Shoot The Messenger..

Shoot The Messenger: "The Latest Spam Technology

The Windows 'Messenger Service' is being exploited to spray the Internet with unsolicited commercial eMail. The receipt of a single UDP packet can cause a 'Messenger Service' dialog to pop-up on the user's screen. It is possible for the sender to 'spoof' (falsify) the packet's 'Source IP', making these packets impossible to trace back to their origin. If our experience with eMail SPAM is any model, we can expect to see a lot more of this in the future."
If you need to leave the service running, block port 135 in your firewall.



If you can't block that port for whatever reason or would prefer to completely disable the service, follow these directions:



For Windows 2000 and XP


* Go to start and click Run

* Type services.msc

* Double-click on Messenger

* In the Messenger Properties window, select Stop, then choose Disable as the Startup Type

* Click OK.



For Windows 95, 98, and ME



* Under Control Panel, select Add/Remove

* Select Windows Setup
* Select System Tools

* Click Details

* Uncheck WinPopUp

* Click OK.