Pop Ups

  • Thread starter Thread starter bob
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I Hate Ads: How To Turn Off Messenger Spam
I take it for granted that most people know how to get ads
off of their systems. But I forget about guys like my dad
who have happily been on AOL for years and have little
knowledge or interest in how their system works, just as
long as it works. For these people, messenger spam is a
real problem.

Messenger spam is different from traditional pop-up ads in
that it is not Web-based. Instead, advertisers use
Microsoft's net send utility, Windows Messenger service,
to send advertisements directly to your desktop. You don't
have to be on the Web at all as long as you are connected
to the Internet. Spammers send the same ad to a range or
block of IP addresses; if yours happens to be one of them,
an ad that looks something like this appears. This is
primarily a problem for Windows XP and 2000 users.

The really irksome thing about messenger spam is that it
is more or less an extortion racket, as companies like
endads.com, fightpopups.com, defeatmessenger.com, and
stopmessenger.com barrage users with messenger ads
advertising software to turn off messenger ads. Don't pay
these weasels a penny; you can do it yourself. I've gotten
a few requests for help on this lately, and seen others
online, so I thought I would post a fix here here.

Auburn University has a great set of instructions on
disabling messenger spam. To turn off messenger spam with
XP Home edition, try this
Click Start->Control Panel
Click Administrative Tools
Click Component Services
Double-click Services Local
Double-click "Messenger" to bring up the options panel
Right-click the highlighted line and choose Properties
Click the STOP button
Select Disabled or Manual on the Startup Type drop-down
menu
Click OK
Go get yourself a Mac and quit dealing with this kind of
bullshit.1

Don't worry, this won't mess with AOL Instant Messenger,
Yahoo Messenger, or MSN Messenger. Chat away, sticky
fingers.

Alternately, you can download and install Windows XP
service pack 1 and then turn on the Internet Connection
Firewall (ICF). ICF will automatically block all inbound
unicast, multicast, and broadcast traffic. You can also
try downloading a commercial firewall application such as
Zone Alarm to block your inbound ports. (This isn't a good
option for some folks, but they know who they are.)

If you don't already have one, a pop-up blocker does
wonders for getting rid of pop-up and pop-under ads. There
are lots of free ones out there, I use Pop-Up Stopper by
Panic-Ware and it works brilliantly

If you're still having problems with ads, you've probably
installed some spyware on your system at some point. Ad-
Aware is great program that scans your system and removes
spyware. Be sure to read the help file.

Source: http://honan.net/2003_08_01_archive2.php
 
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. (Merely disabling the messenger
service, as some people recommend, only hides the symptom, and does
little or nothing to truly 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, by itself, 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, if annoying, 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:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH
 
Greetings --

The _first_ action should be to enable a firewall. Turning off
the messenger service is almost always a bad idea. (If the firewall
fails for some reason, those messenger pop-ups will be your first
security alert.)

Bruce Chambers

--
Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH
 
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