How to Stop the new Pop-up Spam in Windows Systems!

How to Stop the new Pop-up Spam in Windows Systems!

This question was answered on November 8, 2002. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.

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A number of Windows NT, 2000 and XP (but not 95, 98 or ME) users have recently been receiving unsolicited pop-up windows displaying Spam messages, even when they don't have a browser open

If this is happening to you, it is not a hacker or some virus, but an exploit of the internal messaging tool (not Microsoft's Windows Messenger) that was intended for use by network administrators to notify users via a pop-up interface

A bulk-mail software company recently released a program that allows advertisers to look for user that have an "always-on" connection with no firewall and send them a pop-up advertisement.

Turning off the internal messenger service will help prevent this kind of thing from happening

Here are the steps (both require a user level that has privileges for making changes):

In Windows NT, go to the Control Panel, then to Services Highlight "Messenger" and click on "Stop."

In Windows 2000 Professional and XP, go to the Control Panel, then to Administrative Tools, and then to Services Highlight "Messenger" and click on "Stop." You must also set the "Startup Type" to "Disabled."

About the author

Posted by Ken Colburn of Data Doctors on November 8, 2002

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