Windows (XP Home) Messenger: how to disable

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

How do I disable this, please? Thanks in advance, Judy.

 

[galen]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

In news:259FF561-3BAF-416F-9AB1-7528A23C5E36@microsoft.com,
Judy R <Judy R@discussions.microsoft.com> had this to say:


> How do I disable this, please? Thanks in advance, Judy.

To disable the messenger service press the start button, press the run
button, type in "services.msc" without the quotes, hit the enter button,
find and right click the messenger service, select properties, disable it in
the drop down menu box, turn the service off, and then click okay. Close out
the services window and all should be good.

Did you mean that or the Windows Instant Messenger chat application? If you
want to disable that it's a bit more interesting and difficult but it's
do-able. Take a trip over to Doug Knox's site:

http://www.dougknox.com/xp/tips/xp_messenger_remove.htm

Galen

--

"My mind rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me
the most abstruse cryptogram or the most intricate analysis, and I am
in my own proper atmosphere. I can dispense then with artificial
stimulants. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for
mental exaltation." -- Sherlock Holmes

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

"Galen" wrote:

> In news:259FF561-3BAF-416F-9AB1-7528A23C5E36@microsoft.com,
> Judy R <Judy R@discussions.microsoft.com> had this to say:
>
>
> > How do I disable this, please? Thanks in advance, Judy.
>
> To disable the messenger service press the start button, press the run
> button, type in "services.msc" without the quotes, hit the enter button,
> find and right click the messenger service, select properties, disable it in
> the drop down menu box, turn the service off, and then click okay. Close out
> the services window and all should be good.
>
> Did you mean that or the Windows Instant Messenger chat application? If you
> want to disable that it's a bit more interesting and difficult but it's
> do-able. Take a trip over to Doug Knox's site:
>
> http://www.dougknox.com/xp/tips/xp_messenger_remove.htm
>
> Galen
>
> --
>
> "My mind rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me
> the most abstruse cryptogram or the most intricate analysis, and I am
> in my own proper atmosphere. I can dispense then with artificial
> stimulants. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for
> mental exaltation." -- Sherlock Holmes
>
>
> I do mean windows messenger which throws up very annoying little windows when I boot. I went where you suggested but could only find something called messenger. Is this the same thing? Sorry to be so thick, Galen. Thanks for your patience. Judy

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

JUdy R wrote:

>> I do mean windows messenger which throws up very annoying
>> little
>> windows when I boot. I went where you suggested but could
>> only find
>> something called messenger. Is this the same thing? Sorry to
>> be so
>> thick, Galen. Thanks for your patience. Judy


If you are getting popups from "Messenger Service," that's not
the same thing as Windows Messenger. The solution to the
messenger service problem is to turn on the Windows firewall (or
even better, one of the third-party ones).

If you're running without a firewall, you are putting yourself at
severe risk. Annoying popups are the least of your problems.

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup

 

[Tom]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

When Messenger is open (or active), click on (on the program itself), tools, options, then preferences. Make the changes there to not allow WM to start when Windows does.

"JUdy R" <JUdy R@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:32A5EC05-A54E-428C-AC58-9523EEAD7F82@microsoft.com...
>
>
> "Galen" wrote:
>
>> In news:259FF561-3BAF-416F-9AB1-7528A23C5E36@microsoft.com,
>> Judy R <Judy R@discussions.microsoft.com> had this to say:
>>
>>
>> > How do I disable this, please? Thanks in advance, Judy.
>>
>> To disable the messenger service press the start button, press the run
>> button, type in "services.msc" without the quotes, hit the enter button,
>> find and right click the messenger service, select properties, disable it in
>> the drop down menu box, turn the service off, and then click okay. Close out
>> the services window and all should be good.
>>
>> Did you mean that or the Windows Instant Messenger chat application? If you
>> want to disable that it's a bit more interesting and difficult but it's
>> do-able. Take a trip over to Doug Knox's site:
>>
>> http://www.dougknox.com/xp/tips/xp_messenger_remove.htm
>>
>> Galen
>>
>> --
>>
>> "My mind rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me
>> the most abstruse cryptogram or the most intricate analysis, and I am
>> in my own proper atmosphere. I can dispense then with artificial
>> stimulants. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for
>> mental exaltation." -- Sherlock Holmes
>>
>>
>> I do mean windows messenger which throws up very annoying little windows when I boot. I went where you suggested but could only find something called messenger. Is this the same thing? Sorry to be so thick, Galen. Thanks for your patience. Judy

 

[galen]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

In news:OcO$Je5CFHA.624@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl,
Ken Blake <kblake@this.is.an.invalid.domain> had this to say:

> If you're running without a firewall, you are putting yourself at
> severe risk. Annoying popups are the least of your problems.

