Re: FIX FOR MESSENGER POP UPS

From: Bruce Chambers (bchambers_at_nospam.cableone.net)
Date: 08/07/03 

Date: Wed, 6 Aug 2003 22:08:49 -0600

Greetings --

    Please stop posting potentially harmful advice. What are you, a
hacker-wannabe? Why else would you be deliberately posting bad
advice? Are you trying to give people a false sense of security by
having them turn off what are, in effect, valid security warnings,
while still leaving their PCs open to potential exploitation?

    Disabling the messenger service 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 service by acting as a security alert. The
true problem is the unsecured computer, and you're only
advice, however well-intended, was to 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. The home-owner, not immediately seeing
any fire/smoke, complains about the noise of the smoke detector, so
you tell him to remove the smoke detector's battery and go back to
sleep, or whatever else he was doing.

    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 you are, replies, "Well,
don't do that."

    The only true way to secure the PC, short of permanently
disconnecting from the Internet is to install and *properly* configure
a firewall; just installing one and letting it's default settings
handle things is no good. Unfortunately, this does require one to
learn a little bit more about using a computer than used to be
necessary.

Bruce Chambers 

--
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having both at once. -- RAH
"Joe" <Sarg7@rcn.com> wrote in message
news:048b01c35b94$867ca930$a301280a@phx.gbl...
> As no one from microsft was willing to help. I found the
> fix on Spybot. Here is the fix as it appears on the
> spybot site.
>
> I am not sure but you may not get the auto updates from
> MS anymore, just just go to MS once in awhile and check
> for new updates.
>
> These are sent using the Messenger service integrated
> into Windows 2000 and XP (try the 'net send' command to
> see for yourself).
> To disable the Messenger service, go to Start --> All
> Programs --> Administrative Tools --> Component Services.
> In Component Services, click on Services (Local), then on
> the right side, find Messenger and disable it.
> Note: not everyone will have Administrative Tools in the
> Start menu. You need to make it visible under Taskbar and
> Start Menu Properties (right-click on taskbar -->
> Properties). The surest way to get to Component Services
> is to enter %systemroot%\system32\com\comexp.msc into the
> command line.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: UNWANTED POP-UP SCREENS
    ... Messenger Service of Windows ... service is a "head in the sand" approach to computer security. ... and sets off the smoke alarm. ... Popup-killer from http://12ghosts.com/ghosts/popup.htm or Pop-Up ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin)
  • Re: OT: unathorized network user.
    ... that are UTTERLY WORTHLESS to security and even cause ... and offers actually useful advice for security. ... In fact, some of them will cause many people networking problems, ... offered has absolutely NOTHING to do with securing a wireless network. ...
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    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support)
  • Re: Windows xp screen freezing...randomly
    ... I read ALL your posts. ... My views on security coincide with the vast ... disregard advice to install security software. ... "The Linksys KVM, like other electronic KVM switches, is able to ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support)
  • Re: application popup
    ... > level of security one notch. ... (Disabling the messenger ... >>Messenger Service Window That Contains an Internet ... >>and sets off the smoke alarm. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin)