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Fighting Back Against Messenger Popup SPAM

Posted by Cliff on from the next-generation-of-annoyance dept.

An anonymous reader asks: "I recently re-installed XP (out of boredom and not necessity) and forgot to turn off the Windows Messaging service. Things were going fine, until today. I started getting those annoying popups again. I realize that I can turn off this service and I'll no longer get the messages, but, I want a way to 'take back the internet' and not have to worry about others getting these messages either. Normally, these messages are the typical University Degree spam, but the last one I got was for a piece of software that turns off the messaging service. And as everyone knows, there are some people on the net who'll pay for this. So, how can the people of the net fight back to ensure that these messages stop, and more importantly, these people stop preying on the less-technically inclined?"

5 of 87 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Dirty trick... by nuggetman · · Score: 2, Informative

    Wrong messenger. This is the messenger used by the NET SEND command, not MSN/Windows Messenger.

    --
    ...and that's all there is to it.
  2. Re:How is this done? by GreenHell · · Score: 4, Informative

    Ok, go to Administrative Tools (should be on the Start Menu, isn't always)
    Select "Services"
    In there, look for "Messanger", double click it, stop it from there, then set it to "Manual" (it's best not to set stuff to "Disabled")

    All done.

    --
    "I won't mod you down - I feel the need to call you a twit explicitly, rather than by implication."
  3. Enable XP's Firewall by DA-MAN · · Score: 4, Informative

    Just enable XP's firewalling or disable the messenging service in Start/Settings/Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Services and disable Messenger.

    --
    Can I get an eye poke?
    Dog House Forum
  4. You guys are thinking MSN Messenger - it is not. by krinsh · · Score: 4, Informative

    This is the system messenger utility that ostensibly is for legitimate network messages in the workplace such as "the server will be down for on hour starting in five minutes. please close all documents from the server", etc. and alerts to admins when certain events fire on the systems.

    A home user should not need to have this enabled (unless you are playing with a small home network and are looking at legit messages) - follow the directions other posters on disabling this service.

    Conscientious admins should have this blocked at their demarkation line or should disable it in their network altogether if they do not use it.

    --
    I think with the interesting people, their lives can't possibly be wrapped up into a nice little package.
  5. MS did provide an easy way to turn this off by kawika · · Score: 3, Informative

    Click "Start | Programs | Administrative Tools | Services". Find the "Messenger" service on the list, stop it, and set it to "Disabled". Would you be more likely to download some bloated 4MB patch from Windows Update that did the same thing? Would you prefer a desktop icon that turns it off, right next to your "Free AOL and Internet" icon?