And while disabling the messenger service will 'cure the symptom' it will
not close the hole. I agree with that very much Ken and probably should have
mentioned this. I'll repost in the above section to answer her a bit more
clearly just in case as she's continued to ask for clarification. Gotta love
it

Galen
--

"My mind rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me
the most abstruse cryptogram or the most intricate analysis, and I am
in my own proper atmosphere. I can dispense then with artificial
stimulants. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for
mental exaltation." -- Sherlock Holmes

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

In news:%23Kx0ePADFHA.4020@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl,
Galen <galennews@gmail.com> typed:

> In news:OcO$Je5CFHA.624@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl,
> Ken Blake <kblake@this.is.an.invalid.domain> had this to say:
>
>> If you're running without a firewall, you are putting yourself
>> at
>> severe risk. Annoying popups are the least of your problems.
>
> And while disabling the messenger service will 'cure the
> symptom' it
> will not close the hole. I agree with that very much Ken


Thanks, Galen

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup




> and probably
> should have mentioned this. I'll repost in the above section to
> answer her a bit more clearly just in case as she's continued
> to ask
> for clarification. Gotta love it
>
> Galen

 

[galen]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

In news:32A5EC05-A54E-428C-AC58-9523EEAD7F82@microsoft.com,
JUdy R <JUdy R@discussions.microsoft.com> had this to say:

>> I do mean windows messenger which throws up very annoying little
>> windows when I boot. I went where you suggested but could only find
>> something called messenger. Is this the same thing? Sorry to be so
>> thick, Galen. Thanks for your patience. Judy

I'm now starting to get a bit confused. This may be my fault or it just may
be a lack of clear communication. Let's start at the beginning shall we?

The Messenger Service is a network utility that's embedded in the operating
system (Windows XP) for use by system administrators to send messages to
people on their network. This is often used now for more malign reasons.
People use it to send what we call Messenger Spam. These will be gray boxes
that have text inside them inviting you to use a link or a service. Many
times they contain just plain obsene suggestions. The port being open is a
security risk and I'd recommend that you disable this service and install a
firewall application or hardware device. I don't usually recommend specific
products for various reasons, mainly because I have no time to support the
products after recommending them. If this is your problem and you'd like to
fix it follow the advice in the earlier post about disabling the Messenger
Service. In brief:

Start > Run > Type "services.msc" without the quotes > Press Enter > Find
and right click the Messenger Service > Select Properties > In the drop down
box set it to disable or manual > Press the Stop button to stop the service
immediately > Close out of the services configuration window. Next head to
your favorite search engine and do a search for Free (or paid) firewall
applications. Outpost and ZoneAlarm come to mind immediately and both have
good user support. Install and configure the firewall. Use their support for
further instructions on that. Once done with that be sure to open your
control panel, click on network connections, find your internet connection,
right click that, go to the last tab over, and disable the Windows Firewall.
Two of them running at the same time might lead to connectivity issues that
are difficult to resolve in the future.

If this is NOT your problem and you wish to disable the Windows Messenger
chat application (not the same as the above but an instant messenger client)
that is starting on boot then there's been a thread that tells you how to do
this. Just go ahead and let it go through the motions, open it from the
taskbar icon, and under options disable the ability to run in the background
and disable the option to start on boot. The link that I posted to you in an
earlier post will tell you how to disable that entirely.

If I am understanding you correctly the issue is with messenger spam and
please, really, keep in mind that you can easily thwart the messenger spam
by disabling the service it will not, and I repeat, will NOT do anything
about curing the underlying problem of the open ports on your system.
Installing and properly configuring a firewall is the best option after
disabling the service and shutting it down. For an additional
recommendation, many firewalls have a mode that allows things to access the
internet based on rules that you apply. This is great but after a month or
less of using the firewall you should be able to put it into a sort of
'block most' mode as you will have already configured all of the settings
that you need to. The learning curve for each firewall is a bit different
but, when you think about the benefit and the things you have at stake with
your computer, it's worth it to learn and use the protection. It's
invaluable and vital that you protect your computer and data from either
intrusion or from leaking to the internet without your permission.

If these are not the answers you're looking for please feel free to post
back or, if you're having trouble, please feel free to post back for further
assistance of clarification.

Galen
--

"My mind rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me
the most abstruse cryptogram or the most intricate analysis, and I am
in my own proper atmosphere. I can dispense then with artificial
stimulants. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for
mental exaltation." -- Sherlock Holmes