How do I stop pop-ups including Messenger spam?

Pop-Ups are due to either Messenger Service, are embedded on web pages, or may even be part of a spyware program that you have installed. If they are due to Messenger Service you may either disable it or block the open ports. Note that disabling Messenger Service is only a temporary fix and doesn't address the real problem. Or, they may just be pop ups for automatic updates to OE or WinXP.

[Source - bootdisk.com]

Note that Messenger Service is different than Windows Messenger. This section deals with Messenger Service.

To disable Messenger Service see these links:

link 1

link 2


To block the ports to prevent spammers from sending you ads via Messenger Service read below:

If they say messenger service in the title bar, these have nothing to do with MSN messenger or Windows messenger.What this is a new way for spammers to attack your computer and send you pop-up ads. If you receive these ads it means that your computers netbios ports are wide open to the internet and this could be a real security problem.

What you should do is install a good firewall that will block the ports the spammers use and stop the ads. A good place to start is Zone Alarm [www.zonelabs.com] for an inbound/outbound blocking firewall or use the inbound blocking only firewall built in to XP. Configure the XP firewall to block ports 135, 137-139 and 445. Zone Alarm will block these ports by default. [Thanks purplehaz03]

The issue is that currently ANYONE can actually send you a message through the .NET Messenger network without being on YOUR contact list! You can change this so that people will have to add you to their contact lists before they can send you a message (which will have the effect of blocking these Spam messages in the future).

To Disable Messenger Service Spam - simply Open up the main Messenger window, click Tools, then Options, then the Privacy tab, click All users and then click the Block button. This way you can manually add who you want to receive messages from and block all others. [Thanks Taurarian]

Microsoft has some articles as well:
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=330904
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/howto/comm
unicate/stopspam.asp

Another option to manage the Messenger Service is to use a tiny utility called Shoot The Messenger.

Note that ShootTheMessenger is just a toggle switch that turns Messenger Service Off/On. One should still block the ports as noted earlier.

If the popups are are website based one may install a Pop-Up Stopper. A list of these type of utilities are listed for download on the Utilities Page under Popup Stoppers And Web Filters.

If your pop-ups are due to spyware, one can find such ware and disable it by using Ad-Adware or Spybot, both of which and more links can also be found under Anti-Spyware on the Utilities Page.

If due to automatic updates to OE or WinXP check Start | Settings | Control Panel | System | Automatic Updates and change it.

As things move on however more web browsers and/or add-on toolbars include anti-popup functions for popups and popunders coded into webpages.