Windows Messenger - how the f%$k do I turn it off!!!!

[Woff1965]

Since "upgrading" from 98 SE to Windows XP Professional I have been drive to distraction by Windows Messenger pop-ups.

I have looked all over the place in Windows and can't seem to shut it off and I have even downloaded some software that a friend recommended and that has not worked either.

Can anyone suggest a solution to this - ideally involving no additional outlay as I refuse to pay to switch off something Microbloat should never have included in the product to start with!

[BRL]

Hi Woff. Start off with the easy bits first. When its started, go to ' Options-then Preferences. Untick the tick boxes in that section, make sure they are NOT ticked and away you go.
If this doesn't work then I can't help you anymore as I just know the basics.
BRL.

[BEagle]

Try a PPRuNe search under 'Windows Messenger'.

However, I killed the wretched things as follows:Go to 'Start', then 'All Programs'. Open 'Windows Messenger', go to 'Tools', then 'Options', then 'Preferences' and then uncheck all the 'General' boxes. Then re-boot.

The intrusive nature of Windows Messenger in its default form is asource of irritation to most people I've spoken to about it. Why should Internet users be exposed to unsolicited and often pornographic messages? That's like someone butting in on a private phonecall.

Think again, Bi££ Gate$!!

[BLUE SKY THINKER]

Woff1965..........

With all due respect to Big Red 'L' and BEagle your problem has nothing to do with "Windows Messenger" the messaging application, but "Messenger", the net send alerter service. .....confusing, I know!

Like many I was reluctant to turn it off at first, in case I was running any programs that might be dependant on it (unlikely in the home enviroment).

I quote the following regularly but happily, because I know what an irritant it is. It also covers the dependencies issue. It is the answer and will work.....

Courtesy of "Ask Jack"/GuardianUnlimited Online, I quote.....

".....Many people are suffering from pop-up advertising messages that arrive via a low-level messaging service that is part of all NT-based versions of Windows (NT/2000/XP). It has nothing to do with Windows Messenger, MSN Messenger or any other messaging application.....

.....You can turn off this messenger service yourself, in one minute. Log on to Windows XP in administrator mode, go to the Control Panel, and open the Administrative Tools folder. Double-click the Services icon, and scroll down the Name column until you get to Messenger. Double-click Messenger to get the Properties sheet (or right-click it and select Properties), and then click the Dependencies tab. The lower box should be empty, which is to say, nothing depends on you running Messenger.

Go back to the General tab and look for the Service Status section. If Messenger is running, click Stop to stop it. Next, go to Startup type and click the down arrow on the right. Clicking the arrow lets you select Manual or Disabled, and you can select either. If Messenger has no dependencies, select Disabled and click OK to finish. You will not get any more Messenger pop-ups."

[fobotcso]

Read and learn from this (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?threadid=94505) and the links within it.

I don't have pop-ups at all; I have a firewall.

[Blacksheep]

I too have a firewall. If I disabled messenger it wouldn't send me all those nice messages from 'Black Ice' when I'm under attack. Black Ice tells me whenever I get a probe but since the browser is allowed to access the internet, the firewall cannot keep out all executable code. There's still all those hidden bugs - some adverts and even web pages have image areas containing no visible information, but they hide executable code to mine your hard drive for information. [Have you ever noticed those pages that scroll down for dozens of lines below the last text? View the source code and you'll see it isn't really blank...] The firewall doesn't block these, but as long as it tells me immediately whenever unknown code attempts to execute itself, messenger pop-ups are useful.

The problem is, wonderful sites like this one depend upon advertising revenue to keep going. I suppose intrusions, or at least attempted intrusions, are the price we pay for our little pleasures.

**************************
Through difficulties to the cinema

[The Nr Fairy]

Blacksheep :

If I understand you correctly, you're saying that BlackIce uses Messenger (not the online chat tool, the network message tool provided with Windows for donkeys years) to alert you of problems and that if you stop that to avoid popups you'll lose notification of potential intrusions.

You should be able to configure the firewall to stop incoming traffic to the Messenger service port - stopping inbound NetBIOS and broadcast UDP traffic should do the trick - while keeping the Messenger service active for programs on your PC (like BlackIce) which use Messenger to provide notification.

A quick search through C&I over the past few weeks for "Messenger" comes up with a few threads which then have links to all sorts of useful stuff.

[fobotcso]

Agree that ZoneAlarmPro is not a universal panacea; but I say again I do not have pop-ups, except one I 've just remembered:O

That's the one that hides behind your Hotmail window and if you haven't spotted it in the Task Bar, it's waiting when you close the browser window.

The down side is that an increasing number of sites are preventing access as long as you have disabled tracking cookies and they not afraid to tell you. One such is Nokia who will not even give you a "pdf" file if cookies are blocked.

More work for Spybot at the end of each session. :ok:

For Always on/Broadband a Firewall is mandatory even so.

By the way, BS, I used to be a fan of BlackIce but found that with Windows 2000 after Service Pack 3 and with XP it was failing the Steve Gibson Security Test. Worth a check, do you think?

[Jinkster]

This is what I did:

Went to my computer, control panel, add remove programs, remove msn messenger.

Bye bye msn :E :E :E :E

Jinkster

[Gainesy]

Blue Sky
Many thanks, the things have been driving me mad. It works like a charm.

[Griffbms]

BLUE SKY THINKER

Was having the same trouble after a recent XP update/download.
Problem solved thanks to your advice! Cheers.

Griffbms
:ok: