M E R I D I A N     M A G A Z I N E

Easily Block Pop-Up IP Spam 
By Valerie Robinson

Do you ever get pop-up spam when you're off-line or are not logged in to your email account? This is "IP spam." IP spam is the latest spamming tactic and is increasing at an exponential rate. Spammers send their ads to ranges of IP addresses (a unique number assigned to each internet connection) and use a feature in Microsoft Windows 2000, XP, and NT to launch a pop-up ad on your computer. The feature is called "Messenger," and is intended to allow network administrators to use pop-up messeges to communicate with network users. Note, this is not "MSN Messenger," Microsoft's instant messenging device. 

It is virtually impossible to trace the ads back to the person who sent them, but you can easily turn off the Windows feature they use. And there is no need to pay for a program that will do it for you. 

Here's how: 

Windows 2000: 

Click Start, Settings, Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Services.
Scroll and select "Messenger"
Right-click and choose Properties.
Click "Stop"
Select "Disable" in "Startup Type"
Click "OK" 

Windows NT: 

Click Start, Control Panel, Services
Highlight "Messenger"
Click "Stop" 

Windows XP: 

Click Start, Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Services.
Scroll and select "Messenger"
Right-click and choose Properties.
Click "Stop"
Select "Disable" in "Startup Type"
Click "OK"

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