Re: pop up ads and messenger service

From: Karl Levinson [x y] mvp (jamescagney90210@excite.com)
Date: 11/02/02 

From: "Karl Levinson [x y] mvp" <jamescagney90210@excite.com>
Date: Fri, 1 Nov 2002 21:26:38 -0500

Absolutely... if you use a FIREWALL, which is the best way to block NetBIOS
and Messenger broadcasts. If you don't use a firewall, there's no way to
log the IP address.

Consider using the free software at www.mynetwatchman.com or www.dshield.org
along with your firewall... it automatically reports hacking to the hacker's
ISP for you, and lets you see data from other firewalls that the hacker also
attempted to hack. This will save you a lot of time. Don't hold your
breath waiting for the ISP to do anything about it or to let you know if
they did anything about it.

Also, people have been reporting spam to ISPs for a while, but spam is worse
than ever, so that hasn't been too effective. Personally, I think the
spammers using the Messenger service are doing a favor for everyone out
there -- it's a wake up call that you need to use a firewall, and a lot of
people have started using one because of this. This beats being hacked.

DO NOT JUST DISABLE THE MESSENGER SERVICE without also installing a
firewall. If you do this, your machine is very vulnerable and will probably
be hacked. NetBIOS traffic should not be able to enter or leave your
computer from the internet, this is very very bad.

As you may already know, there are free firewalls out there like
www.sygate.com, so there's no excuse for not running one.

"Tom" <tellis112@attbi.com> wrote in message
news:39c601c281fa$c2028f70$36ef2ecf@tkmsftngxa12...
> Instead of disabling Messenger service, is it possible to
> configure Windows to log the IP address of the incoming
> message ? This was it can be reported to the ISP and ther
> person who is responsible for the ads can have their
> accounts shut off. If enough people lose access because of
> these ads quickly it might discourage future ones.
>
>
> >-----Original Message-----
> >I normally pride myself on having good control over my PC
> and tonight I left
> >my PC on and connected to the internet (56K modem
> connection) and left the
> >room for about half an hour. When I came back I had this:
> (screen-shot at)
> >http://home.freeuk.net/tonj/popup/popup.htm
> >on my screen. I don't mind saying I'm a bit shocked that
> someone could put
> >this on my screen. Getting spam e-mail and popup ads is
> bad enough but now
> >these things? I have a popup killer always running
> (Optie's Internet
> >Organiser Pro) and I delete all cookies every few days
> and run a virus scans
> >as well. What's worrying is it's not just an ordinary
> popup html page. It's
> >a Windows dialog box and it has an OK button and it was
> also set as 'on top'
> >of all other windows. I could not get rid of it unless I
> clicked OK. And I
> >have no 'Messenger Service' I'm aware of on my machine.
> My OS is W2K Pro and
> >I left my IE6 browser at www.cakewalk.com before leaving
> the room but I'm
> >sure cakewalk are not the kind of company who would
> associate with this kind
> >of thing.
> >
> >1) what is it exactly and where does it come from? (yes I
> know it's an ad
> >for university diplomas)
> >2) how is someone able to put this on my screen?
> >3) how can I stop it from happening?
> >
> >thanks for any help.