and select Ignore there.

May also want to check the settings in the program. There are usually
privacy settings available where you can choose who can see you online and
who can send you messages.

Always keep in mind that you don't *have to* answer any message from anyone
that you do not care to respond to.
--
Sharon F
MS-MVP/ Windows XP - Shell/User

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

There are at least three varieties of pop-ups, and the solutions
vary accordingly. Which specific type(s) is troubling you?

1) Does the title bar of these pop-ups read "Messenger Service?"

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.

2) 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 many of the pop-up adds on the
Internet.

3) For pop-ups caused by some sort of "adware" and/or "spyware,"
such as Gator, Comet Cursors, or Bonzai Buddy, that you've
deliberately 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.


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


"Jim" > wrote in message
...
> I play alot of first person online games and right in the
> game I'll get some kind of instant message pop up from
> someone i dont know to talk with them online. I was told
> that there is some kind of way to block these annoying pop
> ups, cause I have to leave the game to get rid of them.
> Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.